The gene encoding the nonstructural protein of B19 (human) parvovirus may be lethal in transfected cells.

The B19 parvovirus is a cause of bone marrow failure in humans. B19 is toxic to erythroid progenitor cells in vitro. Viral products possibly responsible for toxicity were explored by transfection of cloned B19 genome into HeLa cells. The nonstructural (NS) protein was detected in cells 30 h after transfection. Plasmids containing the B19 genome were transfected with selectable marker genes in stable transformation assays. Plasmids that contained the left side of the B19 genome, which encodes the NS protein of the virus, inhibited antibiotic-resistant colony formation. Transformation occurred when NS protein expression was blocked by mutation. Suppression of transformation by NS protein was not tissue specific, suggesting a role for NS protein in toxicity for nonpermissive cells without parvovirus replication or virion accumulation.     

用巢式PCR检测育龄妇女人群人细小病毒B19感染的研究

目的调查人类细小病毒B19在武汉地区普通人群,尤其是育龄妇女中的感染状况。方法采集武汉地区2家医院的血液样本1700份,分为两组。以血清中提取的DNA为模板,进行巢式PCR扩增。结果第Ⅰ组（普通组,包括男性和女性）阳性检测率为4．50％,第Ⅱ组（妇女组）阳性检测率为8．33％。结论武汉地区育龄妇女的B19感染率高于普通人群,很有必要对孕妇进行诊断从而预防新生儿感染B19病毒。另外,由于巢式PCR具有灵敏、特异、简便等优点,适合于用来检测血液样本中的人细小病毒B19。     

Phylogenetic evidence for the rapid evolution of human B19 erythrovirus

Human B19 erythrovirus is a ubiquitous viral pathogen, commonly infecting individuals before adulthood. As with all autonomous parvoviruses, its small single-stranded DNA genome is replicated with host cell machinery. While the mechanism of parvovirus genome replication has been studied in detail, the rate at which B19 virus evolves is unknown. By inferring the phylogenetic history and evolutionary dynamics of temporally sampled B19 sequences, we observed a surprisingly high rate of evolutionary change, at approximately 10(-4) nucleotide substitutions per site per year. This rate is more typical of RNA viruses and suggests that high mutation rates are characteristic of the Parvoviridae.