Derivatives of CAP having no solvent-accessible cysteine residues, or having a unique solvent-accessible cysteine residue at amino acid 2 of the helix-turn-helix motif.

The Escherichia coli catabolite gene activator protein (CAP) is a helix-turn-helix motif sequence-specific DNA binding protein. CAP contains a unique solvent-accessible cysteine residue at amino acid 10 of the helix-turn-helix motif. In published work, we have constructed a prototype semi-synthetic site-specific DNA cleavage agent from CAP by use of cysteine-specific chemical modification to incorporate a nucleolytic chelator-metal complex at amino acid 10 of the helix-turn-helix motif [Ebright, R., Ebright, Y., Pendergrast, P.S. and Gunasekera, A., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 2882-2886 (1990)]. Construction of second-generation semi-synthetic site-specific DNA cleavage agents from CAP requires the construction of derivatives of CAP having unique solvent-accessible cysteine residues at sites within CAP other than amino acid 10 of the helix-turn-helix motif. In the present work, we have constructed and characterized two derivatives of CAP having no solvent-accessible cysteine residues: [Ser178]CAP and [Leu178]CAP. In addition, in the present work, we have constructed and characterized one derivative of CAP having a unique solvent-accessible cysteine residue at amino acid 2 of the helix-turn-helix motif: [Cys170;Ser178]CAP.     

Use of “Loss-of-Contact” Substitutions to Identify Residues Involved in an Amino Acid-Base Pair Contact: Effect of Substitution of Gln18 of Lac Repressor by Gly,Ser, and Leu

Abstract

A procedure to identify which base pair of lac operator (lacO) a suspected contacting amino acid of Lac repressor (LacR) interacts with is presented. The procedure is to eliminate the ability of the amino acid under study to contact DNA, and then to determine at which base pair—if any—specificity is eliminated. To implement this procedure, four sets of Escherichia coli K-12 strains have been constructed. These strains permit: (i) the substitution of a selected amino acid of LacR by, respectively, Gly, Ser, Leu, or Gln, and (ii) the analysis of the specificity of the resulting substituted LacR with respect to base pairs 5,6,7,8,9, and 10 of lacO. This procedure has been applied to Gln18 of LacR. The preliminary data indicate that LacR(Gln18?Gly) is unable to distinguish between the O⁺ base pair G:C and the O^c base pair T:A at position 7 of lacO (K_Doc/K_DO ⁺ = 0.93). In contrast, LacR(Glnl8?Gly) discriminates O⁺ from O^c by a factor of 13 to 23 at each other position. The same qualitative pattern of results was obtained with LacR(Glnl8?Ser) and LacR(Gln18?Leu). Therefore, I propose that Gln18 contacts base pair 7 of lacO. This proposal is consistent with the contact predicted in Ebright, R. in Protein Structure, Folding, and Design. D. Oxender ed., Alan R. Liss, New York (1985), in press.     

Combination vascular delivery of herpes simplex oncolytic viruses and amplicon mediated cytokine gene transfer is effective therapy for experimental liver cancer

BACKGROUND: Herpes simplex type I (HSV)-based vectors have been used experimentally for suicide gene therapy, immunomodulatory gene delivery, and direct oncolytic therapy. The current study utilizes the novel concept of regional delivery of an oncolytic virus in combination with or serving as the helper virus for packaging herpes-based amplicon vectors carrying a cytokine transgene, with the goal of identifying if this combination is more efficacious than either modality alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A replication competent oncolytic HSV (G207) and a replication incompetent HSV amplicon carrying the gene for the immunomodulatory cytokine IL-2 (HSV-IL2) were tested in murine syngeneic colorectal carcinoma and in rat hepatocellular carcinoma models. Liver tumors were treated with vascular delivery of (1) phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), (2) G207, (3) HSV-IL2, (4) G207 and HSV-IL2 mixed in combination (mG207/HSV- IL2), and (5) G207 as the helper virus for packaging the construct HSV-IL2 (pG207/HSV-IL2). RESULTS: Tumor burden was significantly reduced in all treatment groups in both rats and mice treated with high-dose G207, HSV-IL2, or both (p < 0.02). When a low dose of virus was used in mice, anti-tumor efficacy was improved by use of G207 and HSV-IL2 in combination or with HSV-IL2 packaged by G207 (p < 0.001). This improvement was abolished when CD4(+) and CD8(+) lymphocytes were depleted, implying that the enhanced anti-tumor response to low-dose combined therapy is immune mediated. CONCLUSIONS: Vascular regional delivery of oncolytic and amplicon HSV vectors can be used to induce improved anti-tumor efficacy by combining oncolytic and immunostimulatory strategies.     

RNA polymerase: structural similarities between bacterial RNA polymerase and eukaryotic RNA polymerase II

Bacterial RNA polymerase and eukaryotic RNA polymerase II exhibit striking structural similarities, including similarities in overall structure, relative positions of subunits, relative positions of functional determinants, and structures and folding topologies of subunits. These structural similarities are paralleled by similarities in mechanisms of interaction with DNA.