Synthesis of Capsid and Noncapsid Viral Proteins in Response to Encephalomyocarditis Virus Ribonucleic Acid in Animal Cell-Free Systems

The polypeptide products formed in two cell-free protein-synthetic systems programmed with encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus ribonucleic acid (RNA) have been compared with the virus-specific proteins found in EMC-infected cells and with the capsid proteins of the purified virion. Tryptic peptides of (35)S-methioninelabeled proteins from these three sources were compared by co-chromatography and electrophoresis and by isoelectric focussing. Fifty-two methionine-containing peptides were resolved in digests of material from infected cells, of which about one-third were also clearly present in digests of the virion capsid proteins. The product formed in response to EMC RNA in cell-free systems from Krebs mouse ascites tumor cells yielded 26 to 29 such peptides. Most of these peptides were shown to behave identically with virus-specific peptides from infected cells, whereas just under half of them appeared to be identical with peptides from the virion capsid proteins. The product formed in response to EMC RNA in the L-cell cell-free system was similar, whereas six additional EMC-specific peptides were detected in mixed Krebs L-cell systems. The results indicate that the EMC RNA genome is partially translated in the mouse cell-free systems used to yield products containing both virion capsid and virus-specific noncapsid polypeptides.     

Polyoma virus complementary RNA directs the in vitro synthesis of capsid proteins VP1 and VP2.

Polyoma virus complementary RNA, synthesized in vitro by using highly purified Escherichia coli RNA polymerase and nondefective form I polyoma DNA, was translated in a wheat germ cell-free system. Polypeptides were synthesized that comigrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels with the polyoma capsid proteins VP1 and VP2, although most of the cell-free products were of smaller molecular weights. The VP1-size protein specifically immunoprecipitated with anti-polyoma virus serum, and upon digestion by trypsin yielded [35S]methionine-labeled tryptic peptides that co-chromatographed with the [3H]methionine-labeled tryptic peptides of virion-derived VP1 on both cation-exchange and anion-exchange resins. The VP2-size in vitro product contained all the virion VP2 methionine-labeled tryptic peptides, as shown by cation- and anion-exchange chromatography and two-dimensional fingerprinting on cellulose. We conclude that full-length polyoma VP1 and VP2 are synthesized in response to complementary RNA and consequently that the viral capsid proteins VP1, VP2, and VP3 are entirely virus coded.     

Cell-free synthesis of rat liver zinc-thioneins.

The induction of rat liver zinc-thioneins mRNA was studied in a wheat germ cell-free translation system. Liver poly A rich polysomal RNA was isolated from rats which had been injected with zinc sulfate 5 h previously. These RNA preparations stimulated the incorporation of [35S]cystine into trichloroacetic acid insoluble proteins when assayed in the cell-free synthetic system. The translation products were characterized by Sephadex G-75 chromatography in 8 M urea--50 mM beta-mercaptoethanol, by disc gel electrophoresis in 4 M area--Tris-glycine buffer (pH 9.2), and by peptide fingerprinting with pepsin. These results were identical with authentic rat liver zinc-thioneins. The zinc-thioneins mRNA activity in the control rats, however, was minimal. The stimulation in zinc-thioneins synthesis observed in the cell-free synthesis was similar to the increased synthesis of these polypeptides in vivo.     

Cell-free synthesis of mouse mammary tumor virus Pr77 from virion and intracellular mRNA.

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MuMTV) was purified from two cell lines (GR and Mm5MT/c1), and the genomic RNA was isolated and translated in vitro in cell-free systems derived from mouse L cells and rabbit reticulocytes. The major translation product in both systems was a protein with the molecular weight 77,000. Several other products were also detected, among them a 110,000-dalton and in minor amounts a 160,000-dalton protein. All three polypeptides were specifically immunoprecipitated by antiserum raised against the major core protein of MuMTV (p27), but they were not precipitated by antiserum against the virion glycoprotein gp52. Analysis of the in vitro products by tryptic peptide mapping established their relationship to the virion non-glycosylated structural proteins. The 77,000-dalton polypeptide was found to be similar, if not identical, to an analogous precursor isolated from MuMTV-producing cells. Peptide mapping of the 110,000-dalton protein shows that it contains all of the methionine-labeled peptides found in the 77,000-dalton protein plus some additional peptides. We conclude that the products synthesized in vitro from the genomic MuMTV RNA are related to the non-glycosylated virion structural proteins. Polyadenylic acid-containing RNA from MuMTV-producing cells also directed the synthesis of the 77,000-dalton polypeptide in the L-cell system. If this RNA preparation was first fractionated by sucrose gradient centrifugation the 77,000-dalton protein appeared to be synthesized from mRNA with a sedimentation coefficient between 25 and 35S.     

Properties of biologically active messenger RNA from human placenta. Cell-free synthesis of two immunoreactive forms of placental lactogen.

In order to understand better the regulation of human placental proteins the activity of placental lactogen messenger RNA has been examined. Total RNA was extracted from normal term placentas and purified by chromatography on oligo(dT)-cellulose. The poly(A)-containing fraction stimulated amino acid incorporation 5- to 10-fold in wheat germ cell-free extracts, and immunoprecipitation of the translation products with antiserum directed against human placental lactogen (hPL) suggests that about 2% of the peptides contain hPL determinants. Analysis of the material precipitated with hPL antiserum by electrophoresis on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels revealed two major species, one co-migrating with hPL and the other migrating slightly slower than hPL. On DEAE-cellulose chromatography the former material eluted close to authentic hPL while the latter material eluted at higher ionic strength than hPL, indicating a difference in net charge of these two species. Tryptic peptide analysis of the large material and authentic hPL shows marked similarities in the primary structure of these two proteins. The slower migrating peptide has an apparent molecular weight about 3000 larger than hPL and thus may represent a precursor molecule. Both cell-free products could be competed out of immunoprecipitates by a large excess of authentic hPL, confirming their immunologic similarities. Centrifugation of the placental poly(A)-containing RNA through aqueous glycerol gradients indicates that the hPL mRNA sediments at about 14 S.     

Androgenic regulation of messenger RNA in rat epididymis

1. The regulation by testosterone of mRNA complexity and mRNA activity was investigated in rat caput and cauda epididymidis. 2. The sequence complexity of cytoplasmic poly(A)-containing RNA from normal rats was determined by homologous hybridization with radiolabelled complementary DNA probes by using RNA in excess. Computer analysis of results suggested that hybridization could best be described by curves composed of two components distinguished by their relative abundance. Thus caput-epididymidal RNA consists of approx. 260 moderately abundant and 16400 scarce sequences, whereas cauda-epididymidal RNA consists of approx. 124 moderately abundant and 13400 scarce sequences. Judging by heterologous-hybridization reactions, castration did not result in appreciable alterations in either sequence complexity or the relative abundance of the two classes of poly(A)-containing RNA. 3. To investigate if individual mRNA sequences were regulated by androgens, mRNA was translated in a cell-free system derived from reticulocyte lysate. Since most of the translation products had a different mobility on sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gels from the authentic proteins synthesized in tissue minces, antibodies were used to identify specific translation products. Antibodies to the two related major proteins (mol.wt. 18500 and 19000) secreted by the caput epididymidis and whose synthesis is stimulated by testosterone both precipitated a single translation product of mol.wt. 21000. That this polypeptide was a precursor to the secreted proteins was suggested by the fact that the addition of microsomal membranes isolated from dog pancreas resulted in the appearance of a polypeptide of mol. wt. 19000. 4. Translation of RNA from the caput epididymidis of rats of different hormonal status showed that mRNA activity for the 21000-dalton polypeptide declined after castration, but could be restored by treating rats with testosterone. 5. It is concluded that testosterone stimulates the synthesis of a major protein secreted by the caput epididymidis by regulating its mRNA activity.     

Coronavirus multiplication: locations of genes for virion proteins on the avian infectious bronchitis virus genome.

Six overlapping viral RNAs are synthesized in cells infected with the avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). These RNAs contain a 3'-coterminal nested sequence set and were assumed to be viral mRNAs. The seven major IBV virion proteins are all produced by processing of three polypeptides of ca. 23, 51, and 115 kilodaltons. These are the core polypeptides of the small membrane proteins, the nucleocapsid protein, and the 155-kilodalton precursor to the large membrane proteins GP90 and GP84, respectively. To determine which mRNAs specify these polypeptides, we isolated RNA from infected cells and translated it in a messenger-dependent rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Proteins of 23, 51, and 110 kilodaltons were produced. Two-dimensional tryptic peptide mapping demonstrated that these proteins were closely related to the major virion proteins. Fractionation of the RNA before cell-free translation permitted the correlation of messenger activities for synthesis of the proteins with the presence of specific mRNAs. We found that the smallest RNA, RNA A, directs the synthesis of P51, the nucleocapsid protein. RNA C, which contains the sequences of RNA A, directs the synthesis of the small membrane protein P23. RNA E directs the synthesis of the large virion glycoproteins. These results supported a model in which only the unique 5'-terminal domain of each IBV mRNA is active in translation and enabled us to localize genes for virion proteins on the IBV genome.     

Encephalomyocarditis virus RNA. II. Polyadenylic acid requirement for efficient translation.

Differentially polyadenylated subpopulatons of encephalomyocarditis (EMC) viral RNA were isolated by affinity chromatography on oligodeoxythymidylic acid-cellulose. Translation of these RNA fractions in several in vitro protein-synthesizing systems, isolated from Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, demonstrated that poly(A)+EMC viral RNA was translated two to three times more efficiently than poly(A)-EMC viral RNA. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis of the polypetides synthesized by the in vitro system in response to the different RNAs showed no detectable differences in the size or relative amount- of the translational products. mRNA saturation curves indicated that the in vitro systems were stimulated maximally by equivalent amounts of RNA, wheter it be poly(A)-or poly(A)+ EMC viral RNA. Time course experiments showed that the differences in translatability were more pronounced late in the reaction when reinitiation was required, and that by eliminating reinitiation with high salt the apparent effect of poly(A) on translation was diminished. Together, these results suggest that poly(A) may be required for efficient initiation and reinitiation of protein synthesis in the cell-free systems. This interpretation is discussed relative to earlier data.     

In Vitro Synthesis of Proteins by Membrane-Bound Polyribosomes from Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Infected HeLa Cells

Membrane-bound polysomes from vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-infected HeLa cells synthesize predominantly three proteins in an in vitro protein synthesizing system. These three proteins have different molecular weights than the viral structural proteins, i.e., 115,000, 88,000, and 72,000. Addition of preincubated L or HeLa cell S10 or HeLa cell crude initiation factors stimulates amino acid incorporation and, furthermore, alters the pattern of proteins synthesized. Stimulated membrane-bound polysomes synthesize predominantly viral protein G and lesser amounts of N, NS, and M. In vitro synthesized proteins G and N are very similar to virion proteins G and N based on analysis of tryptic methionine-labeled peptides. Most methionine-labeled tryptic peptides of virion G protein contain no carbohydrate moieties, since about 90% of sugar-labeled peptides co-chromatograph with only about 10% of methionine-labeled peptides. Sucrose gradient analysis of the labeled RNA present in VSV-infected membrane-bound polysomes reveals a relative enrichment in a class of viral RNA sedimenting slightly faster than the total population of the 13 to 15S mRNA, as compared to a VSV-infected crude cytoplasmic extract. A number of proteins, other than the viral structural proteins, are synthesized in the cytoplasm of five lines of VSV-infected cells. One of these proteins has the same molecular weight as the major in vitro synthesized protein, P(88). In vitro synthesized protein P(88) does not appear to be a precursor of viral structural proteins G, N, or M based on pulse-chase experiments and tryptic peptide mapping. Nonstimulated membrane-bound polysomes from uninfected HeLa cells synthesize the same size distribution of proteins as nonstimulated VSV-infected membrane-bound polysomes.     

Translation and processing of mouse hepatitis virus virion RNA in a cell-free system.

The first event after infection with mouse hepatitis virus strain A59 (MHV-A59) is presumed to be the synthesis of an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from the input genomic RNA. The synthesis and processing of this putative polymerase protein was studied in a cell-free translation system utilizing 60S RNA from MHV-A59 virions. The polypeptide products of this reaction included two major species of 220 and 28 kilodaltons. Kinetics experiments indicated that both p220 and p28 appeared after 60 min of incubation and that protein p28 was synthesized initially as the N-terminal portion of a larger precursor protein. When the cell-free translation products were labeled with N-formyl[35S]methionyl-tRNAi, p28 was the predominant radioactive product, confirming its N-terminal location within a precursor protein. Translation in the presence of the protease inhibitors leupeptin and ZnCl2 resulted in the disappearance of p28 and p220 and the appearance of a new protein, p250. This product, which approached the maximal size predicted for a protein synthesized from genomic RNA, was not routinely detected in the absence of inhibitors even under conditions which optimized the translation reaction for elongation of proteins. Subsequent chelation of ZnCl2 resulted in the partial cleavage of the precursor protein and the reappearance of p28. One-dimensional peptide mapping with Staphylococcus aureus V-8 protease confirmed the precursor-product relationship of p250 and p28. The results show that MHV virion RNA, like many other viral RNAs, is translated into a large polyprotein, which is cleaved soon after synthesis into smaller, presumably functional proteins. This is in marked contrast to the synthesis of other MHV proteins, in which minimal proteolytic processing occurs.     

Coronavirus JHM: Cell-Free Synthesis of Structural Protein p60

Sac(-) cells infected with murine coronavirus strain JHM shut off host cell protein synthesis and synthesized polypeptides with molecular weights of 150,000, 60,000, and 23,000. The 60,000- and 23,000-molecular-weight polypeptides comigrated with virion structural proteins p60 and p23, and the 60,000-molecular-weight protein was identified as p60 by tryptic peptide fingerprinting. Polyadenylate-containing RNA [poly(A) RNA] extracted from the cytoplasm of infected cells directed the synthesis of both 60,000- and 23,000-molecular-weight polypeptides in messenger-dependent cell-free systems derived from mouse L-cells and rabbit reticulocytes. The reticulocyte system also synthesized a 120,000-molecular-weight polypeptide that was specifically immunoprecipitated by antiserum raised against JHM virions. The identity of the 60,000- and 23,000-molecular-weight in vitro products was established by comigration with virion proteins, immunoprecipitation, and in the case of p60, tryptic peptide fingerprinting. The cytoplasmic poly(A) RNAs which encoded p60 and p23 sedimented in sucroseformamide gradients at 17S and 19S, respectively, and were clearly separable. These RNAs were among the major poly(A) RNA species synthesized in the cytoplasm of actinomycin D-treated cells late in infection, and the in vitro translation of size-fractionated RNA released from polysomes confirmed that they represent physiological mRNA's. These results suggest that the expression of the coronavirus JHM genome involves more than one subgenomic mRNA.     

Synthesis of murine mammary tumor viral proteins in vitro

The coding potential of murine mammary tumor viral genomic RNA was investigated by in vitro translation of various size classes of RNAs isolated from the virions. The major products of translation of full-size 35S polyadenylylated virion RNA were gag-related polyproteins of 75,000, 105,000, and 180,000 daltons (P75, P105, and P180, respectively). Studies on the kinetics of translation of these three proteins established that they were synthesized independently and that the smaller proteins were not post-translational cleavage products of the larger proteins. Tryptic peptide mapping showed that almost all of the P75 sequences were contained within P105 and almost all of the P105 sequences were contained within P180. The syntheses of all three proteins were inhibited by m7GTP, indicating that they were translated from capped mRNA's. Although a 24S polyadenylylated RNA had been identified as the intracellular mRNA for env precursor polyprotein, no such protein could be translated from the 24S polyadenylylated RNA isolated from the virions. However, translation of a 14S size class of polyadenylylated virion yielded four prominent proteins of about 36,000, 23,000, 21,000, and 20,000 daltons. These proteins were unrelated to murine mammary tumor viral structural proteins, as suggested from tryptic peptide mapping and immunoprecipitation data. They might be the products of an as-yet-unidentified gene located near the 3' terminus of the murine mammary tumor viral genomic RNA.     

Use of specific single stranded DNA probes cloned in M13 to study the RNA synthesis of four temperature-sensitive mutants of HK/68 influenza virus.

Specific single stranded DNA probes have been obtained for both influenza virion RNA (vRNA) and complementary RNA (cRNA) by cloning a hemagglutinin gene fragment in the single stranded DNA phase M13. These probes were used for hybridization with the total labeled RNA from cytoplasmic extracts of infected cells. MDCK cells were infected with temperature-sensitive mutants of influenza HK/68 and the production of the virus specific RNA species was analysed at both permissive and restrictive temperatures. Results show that two NP mutants which undergo intracistronic complementation exhibit two different phenotypes at the non permissive temperature: ts2C is poly A cRNA and vRNA negative whereas ts463 is RNA positive. Two mutants of P genes were also analysed and we discuss the relationship existing between the synthesis of the three RNA species especially between poly A and non poly A cRNA.     

Intestinal glucagon mRNA identified by hybridization to a cloned islet cDNA encoding a precursor

Poly(A) RNA was prepared from the intestine of anglerfish and was translated in a wheat germ cell-free system supplemented with ³⁵S-methionine. SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the labeled translation products revealed that the intestinal poly(A) RNA directs the synthesis of many proteins. Immunoprecipitations of the intestinal cell-free translation products with an antiserum to glucagon known to recognize anglerfish islet pre-proglucagon failed to identify an intestinal glucagon precursor. However, sensitive techniques of hybridization with a ³²P-labelled cDNA containing the coding sequence for pancreatic glucagon identified a complementary RNA in the intestine. The mRNA of 620 bases is similar in size to the pre-proglucagon RNA in the islets (620–650 bases). These observations indicate that a gene encoding glucagon is expressed in the intestine, and that the mRNA encoding the intestinal glucagon precursor is of similar size to the pre-proglucagon mRNAs identified in the islets.     

Characterization of the mRNA''s for the polyoma virus capsid proteins VP1, VP2, and VP3.

Polyadenylated cytoplasmic RNA from polyoma virus-infected cells can be translated in the wheat germ system to yield all there polyoma virus capsid proteins, VP1, VP2, and VP3. The translation products of RNA selected from total cytoplasmic RNA of infected cells by hybridization to polyoma virus DNA showed a high degree of enrichment for VP1, VP2, and VP3. The identity of the in vitro products with authentic virion proteins was established in two ways. First, tryptic peptide maps of the in vitro products were found to be essentially identical to those of their in vivo counterparts. Second, the mobilities of the in vitro products on two-dimensional gels were the same as those of viral proteins labeled in vivo. VP1, VP2, and vp3 were all labeled with [35S] formylmethionine when they were synthesized in the presence of [35S] formylmethionyl-tRNAfmet. We determined the sizes of the polyadenylated mRNA's for VP1, VP2, and VP3 by fractionation on gels. The sizes of the major mRNA species for the capsid proteins are as follows: VP2, 8.5 X 10(5) daltons; VP3, 7.4 X 10(5) daltons; and VP1, 4.6 X 10(5) daltons. We conclude that all three viral capsid proteins are synthesized independently in vitro, that all three viral capsid proteins are virally coded, and that each of the capsid proteins has a discrete mRNA.