Cleavage of Poliovirus-Specific Polypeptide Aggregates

Zonal electrophoresis resolves two aggregates of poliovirus type 2 cytoplasmic polypeptides. The more negatively charged aggregate contains mainly noncapsid viral-specific polypeptides (NCVP) 2 and x, whereas the other consists of the capsid polypeptides (VP) 0, 1, 2, and 3 (VP0, VP1, VP2, VP3). After treatment with sodium deoxycholate (DOC), the aggregates sediment at 5 to 6S. Their electrophoretic mobilities are unaffected by DOC or RNase. The capsid polypeptide aggregate is similar in mobility to virions but can be converted to a faster electrophoretic form, resembling empty capsids, by heating. If infected HeLa cells are allowed to synthesize poliovirus polypeptides in the presence of iodoacetamide, no capsid polypeptides are produced, but rather NCVP1a (the precursor to capsid polypeptides) is accumulated, along with NCVP2 and NCVPx. When analyzed by electrophoresis and centrifugation, uncleaved NCVP1a migrates with the NCVP2-x aggregate. NCVP1a can be cleaved to capsid-like polypeptides in vitro by using extracts of infected cells, but not uninfected cells, indicating either a virus-specified protease or a cellular enzyme activated during infection. After cleavage of NCVP1a by infected cell extracts, the capsid polypeptides which are produced dissociate from the NCVP2-x complex.     

Inhibition of proteolytic activity of poliovirus and rhinovirus 2A proteinases by elastase-specific inhibitors.

A polyprotein cleavage assay has been developed to assay the proteolytic activities in vitro of the 2A proteinases encoded by poliovirus and human rhinovirus 14, which are representative members of the Enterovirus and Rhinovirus genera of picornaviruses, respectively. The elastase-specific substrate-based inhibitors elastatinal and methoxysuccinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Val-chloromethylketone (MPCMK) inhibited both 2A proteinases in vitro. The electrophoretic mobilities of both 2A proteinases were reduced upon incubation with elastatinal, whereas the mobility of a Cys-109-->Ala poliovirus 2Apro mutant was unchanged, an observation suggesting that this inhibitor may have formed a covalent bond with the active-site Cys-109 nucleophile. Iodoacetamide, calpain inhibitor 1, and antipain inhibited poliovirus 2Apro. MPCMK caused a reduction in the yields of the enteroviruses poliovirus type 1 and coxsackievirus A21 and of human rhinovirus 2 in infected HeLa cells but did not affect the growth of encephalomyocarditis virus, a picornavirus of the Cardiovirus genus. MPCMK abrogated the shutoff of host cell protein synthesis that is induced by enterovirus and rhinovirus infection and reduced the synthesis of virus-encoded polypeptides in infected cells. These results indicate that the determinants of substrate recognition by 2A proteinases resemble those of pancreatic and leukocyte elastases. These results may be relevant to the development of broad-range chemotherapeutic agents against entero- and rhinoviruses.     

The unusual catalytic triad of poliovirus protease 3C

Picornaviruses are small pathogen RNA viruses, like poliovirus, hepatitis A virus, rhinovirus, and others. They produce a large polyprotein, which is cleaved by virally encoded cysteine peptidases, picornains 2A and 3C. Picornain 3C represents an intermediate between the serine peptidase chymotrypsin and the cysteine peptidase papain. Its steric structure resembles chymotrypsin, but its nucleophile is a thiol instead of the hydroxyl group. The histidine is a general base catalyst in chymotrypsin but forms a thiolate-imidazolium ion pair in papain. The third member of the catalytic triad is an acid (Glu71) as in chymotrypsin rather than an amide found in papain. Transformation of poliovirus 3C peptidase into a serine peptidase results in lower activity by a factor of 430, but the activity extends toward higher pH with the more basic hydroxyl group. The decrease in activity is caused by the less ordered active site, as supported by the unfavorable entropy of activation. At 25 degrees C the specificity rate constant for the thiol enzyme approaches k(1), the rate constant for the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex, but k(2), the acylation constant, becomes predominant with the increase in temperature. In contrast, for the serine peptidase the specificity constant is less than k(1) over the entire temperature range, and the transition state is controlled by both k(1) and k(2). The acidic component of the catalytic triad is essential for activity, but its negative charge does not influence the ionization of the thiol group.     

Trypsin inhibitor in mung bean cotyledons: purification, characteristics, subcellular localization, and metabolism

Trypsin inhibitor was purified to homogeneity from seeds of the mung bean (Vigna radiata [L.] Wilczek). The protease inhibitor has the following properties: inhibitory activity toward trypsin, but not toward chymotrypsin; isoelectric point at pH 5.05; molecular weight of 11,000 to 12,000 (sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis) or 14,000 (gel filtration); immunological cross-reactivity against extracts of black gram and black-eyed pea, but not against soybean; no inhibitory activity against vicilin peptidohydrolase, the principal endopeptidase in the cotyledons of mung bean seedlings.

The trypsin inhibitor content of the cotyledons declines in the course of seedling growth and the presence of an inactivating factor can be demonstrated by incubating crude extracts in the presence of β-mercaptoethanol. This inactivating factor may be a protease as vicilin peptidohydrolase rapidly inactivates the trypsin inhibitor. Removal of trypsin inhibitory activity from crude extracts by means of a trypsin affinity column does not result in an enhancement of protease activity in the extracts.

The intracellular localization of trypsin inhibitor was determined by fractionation of crude extracts on isopycnic sucrose gradients and by cytochemistry with fluorescent antibodies. Both methods indicate that trypsin inhibitor is associated with the cytoplasm and not with the protein bodies where reserve protein hydrolysis occurs. No convincing evidence was obtained which indicates that the catabolism of trypsin inhibitor during germination and seedling growth is causally related to the onset of reserve protein breakdown.

     

Inhibition mechanism of a peanut trypsin-chymotrypsin inhibitor, B-III: determination of the reactive sites for trypsin and chymotrypsin

Peanut inhibitor B-III was found to form two types of complexes with trypsin, T2I and TI, by gel filtration HPLC. Two cleaved peptide bonds, Arg(10)-Arg(11) and Arg(38)-Ser(39), in the trypsin modified inhibitor (TM-B-III*R*S) (J. Biochem. 93, 479-485 (1983] were resynthesized by the complex formation with 2 mol of trypsin. These results suggest that the two peptide bonds may be the reactive sites for trypsin. TM-B-III*R*S inhibited bovine trypsin as well as native B-III but had little chymotrypsin inhibitory activity. The two peptide bonds, Arg(10)-Arg(11) and Arg(38)-Ser(39), in B-III were cleaved partly by prolonged incubation with a catalytic amount of chymotrypsin. But gel filtration HPLC of the chymotrypsin-inhibitor complex showed the formation of only CI complex. Incubation of TM-B-III*R*S with an equimolar amount of chymotrypsin resulted in the resynthesis of only the Arg(10)-Arg(11) bond. These findings suggest that Arg(10)-Arg(11) may be a true reactive site for chymotrypsin. An inhibition mechanism of B-III against trypsin and chymotrypsin was proposed from the results obtained by the present studies.     

Membrane requirements for uridylylation of the poliovirus VPg protein and viral RNA synthesis in vitro

Efficient translation of poliovirus (PV) RNA in uninfected HeLa cell extracts generates all of the viral proteins required to carry out viral RNA replication and encapsidation and to produce infectious virus in vitro. In infected cells, viral RNA replication occurs in ribonucleoprotein complexes associated with clusters of vesicles that are formed from preexisting intracellular organelles, which serve as a scaffold for the viral RNA replication complex. In this study, we have examined the role of membranes in viral RNA replication in vitro. Electron microscopic and biochemical examination of extracts actively engaged in viral RNA replication failed to reveal a significant increase in vesicular membrane structures or the protective aggregation of vesicles observed in PV-infected cells. Viral, nonstructural replication proteins, however, bind to heterogeneous membrane fragments in the extract. Treatment of the extracts with nonionic detergents, a membrane-altering inhibitor of fatty acid synthesis (cerulenin), or an inhibitor of intracellular membrane trafficking (brefeldin A) prevents the formation of active replication complexes in vitro, under conditions in which polyprotein synthesis and processing occur normally. Under all three of these conditions, synthesis of uridylylated VPg to form the primer for initiation of viral RNA synthesis, as well as subsequent viral RNA replication, was inhibited. Thus, although organized membranous structures morphologically similar to the vesicles observed in infected cells do not appear to form in vitro, intact membranes are required for viral RNA synthesis, including the first step of forming the uridylylated VPg primer for RNA chain elongation.     

Proteolytic Cleavage of Subunits of the Nucleocapsid of the Paramyxovirus Simian Virus 5

The protein subunits of the nucleocapsid of the parainfluenza virus simian virus 5 isolated from infected cells after dispersion with trypsin, chymotrypsin, or ficin are cleaved proteolytically. The molecular weights of the subunits which result from cleavage depend on the enzyme used, but are around 43,000, compared to the native subunit of 61,000. In most instances cleavage of the subunit appears to be due to the protease used to disperse the cell, and follows cell disruption. Nucleocapsids composed of native, uncleaved subunits can frequently be obtained from infected cells dispersed without a proteolytic enzyme; however, cleavage occasionally occurs even under those conditions, indicating that cellular proteases can at times cleave this protein. Nucleocapsids containing uncleaved subunits can be isolated from cells persistently infected with simian virus 5, indicating that persistent infection is not invariably associated with intracellular cleavage of this protein. Nucleocapsids composed of native subunits are hydrophobic, whereas those composed of the cleaved subunit can be dispersed in aqueous solution. It is suggested that the portion of the molecule removed by cleavage may be responsible for a specific interaction during virus assembly between the nucleocapsid and those areas of plasma membrane which contain the non-glycosylated viral membrane protein, which is also hydrophobic. An amino acid analysis of native and cleaved subunits has been done. The portion of the subunit removed by cleavage does not have a high proportion of hydrophobic residues, suggesting that those present are arranged together to form a hydrophobic domain.The N termini of both the native and cleaved subunits are blocked. This suggests that the portion of the molecule which is externally disposed and removed by cleavage contains the C terminus, and the cleaved subunit which reacts with the viral RNA contains the N terminus.     

The secretory nature of the excretory gland cells of Strephanurus dentatus. 3. Proteinase inhibitors

A proteinase inhibitor(s) was found in extracts of the excretory gland cells, intestines, esophagi, reproductive organs, and body walls from Stephanurus dentatus adults. The specific activity of the inhibitor(s) in the excretory gland cell extract was 45–175 times greater than in the other tissues. It is heat stable at pH 5.0 and inhibits the esterolytic activity of trypsin and chymotrypsin using p-toluenesulfonyl-l-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (TAME) and benzoyl-l-tyrosine ethyl ester (BTEE) as the substrates, respectively, and also the proteolytic activity of both chymotrypsin and trypsin using casein as the substrate. S. dentatus adults maintained in NCTC 109 medium, secreted a trypsin inhibitor.     

Serine protease inhibitors of North American leeches

Serine protease inhibitors in extracts from three North American leeches, Nephelopsis obscura, Erpobdella punctata and Hemopis marmorata have been separated by anion exchange chromatography and the activity pattern against human granulocyte elastase and porcine chymotrypsin and trypsin determined. All three leech species contained a major peak with anti-trypsin activity, but Hemopis was unique in that the trypsin inhibitor was equally active against chymotrypsin. Nephelopsis was rich in anti-elastase activity of two types, one which was also active against chymotrypsin, and one which was a specific elastase inhibitor. Erpobdella contained inhibitors against elastase and chymotrypsin but with major activity against the latter.     

Unmyristylated Moloney murine leukemia virus Pr65gag is excluded from virus assembly and maturation events.

The gag precursor polyprotein of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MuLV) is normally modified by myristylation of the N-terminal glycine. Previous work showed that the Pr65gag lacking the myristylation site does not associate with cellular membranes or assemble into virus particles. We now report that it also is not cleaved to the mature gag cleavage products within the cell and that it sediments as a free 65-kilodalton monomer in detergent-free cell extracts containing 0.3 M NaCl. Even when the cells containing the mutant are productively infected with wild-type MuLV, the mutant Pr65gag is not processed into cleavage products and is not incorporated into the virions produced by these cells. Thus, the mutant gag molecules seem unable to participate in the normal processes of self-assembly and maturation. We propose that myristate-mediated membrane association is an essential first step in MuLV assembly. This association may also play a role in budding of MuLV.     

Purification of a trypsin inhibitor secreted by embryogenic carrot cells

A protease inhibitor with a molecular weight of about 12,800 was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from Daucus carota cells. The protease inhibitor was heat stable and inhibited trypsin but had no activity toward chymotrypsin or subtilisin. Nonembryogenic as well as embryogenic strains contained the inhibitor in similar amounts, but in the embryogenic strains the trypsin inhibitor was released from the cells and as a result accumulated in high concentrations in the culture medium, whereas no release of the trypsin inhibitor was found during cultivation of the nonembryogenic strains. Very low amounts of acid phosphatase or α-mannosidase activity were found in the culture filtrate of both embryogenic and nonembryogenic strains, which suggest that the release of the inhibitor from embryogenic strains was not due to cell lysis.     

Protease inhibitors of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and its wild relatives

Plant protease inhibitors have been implicated in defense against insect pests. Podborer and pod fly are major pests of developing seeds of pigeonpea ( Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.). Therefore, we studied the presence of protease inhibitors in seeds of pigeonpea and its wild relatives. Seed extracts were analyzed for protease inhibitor activities by caseinolytic assay, and the number of protease inhibitors determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Besides trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors, seed extracts contained weak papain inhibitor(s) but no bromelain inhibitor. Treatment of seed extract with bromelain generated new active forms of trypsin inhibitors. The relative amounts of different trypsin inhibitors and the total trypsin inhibitor activity varied with different extraction media. Trypsin inhibitors were not detectable in pigeonpea leaves. The profiles of trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors in almost all the cultivars of pigeonpea analyzed were similar; however, those in wild relatives were quite variable.     

Kosmotropic salt activation and substrate specificity of poliovirus protease 3C

Picornaviruses produce a large polyprotein, which is cleaved by virally encoded cysteine peptidases, picornain-2A and -3C. Picornain-3C has characteristics of both the serine peptidase chymotrypsin and the cysteine peptidase papain in that the 3D structure resembles chymotrypsin, but its nucleophile is a cysteine SH rather than a serine OH group. We investigated the specificity of poliovirus picornain-3C (PV3C) protease and the influence of kosmotropic salts on catalytic activity, using FRET peptides related to a cleavable segment of the virus polyprotein. The peptidase activity of PV3C was found to be 100-fold higher in the presence of 1.5 M sodium citrate. This activation was anion-dependent, following the Hofmeister series citrate(3-) > SO4(2-) > HPO4(2-) > acetate- > HCO3(-) > Cl-. The activation appeared to be independent of substrate sequence and arose primarily from an increase in kcat. A shift to higher pH was also observed for the pK1 of the enzyme pH-activity profile. Experiments with the fluorescent probe ANS (1-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate) showed that the protease bound the dye in the presence of 1 M sodium citrate but not in its absence or in the presence of 1 M NaCl. Structural changes in PV3C protease were detected using circular dichroism and the thermodynamic data indicated a more organized active site in the presence of sodium citrate. PV3C protease was also activated in D2O, which was added to the activation by citrate. These effects seem to be related to nonspecific interactions between the solvent and the protein. Our data show that the catalytic efficiency of PV3C protease is modulated by the composition of the environment and that this modulation may play a role in the optimal processing of polyprotein for the virus assembly that occurs inside specific vesicles formed in poliovirus-infected cells.     

A trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor from seeds of Bauhenia purpurea

A trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor was partially purified from Bauhenia purpurea seeds and separated from a second inhibitor by Ecteola cellulose chromatography. The factor inhibited bovine trypsin and chymotrypsin as well as pronase trypsin and elastase. It formed a complex with trypsin and with chymotrypsin, but a ternary complex could not be detected. Differences were detected in the effect on trypsin and on chymotrypsin, although one enzyme interfered with the inhibition of the other. The results obtained point to two active centers on the inhibitor for the trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibition such that the one cannot complex with the inhibitor after this inhibitor had complexed with the other.     

Intracellular precursors to the major glycoprotein of avian oncoviruses in chicken embryo fibroblasts.

A 96,000-dalton glycoprotein, p(96), was present in cell extracts obtained from gs-chf- chicken embryo fibroblasts infected with the avian RNA tumor viruses Rous-associated virus-2 subgroup B (RAV-2) and the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus subgroup A (SR-RSV-A), as well as from uninfected gsLchf+ (HE) cell extracts. It was not found in cell extracts from uninfected gs-chf- or gs+chf+ (HH) cells, nor from gs-chf- cells infected with envelope-deficient Bryan high-titer Rous sarcoma virus. Immunoprecipitation, kinetic, and biochemical data indicate the this polyprotein contains information that gives rise to the major virion glycoprotein gp85. A second polyprotein of 80,000 daltons, p/80), is also present in the RAV-2- and SR-RSV-A-infected gs-chf- cells. This second polyprotein contains less carbohydrate than p(96), and kinetic and biochemical data indicate that p(80) may be an immature form of p(96).     

Inhibition of trypsin and chymotrypsin by thiols. Biphasic kinetics of reactivation and inhibition induced by sodium periodate addition.

Biphasic kinetic data were obtained when trypsin (EC 3.4.21.4) which had previously been complexed with a thiol-containing inhibitor (present in Ehrlich ascites tumour cells) was incubated with incremental additions of periodate. At low concentrations of periodate the trypsin was re-activated whilst at higher concentrations of periodate the trypsin was irreversibly inhibited. This biphasic reactivation followed by inhibition was also demonstrated when trypsin was first inhibited by dithiothreitol and followed by incremental addition of periodate. Similar results were obtained with chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.21.1). Incremental additions of either dithiothreitol or periodate caused inhibition of both these enzymes. The biphasic kinetic data can be explained in terms of reduction and oxidation of a significant disulphide bond in both trypsin and chymotrypsin which can be cleaved by thiols in a disulphide exchange reaction [1]. This bond is thought to maintain the active centres of each of these enzymes in a conformation sterically favourable for enzymic cleavage of specific peptide bonds in the protein substrates (polymeric collagen fibrils and casein) employed in this study.     

Coordinate expression of multiple proteins in plant cells by exploiting endogenous kex2p-like protease activity

Simultaneous expression of multiple proteins in plants finds ample applications. Here, we examined the biotechnological application of native kex2p-like protease activity in plants for coordinate expression of multiple secretory proteins from a single transgene encoding a cleavable polyprotein precursor. We expressed a secretory red fluorescent protein (DsRed) or human cytokine (GMCSF), fused to a downstream green fluorescent protein (GFP) by a linker containing putative recognition sites of the kex2p-like protease in tobacco cells and referred to them as RKG and GKG cells, respectively. Our analyses showed that GFP is cleaved off the fusion proteins and secreted into the media by both RKG and GKG cells. The cleaved GFP product displayed the expected fluorescence characteristics. Using GFP immunoprecipitation and fluorescence analysis, the cleaved DsRed product in the RKG cells was found to be functional as well. However, DsRed was not detected in the RKG culture medium, possibly due to its tetramer formation. Cleaved and biologically active GMCSF could also be detected in GKG cell extracts, but secreted GMCSF was found to be only at a low level, likely because of instability of GMCSF protein in the medium. Processing of polyprotein precursors was observed to be similarly effective in tobacco leaf, stem and root tissues. Importantly, we also demonstrated that, via agroinfiltration, polyprotein precursors can be efficiently processed in plant species other than tobacco. Collectively, our results demonstrate the utility of native kex2p-like protease activity for the expression of multiple secretory proteins in plant cells using cleavable polyprotein precursors containing kex2p linker(s).     

Dipyridamole reversibly inhibits mengovirus RNA replication

Dipyridamole is an effective inhibitor of cardiovirus growth in cell culture. The effects of dipyridamole on mengovirus replication in vivo and in vitro were examined in the hope the drug could be used as an experimental analog of the poliovirus inhibitor guanidine. Guanidine selectively inhibits poliovirus RNA synthesis but not RNA translation, and as such, has been a valuable research tool. Although guanidine does not inhibit cardiovirus infection, a compound with similar discriminatory characteristics would be experimentally useful for parallel work with these viruses. We found that mengovirus plaque formation in HeLa or L cells was inhibited nearly 100% by the presence of 80 muM dipyridamole. The inhibitory effect was reversible and targeted an early step in the replication cycle. Studies with luciferase-expressing mengovirus replicons showed that viral protein synthesis was unaffected by dipyridamole, and rather, RNA synthesis was the step targeted by the drug. This assessment was confirmed by direct analyses of viral translation and RNA synthesis activities in a Krebs-2-derived in vitro system that supported complete, infectious cardiovirus replication. In Krebs extracts, dipyridamole specifically inhibited viral RNA synthesis to more than 95%, with no concomitant effect on viral protein translation or polyprotein processing. The observed inhibition reversibly affected an early step in both minus-strand and plus-strand RNA synthesis, although inhibition of plus-strand synthesis was more profound than that of minus-strand synthesis. We conclude that dipyridamole is a potent experimental tool that readily distinguishes between cardiovirus translation and RNA replication functions.     

A trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor from chick peas (Cicer arietinum).

1. A trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor was isolated by extraction of chick-pea meal at pH8.3, followed by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and successive column chromatography on CM-cellulose and calcium phosphate (hydroxyapatite). 2. The inhibitor was pure by polyacrylamide-gel and cellulose acetate electrophoresis and by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels. 3. The inhibitor had a molecular weight of approx. 10000 as determined by ultracentrifugation and by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate. A molecular weight of 8300 was resolved from its amino acid composition. 4. The inhibitor formed complexes with trypsin and chymotrypsin at molar ratios of 1:1. 5. Limited proteolysis of the inhibitor with trypsin at pH3.75 resulted in hydrolysis of a single-Lys-X-bond and in consequent loss of 85% of the trypsin inhibitory activity and 60% of the chymotrypsin inhibitory activity. Limited proteolysis of the inhibitor with chymotrypsin at pH3.75 resulted in hydrolysis of a single-Tyr-X-bond and in consequent loss of 70% of the trypsin inhibitory activity and in complete loss of the chymotrypsin inhibitory activity. 6. Cleavage of the inhibitor with CNBr followed by pepsin and consequent separation of the products on a Bio Gel P-10 column, yielded two active fragments, A and B. Fragment A inhibited trypsin but not chymotrypsin, and fragment B inhibited chymotrypsin but not trypsin. The specific trypsin inhibitory activity, on a molar ratio, of fragment A was twice that of the native inhibitor, suggesting the unmasking of another trypsin inhibitory site as a result of the cleavage. On the other hand, the specific chymotrypsin inhibitory activity of fragment B was about one-half of that of the native inhibitor, indicating the occurrence of a possible conformational change.