Unnatural amino acid orthogonal translation machinery can insert unnatural amino acids at desired sites of protein through stop codon by means of foreign orthogonal translation system composed of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase and orthogonal tRNA genes. This new genetic engineering technology is not only a new tool for biochemical researches of proteins, but also an epoch-making technology for the development of new-type live viral vaccines. The mutated virus containing premature termination codon in genes necessary for replication can be propagated in transgenic cells harboring unnatural amino acid orthogonal translation machinery in media with corresponding unnatural amino acid, but it cannot replicate in conventional host cells. This replication-deficient virus is a new-type of live viral vaccine that possesses advantages of high efficacy of traditional attenuated vaccine and high safety of killed vaccine. This article reviews the application and prospect of unnatural amino acid orthogonal translation machinery in the development of novel replication-deficient virus vaccines.
非天然氨基酸正交翻译技术利用外源的非天然氨基酸氨酰 tRNA 合成酶 (aaRS) 基因和对应的tRNA 基因构建非天然氨基酸正交翻译系统 (Orthogonal translation system)。该正交翻译系统能利用终止密码子在蛋白翻译过程中将非天然氨基酸定点插入目标多肽链中。该技术不但是一种新的蛋白质生化研究工具，在新型基因工程病毒疫苗研究中更具有划时代的意义。利用人为构建的具有非天然氨基酸正交翻译系统的转基因细胞，通过在病毒复制的关键基因中引入提前终止密码子构建的突变病毒，在添加非天然氨基酸的情况下该基因仍能完整表达从而完成病毒的复制和传代，但该突变病毒在正常细胞 (无非天然氨基酸正交翻译系统的宿主细胞) 中因复制关键基因不能完整表达而无法复制传代，因而是一种复制缺陷型病毒。这种复制缺陷型病毒用作疫苗时兼具了减毒活疫苗免疫效果良好与灭活疫苗安全性高的优点，是一种较为理想的活病毒疫苗。文中简要综述了非天然氨基酸正交翻译技术在新型复制缺陷活病毒疫苗研究中的应用及其前景。.
Keywords: genetic engineering; orthogonal translation machinery; replication-deficient virus; unnatural amino acid; vaccine.