Promoters for recombinant viral expression

Abstract

The invention relates to a promoter selected from a group of nucleic acids consisting of: (a) A nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence as set out in SEQ ID NO: 1; (b) A nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence derived from the nucleic acid set out in (a), comprising at least one nucleotide addition, deletion, substitution and/or inversion as compared to the nucleotide sequence of (a) and having essentially the same expression characteristics as the nucleic acid of (a); (c) A nucleic acid sequence having at least 70% identity with the nucleic acid of (a) and having essentially the same expression characteristics as the nucleic acid of (a); and (d) A nucleic acid capable of hybridizing to a nucleic acid of (a), (b) or (c) and having essentially the same expression characteristics as the nucleic acid of (a).

1 - 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . A method for expressing a nucleic acid comprising:
 (a) providing a poxvirus expression vector comprising a promoter,   wherein the promoter is operably linked to a heterologous nucleic acid encoding a protein, and   wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a nucleotide sequence in which no more than 3 nucleotides have been substituted from the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO:1; and   (b) subjecting the expression vector to conditions conducive to expression of the heterologous nucleic acid.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:33. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:34. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:2. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:4. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:5. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter in the polynucleotide is joined directly to the start codon ATG of the heterologous nucleic acid encoding a protein. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the poxvirus vector is a vaccinia virus vector. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the vaccinia virus vector is a modified vaccinia virus Ankara (“MVA”) vector. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the MVA vector has the capability of reproductive replication in vitro in chicken embryo Fibroblasts, but no capability of reproductive replication in the human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT, the human embryo kidney cell line 293, the human bone osteosarcoma cell line 143B, and the human cervix adenocarcinoma cell line HeLa. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising expressing the protein encoded by the heterologous nucleic acid. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , further comprising recovering the expressed protein. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , further comprising purifying the recovered protein. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises a nucleotide sequence in which no more than 2 nucleotides have been substituted from the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO:1. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the promoter comprises a nucleotide sequence in which no more than 1 nucleotide has been substituted from the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO:1.