Kosaka Mitsuki, Sajiki Ai Fujita, Fujita Kosuke, Yamada Kazuhisa, Kawano Kenichi, Hirazawa Kiichi, Matsuno Tsuyoshi, Takada Masahiko, Shimozawa Nobuhiro, Inoue Ken-Ichi, Yuki Kenya, Nishiguchi Koji M
Department of Ophthalmology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
Division for Advanced Medical Research, Center for Research of Laboratory Animals and Medical Research Engineering, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2025 Apr 19;33(2):101474. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2025.101474. eCollection 2025 Jun 12.
The loading capacity of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors is reportedly 4.7-5.0 kb, which limits the size of genes that can be treated with gene therapy. However, the effects of oversized genomes on the integrity of packaged AAV genomes are poorly understood. Herein, nanopore long-read sequencing was used to evaluate genomic integrity in AAV vectors harboring genomes of various sizes. AAV had a reduced proportion of full-length genomes at a vector length of 4.9 kb, which declined rapidly between 4.9 and 5.0 kb. This was mainly attributable to defects in genome packaging rather than genome synthesis. Furthermore, the pattern of packaged DNA was unique to the arrangement of the components of the oversized genome. However, an 86.3% reduction in the proportion of full-length genomes (4.7 vs. 5.0 kb) was not consistent with the retained expression of the reporter gene in the mouse retina. This discrepancy might be partially attributable to the preferential inclusion of the region containing the reporter gene. These results highlight the utility of long-read sequencing in assessing the genomic integrity and design of AAV vectors, as the pattern of packaged genomes appears to be unique to each vector, particularly for oversized AAV genomes.
据报道,腺相关病毒(AAV)载体的装载量为4.7-5.0 kb,这限制了可用于基因治疗的基因大小。然而,超大基因组对包装的AAV基因组完整性的影响却知之甚少。在此,利用纳米孔长读长测序来评估携带不同大小基因组的AAV载体中的基因组完整性。当载体长度为4.9 kb时,AAV全长基因组的比例降低,在4.9至5.0 kb之间迅速下降。这主要归因于基因组包装缺陷而非基因组合成。此外,包装DNA的模式对于超大基因组各组分的排列是独特的。然而,全长基因组比例降低86.3%(4.7 kb与5.0 kb相比)与报告基因在小鼠视网膜中的持续表达并不一致。这种差异可能部分归因于包含报告基因区域的优先纳入。这些结果突出了长读长测序在评估AAV载体的基因组完整性和设计方面的实用性,因为包装基因组的模式似乎对每个载体都是独特的,特别是对于超大AAV基因组。