Comparison of promoter activity in Aleutian mink disease parvovirus, minute virus of mice, and canine parvovirus: possible role of weak promoters in the pathogenesis of Aleutian mink disease parvovirus infection.

Aleutian mink disease parvovirus (ADV) infection causes both acute and chronic disease in mink, and we have previously shown that it is the level of viral gene expression that determines the disease pattern. To study the gene regulation of ADV, we have cloned the P3 ADV and P36 ADV promoters in front of a reporter gene, the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene, and analyzed these constructs by transient transfection in a feline kidney cell line and mouse NIH 3T3 cells. The genes for ADV structural proteins (VP1 and VP2) and the nonstructural proteins (NS-1, NS-2, and NS-3) were cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector, and their functions in regulation of the P3 ADV and P36 ADV promoters were examined in cotransfection experiments. The ADV NS-1 protein was able to transactivate the P36 ADV promoter and, to a lesser degree, the P3 ADV promoter. Constitutive activities of the P3 ADV and P36 ADV promoters were weaker than those of the corresponding promoters from the prototypic parvovirus minute virus of mice (MVM) and canine parvovirus (CPV). Also, the level of transactivation of the P36 ADV promoter was much lower than those of the corresponding P38 MVM and P38 CPV promoters transactivated with MVM NS-1. Moreover, the ADV NS-1 gene product could transactivate the P38 MVM promoter to higher levels than it could transactivate the P36 ADV promoter, while the P36 ADV promoter could be transactivated by MVM NS-1 and ADV NS-1 to similar levels. Taken together, these data indicated that cis-acting sequences in the P36 ADV promoter play a major role in determining the low level of transactivation observed. The P3 ADV and P4 MVM promoters could be transactivated to some degree by their respective NS-1 gene products. However, in contrast to the situation for the late promoters, switching NS-1 proteins between the two viruses was not possible. This finding may indicate a different mechanism of transactivation of the early promoters (P3 ADV and P4 MVM) compared with the late (P36 ADV and P38 MVM) promoters. In summary, the constitutive levels of expression from the ADV promoters are weaker than the levels from the corresponding promoters of MVM and CPV. Moreover, the level of NS-1-mediated transactivation of the late ADV promoter is impaired compared with the level of transactivation of the late promoters of MVM and CPV.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Use of an autonomous parvovirus vector for selective transfer of a foreign gene into transformed human cells of different tissue origins and its expression therein.

In this work, we report the transduction of a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene into a variety of normal and transformed human cells of various tissue origins. The vector used was MVM/P38cat, a recombinant of the prototype strain of the autonomous parvovirus minute virus of mice (MVMp). The CAT gene was inserted into the capsid-encoding region of the infectious molecular clone of MVMp genome, under the control of the MVM P38 promoter. When used to transfect permissive cells, the MVM/P38cat DNA was efficiently replicated and expressed the foreign CAT gene at high levels. By cotransfecting with a helper plasmid expressing the capsid proteins, it was possible to produce mixed virus stocks containing MVM/P38cat infectious particles and variable amounts of recombinant MVM. MVM/P38cat viral particles were successfully used to transfer the CAT gene and to express it in a variety of human cells. Both viral DNA replication and P38-driven CAT expression were achieved in fibroblasts, epithelial cells, T lymphocytes, and macrophages in a transformation-dependent way, but with an efficiency depending on the cell type. In transformed B lymphocytes, however, the vector was not replicated, nor did it express the CAT gene.     

Molecular characterization of a newly recognized mouse parvovirus.

Mouse parvovirus (MPV), formerly known as orphan parvovirus, is a newly recognized rodent parvovirus distinct from both serotypes of minute virus of mice (MVM). Restriction analysis of the MPV genome indicated that many restriction sites in the capsid region were different from those of MVM, but most sites in the nonstructural (NS) region of the genome were conserved. MPV resembled MVM in genome size, replication intermediates, and NS proteins. Replication intermediates in infected cells were the same for MPV and MVM, including packaging of the 5-kb minus (V) strand. Furthermore, the MPV NS proteins were the same size as and present at the same ratio as the MVM(i) proteins in infected cells. Cloning and sequencing of the MPV genome revealed a genome organization closely resembling that of MVM, with conservation of open reading frames, promoter sequences, and splice sites. The left terminal hairpin was identical to that of MVM(i), but the right terminus was not conserved. Also, the MPV genome was unique in that it contained 1.8 copies of the terminal repeat sequence rather than the 1 or 2 copies found in other parvoviruses. The predicted amino acid sequence of the NS proteins of MPV and MVM(i) were nearly identical. In contrast, the predicted amino acid sequence of the capsid proteins of MPV was different from sequences of other parvoviruses. These results confirm that MPV is a distinct murine parvovirus and account for the antigenic differences between MPV and MVM.     

Complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of bovine parvovirus.

We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of bovine parvovirus (BPV), an autonomous parvovirus. The sequence is 5,491 nucleotides long. The terminal regions contain nonidentical imperfect palindromic sequences of 150 and 121 nucleotides. In the plus strand, there are three large open reading frames (left ORF, mid ORF, and right ORF) with coding capacities of 729, 255, and 685 amino acids, respectively. As with all parvoviruses studied to date, the left ORF of BPV codes for the nonstructural protein NS-1 and the right ORF codes for the major parts of the three capsid proteins. The mid ORF probably encodes the major part of the nonstructural protein NP-1. There are promoterlike sequences at map units 4.5, 12.8, and 38.7 and polyadenylation signals at map units 61.6, 64.6, and 98.5. BPV has little DNA homology with the defective parvovirus AAV, with the human autonomous parvovirus B19, or with the other autonomous parvoviruses sequenced (canine parvovirus, feline panleukopenia virus, H-1, and minute virus of mice). Even though the overall DNA homology of BPV with other parvoviruses is low, several small regions of high homology are observed when the amino acid sequences encoded by the left and right ORFs are compared. From these comparisons, it can be shown that the evolutionary relationship among the parvoviruses is B19 in equilibrium with AAV in equilibrium with BPV in equilibrium with MVM. The highly conserved amino acid sequences observed among all parvoviruses may be useful in the identification and detection of parvoviruses and in the design of a general parvovirus vaccine.