Toward an in vitro system for picornavirus assembly: purification of mengovirus 14S capsid precursor particles.

Mengovirus 14S subviral protein particles generated in infected L cells and in a cell-free translation system primed with mengovirus RNA were purified by sucrose gradient centrifugation and immunoaffinity chromatography. The preparations from both sources contained essentially pure proteins epsilon, alpha, and gamma, as was demonstrated in terms of virus-specific proteins (by autoradiography) and total protein content (by silver staining of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis gels). These purified proteins sedimented as discrete particles at the 14S position when recentrifuged in sucrose gradients. Although their assembly properties have not yet been studied in detail, preliminary results indicate that during incubation with virion RNA the 14S particles purified from infected cells can form a structure cosedimenting with mature mengovirus.     

Assembly of mutant pilins in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: formation of pili composed of heterologous subunits.

Recently, we reported the degree of N-terminal processing within the cytoplasmic membranes of three mutant pilins from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAK with respect to leader peptide removal and the methylation of the N-terminal phenylalanine (B. L. Pasloske and W. Paranchych, Mol. Microbiol. 2:489-495, 1988). The results of those experiments showed that the deletion of 4 or 8 amino acids within the highly conserved N terminus greatly inhibited leader peptide removal. On the other hand, the mutation of the glutamate at position 5 to a lysine permitted leader peptide cleavage but inhibited transmethylase activity. In this report, we have examined the effects of these mutant pilins upon pilus assembly in a P. aeruginosa PAO host with or without the chromosomally encoded pilin gene present. Pilins with deletions of 4 or 8 amino acids in the N-terminal region were not incorporated into pili. Interestingly, pilin subunits containing the glutamate-to-lysine mutation were incorporated into compound pili together with PAO wild-type subunits. However, the mutant pilins were unable to polymerize as a homopolymer. When wild-type PAK and PAO pilin subunits were expressed in the same bacterial strain, the pilin subunits assembled into homopolymeric pili containing one or the other type of subunit.     

Serological Studies of an Acid-Labile O-Polysaccharide of Proteus vulgaris OX19 Lipopolysaccharide Using Human and Rabbit Antibodies

In a Weil-Felix test, sera from patients infected with Rickettsia sp. agglutinate Proteus OX types of bacteria and Proteus lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are responsible for the cross-reaction. Data on the character of LPS of one of the OX group strains, Proteus vulgaris OX19, are contradictory, and it remained unclear whether it has an O-polysaccharide (OPS) and is thus LPS of the smooth type (S) or not (rough-type LPS). Our studies showed that P. vulgaris OX19 (strain PZH-24) produces a smooth-type LPS that contains a long-chain OPS, but it undergoes depolymerization during mild acid hydrolysis conventionally used for LPS delipidation and loses the serological activity. An elucidation of the complete structure of OPS demonstrated the presence of a glycosyl phosphate linkage responsible for the acid-lability of the polysaccharide chain. In ELISA, both IgM type antibodies in a Weil-Felix test with human anti-Rickettsia typhi sera and rabbit anti-P. vulgaris OX19 antibodies reacted with OPS. Rabbit antibodies did not inhibit the cross-reaction with human antibodies and thus bind to different epitopes.     

The role of bacteriophage T7 exonuclease (gene 6) in genetic recombination and production of concatemers

Genetic analysis reported here shows that bacteriophage T7 exonuclease (gene 6) is necessary for intragenic and intergenic recombination in several areas of the T7 genetic map. This supports our previous conclusion (Lee & Miller, 1974) that the enzyme is necessary for T7 molecular recombination.Results of sucrose gradient analysis show that DNA concatemers are formed when both the T7 exonuclease (gene 6) and the T7 endonuclease (gene 3) are absent. Further results show that concatemers cannot be maintained in the absence of the exonuclease unless the endonuclease is also eliminated. Therefore, concatemers are formed by a process other than normal phage recombination. Selective defects in the recombination system do interfere with the stability of concatemers, however.     

Use of synthetic peptides to map the antigenic determinants of glycoprotein D of herpes simplex virus.

The predictive algorithm Surfaceplot (J.M.R. Parker, D. Guo, and R.S. Hodges, Biochemistry 25:5425-5432, 1986) was used to examine glycoprotein D of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) for amino acid residues with a high probability of being exposed on the molecular surface. Based on these data, 11 different peptides corresponding to 10-residue segments in the primary sequence of glycoprotein D and one 20-residue segment were synthesized, conjugated to carrier proteins, and used to generate specific antisera in rabbits. Two synthetic peptides predicted not to be on the surface of glycoprotein D were included as negative controls. The polyclonal antisera against individual synthetic peptide conjugates were in turn evaluated for their ability to recognize both isolated glycoprotein D and intact HSV-1 virions in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Based on Surfaceplot predictions, eight linear antigenic sites on glycoprotein D were thereby defined from the 12 antipeptide antisera prepared. Four of these sites contained epitopes to which complement-independent neutralizing antibodies could be generated. The latter sites corresponded to sequences 12 to 21, 267 to 276, 288 to 297, and 314 to 323 of the mature protein. An additional peptide sequence, 2 to 21, was found to generate antisera which had potent virus-neutralizing capacity in the presence of complement. Identification of a neutralizing epitope in the sequence 314 to 323 makes it likely that the membrane-spanning region of glycoprotein D is within the subsequent sequence, 323 to 339. Antipeptide antisera prepared in this study from 12 synthetic peptides contained 13 surface sites predicted by Surfaceplot, of which 7 were not predicted by the parameters of Hopp and Woods (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:3824-3828, 1981). Of these seven sites not predicted by the Hopp and Woods plot, all generated antipeptide antibodies that bound to HSV-1 virions and three of these seven sites generated neutralizing antibodies. In total, 8 of 12 synthetic peptides containing surface regions produced antipeptide antibodies that bound to HSV-1 virions and 5 of these generated neutralizing antibodies. These results suggest the advantages of Surfaceplot in mapping antigenic determinants in proteins.