The OBF1 protein and its DNA-binding site are important for the function of an autonomously replicating sequence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The autonomously replicating sequence ARS121 was cloned as a 480-base-pair (bp) long DNA fragment that confers on plasmids autonomous replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This fragment contains two OBF1-binding sites (sites I and II) of different affinities, as identified by a gel mobility shift assay and footprint analysis. Nucleotide substitutions (16 to 18 bp) within either of the two sites obliterated detectable in vitro OBF1 binding to the mutagenized site. Linker substitution (6 bp) mutations within the high-affinity site I showed effects similar to those of the complete substitution, whereas DNA mutagenized outside the binding site bound OBF1 normally. We also tested the mitotic stability of centromeric plasmids bearing wild-type and mutagenized copies of ARS121. Both deletion of the sites and the extensive base alterations within either of the two OBF1-binding sites reduced the percentage of plasmid-containing cells in the population from about 88% to 50 to 63% under selective growth and from about 46% to 15 to 20% after 10 to 12 generations of nonselective growth. Furthermore, linker (6 bp) substitutions within site I, the high-affinity binding site, showed similar deficiencies in plasmid stability. In contrast, plasmids containing linker substitutions in sequences contiguous to site I displayed wild-type stability. In addition, plasmid copy number analysis indicated that the instability probably resulted not from nondisjunction during mitosis but rather from inefficient plasmid replication. The results strongly support the notion that the OBF1-binding sites and the OBF1 protein are important for normal ARS function as an origin of replication.     

Independent activation of subfornical organ and hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system during administration of angiotensin II

The autoradiographic deoxyglucose method was employed to investigate: 1) whether the increased glucose utilization in the subfornical organ (SFO) during administration of angiotensin II (AII) depends on the neural inputs to the SFO; and 2) to investigate whether the activation of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system during administration of AII depends on inputs from the SFO. The ventral stalk of the SFO, which contains the majority of efferent and afferent projections of this circumventricular structure, was interrupted with knife cuts three days before the deoxyglucose experiments. Intravenous infusion of AII (2.5 micrograms/min) for 45 min increased glucose utilization in the SFO and neural lobe in the lesioned animals to the same extent as in the sham-operated animals. Drinking, however, was significantly reduced in lesioned animals. These experiments disclose independent parallel mechanisms responsible for activation of the SFO and the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system by AII.     

Halophilic proteins and the influence of solvent on protein stabilization

Competition between protein-solvent and protein-protein interactions is arguably the most important contributing factor to polypeptide folding in general. A study of halophilic proteins, correlating their stability and solution structures in different conditions, focuses on the effects of a high salt solvent. A mechanism is proposed to explain how these proteins have adapted to such an extreme environment.     

Antigenic analysis of a major neutralization site of herpes simplex virus glycoprotein D, using deletion mutants and monoclonal antibody-resistant mutants.

Herpes simplex virus glycoprotein D is a component of the virion envelope and appears to be involved in attachment, penetration, and cell fusion. Monoclonal antibodies against this protein can be arranged in groups on the basis of a number of biological and biochemical properties. Group I antibodies are type common, have high complement-independent neutralization titers, and recognize discontinuous (conformational) epitopes; they are currently being used in several laboratories to study the functions of glycoprotein D. We have used a panel of neutralization-resistant mutants to examine the relationships between these antibodies in detail. We found that they can be divided into two subgroups, Ia and Ib, such that mutations selected with Ia antibodies have little or no effect on binding and neutralization by Ib antibodies and vice versa. In addition, Ia antibodies are able to bind deletion and truncation mutants of glycoprotein D that Ib antibodies do not recognize, suggesting that their epitopes are physically distinct. However, with one exception, Ia and Ib antibodies block each other strongly in binding assays with purified glycoprotein D, whereas antibodies from other groups have no effect. We have therefore defined the sum of the Ia and Ib epitopes as antigenic site 1.     

A selection cartridge for rapid detection and analysis of spontaneous mutations including insertions of transposable elements in Enterobacteriaceae

Summary We present a method that allows positive selection and rapid analysis of mutations in Enterobacteriaceae. Mutations are detected in a 2630 bp selection cartridge inserted in two different bacterial mutlicopy plasmid vectors. Spontaneous mutations in Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae and Citrobacter freundii include insertions, deletions and point mutations. The small size of the target sequence facilitates rapid analysis of DNA rearrangements by cleavage with restriction enzymes and of any type of mutation by DNA sequence analysis. While in E. coli insertions of the mobile elements IS1, IS2 and IS5 were readily found, insertions of putative new transposable elements were detected in Enterobacter cloacae. The selection cartridge can thus serve as a tool for studying the spectrum of insertion mutations in Enterobacteriaceae and probably other Gramnegative bacteria, and the dependency of this spectrum on physiological and environmental factors and the host's genetic background can be investigated.     

Inhibition of lipopolysaccharide activation of 7OZ/3 cells by anti-lipopolysaccharide antibodies

We have investigated the ability of mAb against LPS to inhibit LPS-induced activation of 7OZ/3 pre-B cells. The fine specificity and relative affinity of these mAb for lipid A and LPS were also determined. We found that antibodies inhibited only the activity of glycolipids which they bound with relatively high affinity. However, two high affinity antibodies binding to non-lipid A epitopes did not block cellular activation. Some, but not all, relatively high affinity antibodies binding to the lipid A region of the LPS molecule inhibited biologic activity. The inhibitory antibodies bound to at least two distinct epitopes within the lipid A region. These data suggest that LPS interacts with 7OZ/3 cells in a highly specific fashion.     

Characterization of a recombinant herpes simplex virus which expresses a glycoprotein D lacking asparagine-linked oligosaccharides.

Glycoprotein D (gD) is an envelope component of herpes simplex virus essential for virus penetration. gD contains three sites for addition of asparagine-linked carbohydrates (N-CHO), all of which are utilized. Previously, we characterized mutant forms of herpes simplex virus type 1 gD (gD-1) lacking one or all three N-CHO addition sites. All of the mutants complemented the infectivity of a gD-minus virus, F-gD beta, to the same extent as wild-type gD. Here, we show that recombinant viruses containing mutations in the gD-1 gene which eliminate the three N-CHO signals are viable. Two such viruses, called F-gD(QAA)-1 and F-gD(QAA)-2, were independently isolated, and the three mutations in the gD gene in one of these viruses were verified by DNA sequencing. We also verified that the gD produced in cells infected by these viruses is devoid of N-CHO. Plaques formed by both mutants developed more slowly than those of the wild-type control virus, F-gD(WT), and were approximately one-half the size of the wild-type. One mutant, F-gD(QAA)-2, was selected for further study. The QAA mutant and wild-type gD proteins extracted from infected cells differed in structure, as determined by the binding of monoclonal antibodies to discontinuous epitopes. However, flow cytometry analysis showed that the amount and structure of gD found on infected cell surfaces was unaffected by the presence or absence of N-CHO. Other properties of F-gD(QAA)-2 were quite similar to those of F-gD(WT). These included (i) the kinetics of virus production as well as the intracellular and extracellular virus titers; (ii) the rate of virus entry into uninfected cells; (iii) the levels of gB, gC, gE, gH, and gI expressed by infected cells; and (iv) the turnover time of gD. Thus, the absence of N-CHO from gD-1 has some effect on its structure but very little effect on its function in virus infection in cell culture.     

Protein-DNA interactions in the cAMP responsive promoter region of the murine ornithine decarboxylase gene.

To evaluate the function of the murine ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) gene promoter, expression of chimeric ODC-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) plasmids (pODCcat) containing 1,658 nt of the ODC promoter sequence and its various 5'-deletions was analyzed. In transient expression assays with NIH/3T3 mouse cells, pODCcat constructs exhibited fairly strong promoter activity yielding CAT values up to 40% of those obtained with the viral promoter RSV. Interestingly, 5'-deletions of the pODCcat constructs increased the promoter activity over that achieved using the entire 1.6-kb 5'-flanking region, with the highest activity being observed with about 750 nt of the ODC promoter. This finding suggests that the distal part of the promoter includes DNA elements which are involved in repressing its function. The promoter region could be deleted down to the proximal 97 nt and still be stimulated by cAMP to the same extent as the 1.6-kb promoter. DNase I footprinting and methylation interference studies showed that a specific protein binds to the region from -59 to -39, which encompasses a DNA motif resembling the consensus cyclic AMP response element (CRE). However, comparative gel retardation and Southwestern blotting experiments with the putative ODC-CRE and the somatostatin promoter CRE indicated that the 70-kDa protein interacting with the CRE-like element of the ODC promoter is different from the well-characterized nuclear CRE-binding protein CREB.