Coleman Stewart M, McGregor Alistair
Health Science Center, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis & Immunology, Texas A&M University, 407 Reynolds Medical Building, College Station, TX 77843-1114, USA.
Future Virol. 2015;10(2):169-183. doi: 10.2217/fvl.14.96.
Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) has emerged as a powerful tool in the study of animal models of viral disease. BLI enables real-time study of viral infection, host immune response and the efficacy of intervention strategies. Substrate dependent light emitting luciferase enzyme when incorporated into a virus as a reporter gene enables detection of bioluminescence from infected cells using sensitive charge-coupled device (CCD) camera systems. Advantages of BLI include low background, real-time tracking of infection in the same animal and reduction in the requirement for larger animal numbers. Transgenic luciferase-tagged mice enable the use of pre-existing nontagged viruses in BLI studies. Continued development in luciferase reporter genes, substrates, transgenic animals and imaging systems will greatly enhance future BLI strategies in viral research.
生物发光成像(BLI)已成为研究病毒性疾病动物模型的有力工具。BLI能够对病毒感染、宿主免疫反应以及干预策略的效果进行实时研究。当将依赖底物发光的荧光素酶作为报告基因整合到病毒中时,可使用灵敏的电荷耦合器件(CCD)相机系统检测受感染细胞发出的生物发光。BLI的优点包括背景低、可在同一只动物中实时追踪感染情况以及减少对大量动物的需求。转基因荧光素酶标记小鼠使得在BLI研究中能够使用预先存在的未标记病毒。荧光素酶报告基因、底物、转基因动物和成像系统的持续发展将极大地提升未来病毒性研究中的BLI策略。