Sialidases: structures, biological significance and therapeutic potential

The structure-based design of a potent inhibitor of the influenza-virus neuraminidase (sialidase) is one of the outstanding successes of rational drug design. Recent clinical trials of the drug have stimulated many companies to seek a share of the potentially huge flu market. Sialidases, however, are involved in the pathogenesis of a whole range of other diseases, so perhaps the knowledge and expertise gained from the influenza story can be used in the design of other drugs, given that they all share certain structural features.     

Sendai virus stimulates chemiluminescence in mouse spleen cells.

Sendai virus stimulates chemiluminescence within a few seconds after it is added to a suspension of mouse spleen cells. Virus rendered non infectious by irradiation with ultraviolet light induces a similar burst of chemiluminescence. Heating or pronase treatment of the virus abrogate this reaction, as does sonication of the cells before the addition of the virus. The ability of the virus to stimulate chemiluminescence is correlated with its hemagglutination, neuraminidase, cell fusion and hemolytic properties. It is suggested that Sendai virus-induced chemiluminescence is initiated by the interaction of the virus envelope spike glycoproteins with the cell membrane.     

鹅源新城疫病毒血凝素-神经氨酸酶基因的序列分析

Six isolates of Newcastle disease virus were derived from south and east China regions during the disease outbreaks called "avian paramyxovirus infection of geese" or "geese paramyxovirus infection",and partial sequence analysis of hemagglutinin-neuraminidase(HN) gene was carried out to identify the genetic characteristics of these goose isolatesA 1905 nucleotide portion of HN gene of each of the 6 isolates was sequenced,the results revealed that the coding region of their HN genes are all 1716 nucleotides in length,which can encode 571 amino acid residues aloneThe coding region is followed by a noncoding sequence of 189 nucleotidesThough they diverged only 08%-37% from each other in the nucleotide sequences of coding region,they differed by 175%-179% to F48E8, a standard challenge strain of chicken originCysteine residues are well conserved throughout the amino acid sequences,while the number of the potential glycosylation sites varys from 4 to 6Residue positions Thr 48,His 54,Ser 77,Ala 266,His 340 and Lys 384 are also highly conserved in the 6 goose isolatesThe corresponding residues in other NDV strains are commonly Met 48,Ser 54,Asn 77,Ile 266,Tyr 340 and Glu 384However,the sequences of receptor-binding related regions show no difference to the 14 reference strains from domestic or abroad     

新城疫病毒HN基因诱导人肺癌细胞SPC-A1凋亡的作用机制

为了探索新城疫病毒血凝素神经氨酸酶(HN)基因对人肺癌细胞SPC-A1的作用及机制,将含有HN基因的重组质粒pVHN经脂质体介导转染人肺癌细胞SPC-A1,通过MTT方法检测细胞活力;采用吖啶橙/溴化乙锭（AO/EB）染色分析肿瘤细胞凋亡;罗丹明123和DCFA染色测定线粒体跨膜电位（ΔΨm）和活性氧水平变化;流式细胞仪分析MHCⅠ分子表达; 底物染色反应检测caspase-3活性结果重组质粒pVHN转染人肺癌细胞SPCA1 48 h后,细胞活力明显降低; AO/EB染色可见明显的细胞凋亡形态学变化;与空质粒对照相比,线粒体ΔΨm下降(Ｐ<0.01),活性氧水平升高(Ｐ<0.05);细胞表面MHC-Ⅰ分子表达上调(P>0.05);caspase-3活性增强(Ｐ<0.01). 以上结果提示,新城疫病毒HN基因能够上调SPC-A1细胞表面MHC-Ⅰ分子表达,并通过上调ROS水平,下调线粒体ΔΨm,进而激活caspase-3,最终诱导人肺癌细胞凋亡.     

不同基因型新城疫病毒HN基因保守区域的克隆表达及免疫活性的比较

对于NDV不同基因型毒株的HN基因的氨基酸序列比较后发现,基因Ⅶ型的毒株在第65~75位的氨基酸序列较为保守,而其他各基因型在该区域则不尽相同。因此本文克隆了NDV基因Ⅱ、Ⅶ、Ⅸ型的代表毒株La Sota、GX-2、F48E9的含有该区域的序列,并进行蛋白表达,通过特异性抗血清对表达肽段进行抗原性测定。应用表达的蛋白免疫SPF鸡,用ELISA检测各组的抗体水平。结果表明3个毒株在反应原性上存在差异。应用NDV F48E9强毒株攻毒,结果显示各多肽蛋白的保护率不同,表明在该区域这3个毒株之间存在着免疫原性差异。     

Membrane glycoproteins of Newcastle disease virus: Nucleotide sequence of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase cloned gene and structure/function relationship of predicted amino acid sequence

The nucleotide sequence of the glycoprotein hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) gene of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strain Clone-30 has been determined. The open reading frame of the HN gene contains 1731 nucleotides and encodes a protein of 577 amino acids. Three highly conserved patterns among all paramyxovirus HN glycoproteins, and one additional conserved species-specific region are present. The protein contains five potential N-glycosylation sites, all but one located in the C-terminal external domain. The secondary structure prediction shows that the C-terminal external domain is mostly arranged in -sheets, while -helices are predominantly located in the N-terminal domain. The nucleotide sequence data of the HN gene reported in this paper has been deposited in the GenBank database, under accession number AF098289.     

Modeling the paramyxovirus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein

The paramyxovirus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein exhibits neuraminidase activity and has an active site functionally similar to that in influenza neuraminidases. Earlier work identified conserved amino acids among HN sequences and proposed similarity between HN and influenza neuraminidase sequences. In this work we identify the three-dimensional fold and develop a more detailed model for the HN protein, in the process we examine a variety of protein structure prediction methods. We use the known structures of viral and bacterial neuraminidases as controls in testing the success of protein structure prediction and modeling methods, including knowledge-based threading, discrete three-dimensional environmental profiles, hidden Markov models, neural network secondary structure prediction, pattern matching, and hydropathy plots. The results from threading show that the HN protein sequence has a 6 β-sheet propellor fold and enable us to assign the locations of the individual β-strands. The three-dimensional environmental profile and hidden Markov model methods were not successful in this work. The model developed in this work helps to understand better the biological function of the HN protein and design inhibitors of the enzyme and serves as an assessment of some protein structure prediction methods, especially after the x-ray crystallographic solution of its structure. Proteins 29:264–281, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Complete genome sequencing and analysis of an anti-tumor Newcastle disease virus strain

HBNU/LSRC/F3, a Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strain stored in our lab, exhibited an anti-tumor ability in our previous studies. Nonetheless, very little is known about its genome sequence, which is vital for further study. Here, the complete HBNU/LSRC/F3 genome was fully sequenced and compared with other NDV sequences. Its genome contained 15,192 nucleotides (nt) consisting of two termini and six genes in the following order: 3′-Le-NP-P-M-F-HN-L-Tr-5′. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that this NDV strain belonged to the Class II genotype IX group. A multibasic amino acid (aa) sequence was found at the cleavage site (¹¹²RRQRR↓F¹¹⁷) within the fusion (F) protein, and a 6 nt insertion was present in the 5′ non-coding region of the NP gene. The whole genome sequence was highly similar to other genotype IX NDV genomes reported in China. Overall, this study provides insight into the sequence characteristics of genotype IX NDVs, which will be useful for subsequent investigations.