Transcription and Transport of Virus-Specific Ribonucleic Acids in African Green Monkey Kidney Cells Abortively Infected with Type 2 Adenovirus

The techniques of deoxyribonucleic acid-ribonucleic acid (DNA-RNA) hybridization and immunological precipitation were used to compare the synthesis of adenovirus-specific macromolecules in African green monkey kidney (AGMK) cells infected with adenovirus, an abortive infection, and coinfected with both adenovirus and simian virus 40 (SV40), which renders the cells permissive for adenovirus replication. When viral protein synthesis was proceeding at its maximum rate, the incorporation of (14)C-amino acids into adenovirus structural proteins was about 90 times greater in the doubly infected cells than in cells infected only with adenovirus. However, the rates of synthesis of virus-specific ribonucleic acid appeared to be comparable in the two infections at all times measured. A time-dependent increase in the rate of RNA synthesis observed late in the abortive infection was dependent upon the prior replication of viral DNA. Moreover, all virus-specific RNA species that are normally made late in a productive adenovirus infection (i.e., the true late and class II early RNA species) were also detected in the abortive infection. Adenovirus-specific RNA was detected by molecular hybridization in both the cytoplasm and nuclei of abortively infected cells. Comparable amounts of viral RNA were found in the cytoplasmic fractions of AGMK cells infected either with adenovirus or with both adenovirus and SV40. The results of hybridization-inhibition experiments clearly showed that there was a class of virus-specific RNA molecules, representing about 30% of the total, in the nucleus that was not transported to the cytoplasm. This class of RNA was also identified in similar amounts in productively infected human KB cells. The difference in the abilities of cytoplasmic and nuclear RNA to inhibit the hybridization of virus-specific RNA from whole cells was shown not to be due to a difference in the molecular size of the RNA species from the two cell fractions or to the specific loss of a cytoplasmic species during RNA extraction procedures.     

Synthesis of human adenovirus early RNA species is similar in productive and abortive infections of monkey and human cells.

Northern (RNA) blot analysis has been used to show that synthesis of early mRNA species is similar in monkey cells productively or abortively infected with human adenovirus. mRNA species from all five major early regions (1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4) are identical in size and comparable in abundance whether isolated from monkey cells infected with adenovirus type 2 or with the host range mutant Ad2hr400 or coinfected with adenovirus type 2 plus simian virus 40. The mRNA species isolated from monkey cells are identical in size to those isolated from human cells. Production of virus-associated RNA is also identical in productive and abortive infections of monkey cells. Synthesis of virus-associated RNA is, however, significantly greater in HeLa cells than in CV1 cells at late times after infection regardless of which virus is used in the infection.     

Block to multiplication of adenovirus serotype 2 in monkey cells.

The block to adenovirus 2 (Ad2) multiplication in monkey cells can be overcome by coinfection with simian virus 40 (SV40). To identify this block we have compared the synthesis of Ad2 proteins in monkey cells infected with Ad2 alone (unenhanced) or with Ad2 plus SV40 (enhanced). Synthesis of viral proteins in enhanced cells was virtually identical to that found for permissive infection of human cells by Ad2 alone. In contrast, the unenhanced cells were strikingly deficient in the production of the IV (fiber) and 11.5K proteins whereas the synthesis of 100K and IVa2 was normal. Synthesis of a number of other proteins such as II, V, and P-VII was partially reduced. A similar specific reduction in synthesis of these proteins was found when their messages were assayed by cell-free translation. This result suggests that the block to Ad2 protein synthesis is at the RNA level rather than with the translational machinery of monkey cells. Analysis of the complexity and the concentration of Ak2-specific RNAs, using hybridization of restriction endonuclease fragments of the Ad2 genome to increasing concentrations of RNA, shows that although all species of late Ad2 mRNA are present, the concentration of several species is reduced sevenfold or more in unenhanced monkey cells as compared with enhanced cells. These species come from regions of the genome known to encode the deficient proteins. A model for the failure of adenovirus to multiply in monkey cells, based on abnormal processing of specific adenovirus messages, is presented.     

Early RNA of adenovirus type 3 in permissive and abortive infections.

Early adenovirus type 3 cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNAs from HeLa and BHK-21 cells were detected and mapped on the viral genome by gel blotting and hybridization techniques. The sizes and locations of the 16 adenovirus type 3 RNAs were identical in the two cell types, although relative molarities of the various RNA species differed. Each of the early adenovirus type 3 RNAs was associated with polysomes in both cell types, suggesting that the abortive infection of hamster cells does not result from a defect in early adenovirus type 3 mRNA biosynthesis. No RNAs from regions transcribed late in infection of permissive cells were detected in BHK-21 cells.     

mRNA from the transforming segment of the adenovirus 2 genome in productively infected and transformed cells.

We have identified two mRNA species transcribed from the adenovirus 2 genome section (HindIII-G fragment) believed to harbor genes for initiation and maintenance of cell transformation. The HindIII-G fragment occupies the left 7.5% of the genome and is transcribed from left to right [poly(U:G) r strand]. Poly(A)-terminated labeled mRNA was isolated from polyribosomes of adenovirus 2 early infected KB cells and from the transformed cell line 8617, hybridization purified using the HindIII-G fragment, and electrophoresed on formamide-polyacrylamide gels. Viral mRNA's of 24S (1.2 X 10(6) daltons) and 14S (4.5 X 10(5) daltons) were isolated from early infected cells and of 22S (1.0 X 10(6) daltons) and 14S from 8617 cells. Hybridization competition indicated that HindIII-G-specific mRNA was present in the polysomes at one-sixth the concentration late after infection as compared with early, indicating that the proteins coded by the transforming segment may be synthesized at reduced amounts during late stages. Only 1/10 the amount of RNA labeled late annealed to the G fragment as compared with that labeled early (per weight of RNA). Thus, synthesis of transforming gene mRNA is probably "turned off" late after infection. Both 24S (22S) and 14S mRNA's from infected and 8617 cells were complementary to the Hpa I-E fragment (left 4.1% of genome). The Hpa I-E fragment is too small to encode 24S and 14S species, which implies that the 5'-terminal regions of both species are coded by the same DNA sequences.     

Adenovirus transcription. IV. Synthesis of viral-specific RNA in human cells infected with temperature-sensitive mutants of adenovirus 5.

Cytoplasmic RNA sequences produced in HeLa cells infected with the adeno-virus 5 temperature-sensitive mutants ts1, ts2, ts9, ts17, ts18, ts19, ts20, ts22, ts49, ts36, and ts125 were characterized by hybridization to DNA probes generated by strand separation of restriction endonuclease fragments of adenovirus 5 DNA. Two "early' mutants defective in DNA synthesis, ts125 and ts36, fail to make wild-type levels of all previously reported classes of late RNA at the nonpermissive temperature. At 40.5 degrees C, both ts125 and ts36 synthesize a wild-type complement of early cytoplasmic RNA 16 h after infection. Under these conditions, no "late' cytoplasmic RNA sequences were observed. Similarly, nuclear RNA present in these cells resembled early cytoplasmic RNA rather than late nuclear RNA. All the late adenovirus 5 temperature-sensitive mutants synthesized normal wild-type levels of late cytoplasmic RNA at the nonpermissive temperature, except ts2, which appears to overproduce certain cytoplasmic species.     

Adenovirus transcription. V. Quantitation of viral RNA sequences in adenovirus 2-infected and transformed cells.

The concentrations, in copies per cell, of viral RNA sequences complementary to different regions of the genome were determined at 8, 18 and 32 hours after infection of human cells with adenovirus type 2: separated strands of fragments of ³²P-labelled adenovirus 2 DNA, generated by cleavage with restriction endonucleases EcoR1, Hpa1 and BamH1, were added to reaction mixtures at sufficient concentrations to drive hybridizations with infected or transformed cell RNA. Under these conditions, the fraction of ³²P-labelled DNA entering hybrid is directly proportional to the absolute amount of complementary RNA in the reaction.At 8 hours after infection in the presence of cytosine arabinoside, “early” viral messenger RNA sequences are present at a frequency of 300 to 1000 copies per cell. The abundance of early mRNA sequences in different lines of adenovirus 2-transformed rat cells is markedly lower than their concentration in lytically infected cells. Moreover, the abundance of early mRNA in a given transformed rat cell line reflects the number of copies of its template DNA sequences per diploid quantity of cell DNA. After the onset of the late phase of the lytic cycle, the abundance of one early mRNA species, that coding for a single-stranded DNA binding protein required for viral DNA replication, is amplified. Viral RNA sequences complementary to regions of the genome coding for other early mRNA sequences remain at the level observed at 8 hours after infection.Exclusively “late” viral mRNA sequences are present over a range of concentrations, 500 to 10,000 copies per cell, depending on the region of the genome. By 18 hours after infection, the nucleus contains approximately three times as much total, viral RNA as the cytoplasm. The abundant nuclear, viral RNA sequences at 18 hours are transcribed from a contiguous region, 65% of the genome in length. In some cases, viral RNA sequences complementary to mRNA sequences are very abundant in the nucleus. When cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions are mixed and incubated under annealing conditions, some mRNA sequences will anneal with more abundant, anti-messenger nuclear RNA sequences to form double-stranded RNA. Such annealing of nuclear, viral RNA to early, cytoplasmic mRNA sequences probably accounts for the inability to detect, by filter hybridization, certain classes of early mRNA sequences during the late stage of infection.     

Studies of Nondefective Adenovirus 2-Simian Virus 40 Hybrid Viruses IX. Template Topography in the Early Region of Simian Virus 40

The DNAs of the five nondefective adenovirus 2 (Ad2)-simian virus 40 (SV40) hybrid viruses contain overlapping segments of the early region of wild-type SV40 DNA. The complementary DNA strands of these five viruses have been separated with synthetic polyribonucleotides in isopycnic cesium chloride gradients. The relative amounts of early and late SV40 template in the DNA of each virus were determined by RNA-DNA hybridization with late lytic SV40 RNA, which contains sequences complementary to both templates. From the distribution of early and late templates in the five overlapping SV40 segments, we conclude that either the entire early region of SV40 is symmetrically transcribed in vivo, or, more probably, that the early SV40 templates are not contiguous.