Chimeric Virus as a Source of the Potato Leafroll Virus Antigen

Large quantities of potato leafroll virus (PLRV) antigen are difficult to obtain because this virus accumulates in plants at a low titer. To overcome this problem, we constructed a binary vector containing chimeric cDNA, in which the coat protein (CP) gene of the crucifer infecting tobacco mosaic virus (crTMV) was substituted for the coat protein gene of PLRV. The PLRV movement protein (MP) gene, which overlaps completely with the CP gene, was doubly mutated to eliminate priming of the PLRV MP translation from ATG codons with no changes to the amino acid sequence of the CP. The untranslated long intergenic region located upstream of the CP gene was removed from the construct. Transcribed powerful tobamovirus polymerase of the produced vector synthesized PLRV CP gene that was, in turn, translated into the protein. CP PLRV packed RNAs from the helical crTMV in spherical virions. Morphology, size and antigenic specificities of the wild-type and chimeric virus were similar. The yield of isolated chimera was about three orders higher than the yield of native PLRV. The genetic manipulations facilitated the generation of antibodies against the chimeric virus, which recognize the wild-type PLRV.     

Nucleolin Interacts with the Dengue Virus Capsid Protein and Plays a Role in Formation of Infectious Virus Particles

Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that can cause severe disease in humans and is considered a reemerging pathogen of significant importance to public health. The DENV capsid (C) protein functions as a structural component of the infectious virion; however, it may have additional functions in the virus replicative cycle. Here, we show that the DENV C protein interacts and colocalizes with the multifunctional host protein nucleolin (NCL). Furthermore, we demonstrate that this interaction can be disrupted by the addition of an NCL binding aptamer (AS1411). Knockdown of NCL with small interfering RNA (siRNA) or treatment of cells with AS1411 results in a significant reduction of viral titers after DENV infection. Western blotting and quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis revealed no differences in viral RNA or protein levels at early time points postinfection, suggesting a role for NCL in viral morphogenesis. We support this hypothesis by showing that treatment with AS1411 alters the migration characteristics of the viral capsid, as visualized by native electrophoresis. Here, we identify a critical interaction between DENV C protein and NCL that represents a potential new target for the development of antiviral therapeutics.     

Stage-Specific Inhibition of MHC Class I Presentation by the Epstein-Barr Virus BNLF2a Protein during Virus Lytic Cycle

The gamma-herpesvirus Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) persists for life in infected individuals despite the presence of a strong immune response. During the lytic cycle of EBV many viral proteins are expressed, potentially allowing virally infected cells to be recognized and eliminated by CD8⁺ T cells. We have recently identified an immune evasion protein encoded by EBV, BNLF2a, which is expressed in early phase lytic replication and inhibits peptide- and ATP-binding functions of the transporter associated with antigen processing. Ectopic expression of BNLF2a causes decreased surface MHC class I expression and inhibits the presentation of indicator antigens to CD8⁺ T cells. Here we sought to examine the influence of BNLF2a when expressed naturally during EBV lytic replication. We generated a BNLF2a-deleted recombinant EBV (ΔBNLF2a) and compared the ability of ΔBNLF2a and wild-type EBV-transformed B cell lines to be recognized by CD8⁺ T cell clones specific for EBV-encoded immediate early, early and late lytic antigens. Epitopes derived from immediate early and early expressed proteins were better recognized when presented by ΔBNLF2a transformed cells compared to wild-type virus transformants. However, recognition of late antigens by CD8⁺ T cells remained equally poor when presented by both wild-type and ΔBNLF2a cell targets. Analysis of BNLF2a and target protein expression kinetics showed that although BNLF2a is expressed during early phase replication, it is expressed at a time when there is an upregulation of immediate early proteins and initiation of early protein synthesis. Interestingly, BNLF2a protein expression was found to be lost by late lytic cycle yet ΔBNLF2a-transformed cells in late stage replication downregulated surface MHC class I to a similar extent as wild-type EBV-transformed cells. These data show that BNLF2a-mediated expression is stage-specific, affecting presentation of immediate early and early proteins, and that other evasion mechanisms operate later in the lytic cycle.     

Properties of the Coat Protein of a New Tobacco Mosaic Virus Coat Protein ts-Mutant

Amino acid substitutions in a majority of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) coat protein (CP) ts-mutants have previously been mapped to the same region of the CP molecule tertiary structure, located at a distance of about 70 Å from TMV virion axis. In the present work some properties of a new TMV CP ts-mutant ts21-66 (two substitutions I21 T and D66 G, both in the 70-Å region) were studied. Thermal inactivation characteristics, sedimentation properties, circular dichroism spectra, and modification by a lysine-specific reagent, trinitrobenzensulfonic acid, of ts21–66 CP were compared with those of wild-type (U1) TMV CP. It is concluded that the 70-Å region represents the most labile portion of the TMV CP molecule. Partial disordering of this region in the mutant CP at permissive temperatures leads to loss of the capacity to form two-layer aggregates of the cylindrical type, while further disordering induced by mild heating results also in the loss of the ability to form ordered helical aggregates.     

Minimal Features of Efficient Incorporation of the Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase Protein into Sendai Virus Particles

Two transmembrane glycoproteins form spikes on the surface of Sendai virus, a member of the Respirovirus genus of the Paramyxovirinae subfamily of the Paramyxoviridae family: the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and the fusion (F) proteins. HN, in contrast to F, is dispensable for viral particle production, as normal amounts of particles can be produced with highly reduced levels of HN. This HN reduction can result from mutation of an SYWST motif in its cytoplasmic tail to AFYKD. HN_AFYKD accumulates at the infected cell surface but does not get incorporated into particles. In this work, we derived experimental tools to rescue HN_AFYKD incorporation. We found that coexpression of a truncated HN harboring the wild-type cytoplasmic tail, the transmembrane domain, and at most 80 amino acids of the ectodomain was sufficient to complement defective HN_AFYKD incorporation into particles. This relied on formation of disulfide-bound heterodimers carried out by the two cysteines present in the HN 80-amino-acid (aa) ectodomain. Finally, the replacement of the measles virus H cytoplasmic and transmembrane domains with the corresponding HN domains promoted measles virus H incorporation in Sendai virus particles.     

Characterization of a New Stearoyl-acyl Carrier Protein Desaturase Gene from Jatropha curcas

A new full-length cDNA of stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturase was obtained by RT-PCR and RACE techniques from developing seeds of Jatropha curcas. Sequence alignment showed that its deduced amino acid sequence had high similarity with other stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturases. The gene was functionally expressed in E. coli and the desaturating activity of recombinant protein was easily detected when assayed in vitro with added spinach ferredoxin. Southern blot analysis indicated that the gene was a member of a small gene family. Northern blot analysis revealed it was highly expressed in developing fruits of J. curcas. Revisions requested 16 December 2005; Revisions received 6 February 2006     

乙肝核心抗原作为免疫载体蛋白的研究进展

乙肝核心抗原由于其天然的颗粒组装能力和特异性激发针对外源表位的体液免疫和细胞免疫作用的特性,成为载体蛋白研究的热点.本简要综述乙肝核心抗原的结构特点、免疫学特性、作为免疫载体蛋白的研究进展及其应用研究.     

A New Procedure for Quantitative Measurements of Virus Particles in Crude Preparations

A new method is described for the quantitative measurement of virus concentration in crude preparations by density gradient centrifugation and electron microscopy. The centrifugation is carried out in a specially designed centrifuge tube which permits separation and sedimentation of virus particles at different levels according to their sedimentation velocity. The gradient of a mixture of heavy and normal water (D(2)O-H(2)O) is designed to sediment the virus particles with constant velocity so that the optimal time of centrifugation can easily be calculated. The virus particles are collected on carbon-coated nickel grids floating on mercury at the bottom of the centrifuge tube and are counted by means of electron microscopy. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated with a crude plant extract of tobacco mosaic virus.     

Characterization of Hepatitis G Virus (GB-C Virus) Particles: Evidence for a Nucleocapsid and Expression of Sequences Upstream of the E1 Protein

Hepatitis G virus (HGV or GB-C virus) is a newly described virus that is closely related to hepatitis C virus (HCV). Based on sequence analysis and by evaluation of translational initiation codon preferences utilized during in vitro translation, HGV appears to have a truncated or absent core protein at the amino terminus of the HGV polyprotein. Consequently, the biophysical properties of HGV may be very different from those of HCV. To characterize HGV particle types, we evaluated plasma from chronically infected individuals with and without concomitant HCV infection by using sucrose gradient centrifugation, isopycnic banding in cesium chloride, and saline density flotation centrifugation. Similar to HCV, HGV particles included an extremely-low-density virion particle (1.07 to 1.09 g/ml) and a nucleocapsid of ~1.18 g/ml. One major difference between the particle types was that HGV was consistently more stable in cesium chloride than HCV. Plasma samples from chronically HGV-infected individuals and controls were assessed by a synthetic peptide-based immunoassay to determine if they contained HGV antibody specific for a conserved region in the coding region upstream of the E1 protein. Chronically HGV-infected individuals contained antibody to the HGV core protein peptide, whereas no binding to a hepatitis A virus peptide control was observed. Competitive inhibition of binding to the HGV peptide confirmed the specificity of the assay. These data indicate that HGV has a nucleocapsid and that at least part of the putative core region of HGV is expressed in vivo.     

Reactivity of Two Monoclonal Antibodies to the Cylindrical Inclusion Protein of Potato Virus Y

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were produced to the cylindrical inclusion (CI) protein of a necrotic strain of potato virus Y (PVY-N) and their reactivity tested with nine PVY isolates and 12 other potyviruses. mAb 95 showed a reactivity range larger than PVY, unlike mAb 88 which only recognised the PVY isolates. Moreover, immunogold labelling of the Cls of PVY-N, either in situ or in cell extracts, was only obtained with mAb 88, thus showing that the corresponding virus-specific epitope is located at the surface of the Cl polymer.     

猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒M蛋白介导的E蛋白假型鼠白血病病毒的构建

利用RT-PCR法扩增猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒(PRRSV)ORF5和ORF6基因,分别构建pcDNA-ORF5、pcD-NA-ORF5/6和pcDNA-ORF5-ORF6真核表达载体,磷酸钙共沉淀法瞬时转染293T细胞,48h后收集细胞,流式细胞仪检测,结果表明:PRRSV ORF5基因编码囊膜蛋白(E蛋白)能在在293T细胞表面表达,而由共表达M蛋白(ORF6基因编码的基质蛋白)介导的E蛋白的表达量比单独E蛋白表达量高,串联表达与单独E蛋白相比较低.将pcDNA-ORF5、pcDNA-ORF5/6和pcDNA-ORF5-ORF6分别与MuLV假病毒构建体系的两种骨架载体pHIT60(包括MuLV的结构蛋白基因,即gag和pol)和pHITlll(为MuLV的基因组,还包括一个报告基因LacZ)瞬时共转染293T细胞,48h后收集假病毒上清,超速离心后通过Western blot证实E蛋白能够在此假病毒颗粒表面表达,证明E蛋白已整合到此假病毒粒子表面.将整合PRRSVE蛋白的假病毒粒子分别感染Marc-145和PAM宿主靶细胞,均能检测到LacZ基因的表达,结果表明:所构建的假病毒粒子具有感染性,且由M蛋白介导的MuLv-E/M感染性比MuLV-E假病毒感染性高.     

应用核酶体外切割马铃薯卷叶病毒外壳蛋白基因的研究

针对马铃薯卷叶病毒外壳蛋白基因第356～358位点“GUC”．设计、合成了一种“锤头状”核酶。将核酶基因克隆在体外转录载体PSPT19的SP6启动子下游;同时将PLRVCPcDNA亚克隆在体外转录载体pSPT18的SP6启动子下游。利用SP6RNA聚合酶分别体外转录,获得核酶分子和靶RNA序列。在41℃保温进行核酶切割反应,检测到预期大小且被切开的两个RNA短片段。