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Biomedical subjects

P R Shank

Publications and source records attributed to P R Shank.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Regulated transcription of c-Ki-ras and c-myc during compensatory growth of rat liver.

We examined the transcription of six cellular oncogenes during the process of compensatory growth in rat liver after partial hepatectomy. We have previously reported that transcripts of c-rasH are elevated during regenerative growth of the liver. We now report that transcripts of c-rasK and c-myc genes are significantly elevated after partial hepatectomy, whereas transcripts of c-abl and c-src are essentially unchanged and transcripts of c-mos are undetectable in either normal or regenerating rat liver. In liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy or chemical injury, changes in c-myc transcripts occur before DNA synthesis. The elevation of c-myc and c-ras transcripts is sequential in that highest levels of c-myc transcripts were detected 12 to 18 h after partial hepatectomy, whereas the levels of c-rasH and c-rasK were maximal by 36 to 48 h. Transcripts of all three activated oncogenes returned to their basal levels by 96 h.

Animals↗

Expression of a cellular oncogene during liver regeneration.

The number of transcripts of the cellular oncogene ras, which is homologous to the transforming gene of Harvey sarcoma virus, increases during liver regeneration in rats. The increase in these transcripts in liver polysomal polyadenylated RNA occurs at the time of activation of DNA synthesis during the regenerative process induced by partial hepatectomy or carbon tetrachloride injury. The number of ras transcripts returns to basal levels within 72 hours. These observations show that transcription of a cellular oncogene increases in a regulated way in a nonneoplastic growth process.

Animals↗

Inability of counterimmunoelectrophoresis to detect echovirus in cerebrospinal fluid.

Methods for rapid detection of viral antigens in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are needed to aid in the differentiation of viral from bacterial meningitis. The formation of precipitin bands in patients with suspect viral meningitis utilizing viral antisera in a counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) system has been described. To investigate further the possible value of CIE in the diagnosis of viral meningitis, the specificity of the CSF precipitin bands was studied. Precipitin bands were formed between commercially available type-specific antisera and cell culture supernatant fluids. Precipitin bands were also formed when control CSF was used as an antigen. Using type-specific antisera produced against purified virus, enteroviral antigens were not detected in CSF from patients from whom CSF viruses had been isolated. CIE lacks sufficient sensitivity for the detection of echovirus 11 antigens in CSF.

Antigens, Viral↗

Avian oncovirus mutant (SE21Q1b) deficient in genomic RNA: characterization of a deletion in the provirus.

We have previously described a nonconditional mutant of avian sarcoma virus (SE21Q1b) which fails to package viral RNA (Gallis et al., Virology 94:146-161, 1979; Linial et al., Cell 15:1371-1381, 1978). Quail cells transformed by SE21Q1b contain normal amounts of intracellular viral mRNA's for src, env, and gag-pol and release particles with the density of normal virus containing a typical complement of virion proteins, including reverse transcriptase. These virions are noninfectious for both chicken and quail cells and contain primarily cellular rather than viral RNA. Analysis by gel electrophoresis of the cellular DNA of quail cells transformed by SE21Q1b after restriction endonuclease digestion indicated the presence of a single provirus. The provirus was located at one site in the genome of the host cell and was flanked by the characteristic terminally repeated sequences derived from the 3' and 5' ends of viral RNA. The only defect detected in the SE21Q1b provirus was a deletion of ca. 150 base pairs of DNA somewhere between 300 and 600 bases from the left (gag-pol) end of the provirus. Analyses of the proviral DNA of cells transformed by wild-type recombinants between SE21Q1b and leukosis viruses reveal that the recombinants no longer contain this deletion. The deletion, therefore, defines a region on the viral RNA which is required for correct packaging of the virion RNA.

Animals↗

Integration of the DNA of mouse mammary tumor virus in virus-infected normal and neoplastic tissue of the mouse.

We have used restriction endonucleases which cleave the DNA of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) at one site (Eco RI) and several sites (Pst I, Sac I and Bam HI) to study infection and mammary tumorigenesis in mice. Proviruses acquired during infection of BALB/c mice foster-nursed by virus-producing C3H females can be distinguished from the MMTV proviruses endogenous to uninfected BALB/c mice by the nature of the fragments generated with Pst I and Bam HI. Using this assay, we show that lactating mammary glands as well as mammary tumors from BALB/cfC3H mice have acquired MMTV DNA, and that a minimum of approximately 10% of normal glandular cells can be infected. The new proviruses appear to be linked to cellular DNA of mammary tumors and infected lactating mammary glands within a limited region (0.2 x 10(6) daltons) of the viral DNA; the location of this region, based upon mapping studies with unintegrated MMTV DNA, suggests that the orientation of these proviruses is colinear with linear DNA synthesized in infected cells and thus approximately colinear with the viral RNA. Comparisons of many mammary tumors and studies of lactating mammary glands with a high proportion of independently infected cells indicate that a large number of sites in the cellular genome can accommodate a new provirus; the acquired proviruses are rarely, if ever, found in tandem with each other or with endogenous proviruses. We cannot, however, distinguish between random integration and integration into a large number of preferred sites in the host genome. Since Eco RI and Bam HI cleavage of DNA from each mammary tumor generates a unique set of viral-specific fragments, we propose that the tumors are composed principally of cells derived from a subset of the many infected cells in a mammary gland; this proposal is supported by our finding that Eco RI digestion of DNA from several transplants of a primary tumor yields the pattern characteristic of the primary tumor.

Animals↗

Integration and transcription of mouse mammary tumor virus DNA in rat hepatoma cells.

Rat hepatoma cells infected with mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) acquire viral DNA that becomes covalently linked to the cell DNA. Using restriction endonucleases and the DNA transfer procedure of Southern [Southern , E.M. (1975) J. Mol. Biol. 98, 503--517], we have studied the sites in cellular DNA into which MMTV DNA inserts. These experiments indicate that: (i) there are many sites in cell DNA into which MMTV DNA integrates; (ii) the junctions between viral and cellular DNA occur within a limited portion of the viral genome, (iii) clones that contain MMTV DNA do not necessarily produce viral RNA; and (iv) the extent of transcription and glucocorticoid responsiveness of MMTV proviruses may be dependent on the site(s) in cell DNA in which the viral DNA resides.

Animals↗

Mapping unintegrated avian sarcoma virus DNA: termini of linear DNA bear 300 nucleotides present once or twice in two species of circular DNA.

Three major species of viral DNA have been observed in cells infected by retroviruses: a linear, double-stranded copy of a subunit of viral RNA; closed circular DNA; and proviral DNA inserted covalently into the genome of the host cell. We have studied the structures of the unintegrated forms of avian sarcoma virus (ASA) DNA using agarose gel electrophoresis in conjunction with restriction endonucleases and molecular hybridization techniques. The linear duplex DNA is approximately the same length as a subunit of viral RNA (approximately 10 kb) and it bears natural repeats of approximately 300 nucleotides at its termini. The repeats are composed of sequences derived from both the 3' and 5' termini of viral RNA in a manner suggesting that the viral DNA polymerase is transferred twice between templates. Thus the first end begins with a sequence from the 5' terminus of viral RNA and is permuted by about 100 nucleotides with respect to the 3' terminus of viral RNA; the linear DNA terminates with a sequence of about 200 nucleotides derived from the 3' end of viral RNA. We represent this structure, synthesized from right to left, as 3'5'-----3'5'. Two closed circular species of approximately monomeric size have been identified. The less abundant species contain all the sequences identified in linear DNA, including two copies in tandem of the 300 nucleotide 3'5' repeat. The major species lacks about 300 base pairs (bp) mapped to the region of the repeated sequence; thus it presumably contains only a single copy of that sequence. The strategies used to determine these structures involved the assignment of over 20 cleavage sites for restriction endonucleases on the physical maps of ASV DNA. Several strains of ASV were compared with respect to these sites, and the sites have been located in relation to deletions frequently observed in the env and src genes of ASV.

Animals↗

Proviruses of avian sarcoma virus are terminally redundant, co-extensive with unintegrated linear DNA and integrated at many sites.

We have analyzed the DNA from 15 clones of avian sarcoma virus (ASV)-transformed rat cells with restriction endonucleases and molecular hybridization techniques to determine the location and structure of proviral DNA. All twenty units of proviral DNA identified in these 15 clones appear to be inserted at different sites in host DNA. In each of the ten cases that could be sufficiently well mapped, entirely different regions of cellular DNA were involved. Thus ASV DNA can be accommodated at many positions in cellular DNA, but the existence of preferred sites has not been excluded. Six of the 15 clones carry only one normal provirus, two contain two normal proviruses, and seven harbor either one or two proviruses that appear anomalous in physical mapping tests. Both ends of at least 18 proviruses, however, were found to contain sequences specific to both the 3' and 5' termini of viral RNA. The organization of these terminally redundant sequences appeared identical to that of the 300 base pair (bp) repeats found at the ends of unintegrated linear DNA (Shank et al., 1978). Proviral DNA is therefore co-extensive, or nearly co-extensive, with unintegrated linear DNA and has a structure we denote as CELL DNA-3'5'----------3'5'-CELL DNA. Three of the four anomalous proviruses which were fully analyzed were deletion mutants lacking 25--65% of the genetic content of ASV; the fourth provirus had a novel site for cleavage by Eco RI but was otherwise normal. Tests for the biological competence of proviral DNA, based upon rescue of transforming virus after fusion with chicken cells, were generally consistent with the physical mapping studies.

Avian Sarcoma Viruses↗

Mapping of linear and circular forms of mouse mammary tumor virus DNA with restriction endonucleases: evidence for a large specific deletion occurring at high frequency during circularization.

Rat hepatoma cells infected with mouse mammary tumor virus contain multiple forms of unintegrated viral DNA when grown in the presence of glucocorticoids. Using the DNA transfer procedure of Southern, we have prepared restriction endonuclease fragment maps of these forms of viral DNA. The maps indicate that: (i) the major species of viral DNA is a linear molecule of 5.9 X 10(6) Mr located in the cytoplasm; (ii) the nuclei contain covalently closed circular viral DNA of two distinct sizes (5.1 X 10(6) and 5.9 X 10(6) Mr) in addition to linear molecules (5.9 X 10(6) Mr); (iii) the linear molecule has specific termini; (iv) there is extensive homology between regions at or near termini of the linear molecule; (v) the predominant form of circular DNA lacks 1.2 kilobase pairs present in both the larger circular molecule and the linear molecule; and (vi) the sequences deleted from the majority of the circular DNA molecules are located at the ends of the linear DNA that are joined during circularization.

Chromosome Mapping↗

Virus-specific DNA in the cytoplasm of avian sarcoma virus-infected cells is a precursor to covalently closed circular viral DNA in the nucleus.

Three principal forms of viral DNA have been identified in cells infected with avian sarcoma virus: (i) a linear duplex molecule synthesized in the cytoplasm, (ii) a covalently closed circular molecule found in the nucleus, and (iii) proviral DNA covalently linked to high-molecular-weight cell DNA. To define precursor product relationships among these forms of viral DNA, we performed pulsechase experiments using 5-bromodeoxyuridine to label by density the linear species of viral DNA in the cytoplasm during the first 4 h after infection. After a 4-to 8-h chase with thymidine, a portion of the density-labeled viral DNA was transported to the nucleus and converted to a covalently closed circular form. We conclude that linear viral DNA, synthesized in the cytoplasm, is the precursor to closed circular DNA observed in the nucleus.

Animals↗