Mechanism of differences in pathogenicity between two variants of a laboratory strain of herpes simplex virus type 1

The mechanisms responsible for the difference in neurovirulence to inbred mice between two variants of the Miyama strain of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) were studied. After intraperitoneal (i.p.) inoculation, the +GC (LPV) variant reached the spinal cord and the brain, and caused death. Conversely, the -GCr variant lacked the ability to gain access to the central nervous system (CNS) after the same route of infection and failed to kill susceptible mice. The initial virus growth after i.p. inoculation, as indicated by the number of infective centers (ICs) produced by the peritoneal exudate cells (PECs), was compared between these two variants. The virulent +GC (LPV) strain induced much more ICs than the attenuated -GCr variant. When the attenuated variant was preinoculated i.p. 24 hr before the challenge inoculation with the virulent variant by the same route, the production of ICs by the pathogenic variant was highly inhibited, and growth of this variant did not occur in the CNS. Thus, mice were protected from lethal infection by the virulent variant by preinoculation with the attenuated one. Moreover, the ability of mice to resist i.p. infection by HSV-1 was shown to be age-dependent.     

Isolation and characterization of the complete complementary and genomic DNA sequences of human serum amyloid P component

Complementary and genomic DNA clones corresponding to the human serum amyloid P component (SAP) mRNA have been isolated and analyzed. The nucleotide sequences of the cDNA and the corresponding regions of the genomic SAP DNA reported here were identical, and revealed that after coding for a signal peptide of 19 amino acids and the first two amino acids of the mature SAP protein, there is one small intron of 115-base pairs (bp), followed by a nucleotide sequence coding for the remaining 202 amino acid residues. The SAP gene has an ATATAAA sequence 29-bp upstream from the cap site, but there is no CAAT box-like sequence. A possible polyadenylation signal sequence, ATTAAA, was found to be located 28-bp upstream from the polyadenylation site. A comparison of the genomic SAP DNA sequence with that of human C-reactive protein (CRP) revealed a striking overall homology which was not uniform: several highly conserved regions were bounded by non-homologous regions. This comparison provides further support for the hypothesis that SAP and CRP are products of a gene duplication event.     

Hepatitis B core antigen-specific IFN-gamma production of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection

To evaluate the specificity of cellular immune response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) Ag in patients with chronic HBV infection, we have measured IFN-gamma production and proliferation of PBMC of 16 patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH), 17 asymptomatic carriers of HBV (ASC), 6 anti-hepatitis B surface (HBs)-positive subjects, and 6 control individuals with ELISA procedure and [3H]thymidine incorporation. There was no significant increase in the mean proliferative response to recombinant HB surface and core Ag (rHBsAg and rHBcAg), nor was IFN-gamma production elicited with rHBsAg in any group. In contrast, PBMC of HBeAg-positive and anti-HBe-positive CAH patients, and anti-hepatitis B "e" Ag (HBe)-positive ASC showed significantly enhanced IFN-gamma production in response to HBcAg, whereas those of HBeAg-positive ASC and anti-HBs-positive subjects did not respond to HBcAg. The maximal response was observed in a 5-day culture with 500 ng/ml of rHBcAg when assessed by stimulation index value. Monocytes did not demonstrate an increased suppressor or helper activity for IFN-gamma production in these patients. T cell subset fractionation revealed that CD4+ cells were main population of IFN-gamma production specific for HBcAg and CD8+ cells did not suppress IFN-gamma production of CD4+ cells. Furthermore, CD4+ cells of HBeAg-positive ASC generated lesser amounts of IFN-gamma than HBeAg-positive CAH patients did. These results show that the measurement of IFN-gamma production is useful to determine cellular immune response to HBV Ag and suggest that IFN-gamma production depends on the helper activity of CD4+ T cells sensitized to HBcAg.     

Structure of the mouse C-reactive protein gene

A genomic DNA clone corresponding to the mouse C-reactive protein (CRP) has been isolated and characterized. The mouse CRP gene is 1.9-kilobase pairs in length and contains a single intron of 213-base pairs which interrupts the codon for the 2nd amino acid residue of the mature CRP protein. We compared nucleotide sequences of the mouse and human CRP genes and discussed structures of possible regulatory sequences. With this characterization, the isolation and sequence analyses of a set of mouse and human pentraxin genes, i.e. CRP and serum amyloid P component genes is not complete.     

Solution properties of gellan gum: change in chain stiffness between single- and double-stranded chains

Nine samples of gellan gum in the sodium form, ranging in weight-average molar mass from 3.47 x 10(4) to 1.15 x 10(5) at 40 degrees C, were investigated by static and dynamic light scattering and viscometry in 25 mM aqueous NaCl both at 40 and at 25 degrees C. The ratios of the molar mass at 25 degrees C (in the ordered state) to that at 40 degrees C (in the disordered state) were in the range of 1.99 to 2.07, supporting the scheme of the conformational transition of gellan gum between a disassociated single chain and an associated chain composed of two molecules. Focusing on the effects of polydispersity, the intrinsic viscosities, radii of gyration, and hydrodynamic radii were analyzed on the basis of unperturbed wormlike chain models. The persistence lengths were evaluated as 9.4 nm at 40 degrees C and 98 nm at 25 degrees C.     

Proposed mechanism and functional amino acid residues of malonyl-CoA:anthocyanin 5-O-glucoside-6'''-O-malonyltransferase from flowers of Salvia splendens,a member of the versatile plant acyltransferase family

The versatile plant acyltransferase (VPAT) family is a recently identified protein family consisting of acyltransferases involved in secondary metabolism in plants along with numerous homologues with as yet unidentified biochemical functions. Malonyl-CoA:anthocyanin 5-O-glucoside-6' "-O-malonyltransferase of Salvia splendens flowers (Ss5MaT1) is a member of this family that catalyzes the regiospecific transfer of the malonyl group from malonyl-CoA to the 6' "-hydroxyl group of the 5-glycosyl moiety of anthocyanins. To elucidate the mechanism and functional amino acid residues of VPAT family enzymes, steady-state kinetic analyses and site-directed mutagenesis of Ss5MaT1 guided by sequence comparison studies were carried out. On the basis of the results of product and dead-end inhibition studies as well as sequence comparison studies, the kinetic mechanism of Ss5MaT1 could be most consistently described in terms of a ternary complex mechanism in which both substrates and the enzyme form a complex before catalysis can occur, as in the case of chloramphenicol O-acetyltransferase (CAT) and histone acetyltransferase (HAT). Eight polar or ionizable amino acid residues that are invariant among 12 VPAT family enzymes were replaced by alanine, and the mutant enzymes were kinetically characterized. A significant diminution of the k(cat) value was observed with the substitution of His167 (relative k(cat), 0.02%) and Asp390 (<0.01%), strongly suggesting that His167 and Asp390 are very important for catalytic activity. The log k(cat) versus pH plots of the Ss5MaT1-catalyzed malonyl transfer suggested that a deprotonated active site group of pK(a) = 7.0 +/- 0.1 may be involved in the catalytic steps of the "substrate to product" conversion in the ternary enzyme-substrate complex. Taking these lines of evidence together with the suggested similarity of the kinetic and catalytic mechanisms of Ss5MaT1 to those of CAT and HAT, the following Ss5MaT1 mechanism based on general acid/base catalysis was proposed: in the ternary complex, a general base deprotonates the 6' "-hydroxyl group of the anthocyanin substrate, thereby promoting a nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl of the thioester of malonyl-CoA; His167 and Asp390 appear to be involved in the general acid/base mechanism of Ss5MaT1.     

An endoplasmic reticulum protein, p180, is highly expressed in human cytomegalovirus-permissive cells and interacts with the tegument protein encoded by UL48

We have used a virus overlay assay to detect cellular proteins associated with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) particles. The radiolabeled HCMV particles specifically bound to two host proteins with molecular sizes of 150 and 180 kDa. By a micro-amino-acid sequencing technique, the 180-kDa protein was identified as a human homologue of the ES130/p180 ribosome receptor (p180), which is an integral endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane protein possessing a very unique tandem repeat domain at its N-terminal region. The virus overlay assay using truncated p180 polypeptides revealed that HCMV binding to human p180 occurred through the N-terminal region. In HCMV-permissive cells the high level of expression of the human p180 protein was clearly observed regardless of cell type. Furthermore, we showed that p180 binds to the UL48 gene product, which is one of the predominant tegument proteins of HCMV and which is considered to be tightly associated with the capsid. The interaction between the two proteins was assumed to be specific and was observed both in vitro and in vivo. During the late phase of infection, the unique relocation of human p180 was observed, that is, to the juxtanuclear region, which appeared to be in the vicinity of the area where naked virions were frequently observed in an electron-microscopic study. Thus our data suggest that p180 interacts with the HCMV tegument, at least through pUL48, during the HCMV replication process. We discuss the possible role of the interaction between p180 and pUL48 in the intracellular transport of HCMV virions.