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Biomedical subjects

R Callahan

Publications and source records attributed to R Callahan.

144 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

A new class of genetically transmitted retravirus isolated from Mus cervicolor.

The cocultivation of spleen cells from the Southeast Asian mouse, Mus cervicolor, with heterologous cell lines has permitted the isolation of a new retravirus (designated M432) that can be transmitted to tissue culture cells of the laboratory mouse, M. musculus. Cells infected with M432 contain cytoplasmic type A particles and budding forms with compact,spherical nucleoids; extracellular virions lack surface spikes and have a condensed, central core surrounded by an intermediate line. Like other retraviruses, M432 bands isopycnically in sucrose at 1.16-1.17 g/cm3 and contains a 70S RNA genome composed of 35S subunits and an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (RNA-dependent DNA nucleotidyltransferase). The viral reverse transcriptase requires magnesium as a cofactor and transcribes the synthetic template:primer poly(rC)-oligo(dG) more efficiently than poly(rA)-oligo(dT). [3H]DNA transcripts of the viral RNA genome detect multiple copies of endogenous virogene sequences in the cellular DNA of normal M. cervicolor, and fewer copies in heterologous cells infected with M432. Partially related nucleic acid sequences are also detected in the DNA of M. caroli and M. musculus as well as in more distantly related species (rat and hamster), reflecting the evolutionary conservation of these gene sequences in rodents. Although the virus from M. cervicolor shares certain morphologic and biochemical properties with murine type B viruses, the new isolate is unrelated by nucleic acid hybridization criteria to the mouse mammary tumor virus, the bovine leukemia virus, the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, or known murine type C viruses, including endogenous type C viruses isolated from M. cervicolor.

Animals↗

Isolation from the asian mouse Mus caroli of an endogenous type C virus related to infectious primate type C viruses.

Treatment of a cell line derived from the Asian feral mouse Mus caroli with 5-bromodeoxyuridine induces an infectious, xentropic type C virus. This virus shares strongly cross-reactive reverse transcriptase (RNA-dependent DNA polymerase) and p30 antigens and crossinterferes with type C viruses isolated from a woolly monkey (SSAV) and gibbon apes (GALV). By similar criteria, the caroli virus is much less related to previously described type C viruses of the laboratory mouse, Mus musculus. Induction of virus from 10 of 13 single cell clones indicates that the virus is endogenous in Mus caroli cells. Thre results suggest that infectious primate type C viruses arose by trans-species infection(s) of certain primates with endogenous type C viruses from MUs caroli or a closely related Mus species.

Animals↗

Endogenous primate and feline type C viruses.

1. Endogenous type C viruses have been detected in a wide variety of mammalian species. Multiple copies of related, but not identical, virogene sequences can be found in the DNA of these species. 2. The endogenous type C virogenes are subject to the pressures of natural selection, and closely related species possess related virogene sequences. These genes evolve as cellular entities diverging from one another in a manner which correlates well with taxonomic relatedness of the species. 3. The endogenous type C viruses of baboons and domestic cats are related, but they can be distinguished by biologic and immunologic criteria and by partial nucleic acid sequence homology. Virogene sequences in the DNA of Old World monkeys and domestic cats also show a degree of relatedness not shared by the unique sequence DNA of these species. The data suggest that progenitors of domestic cats were exogenously infected by a type C virus that also gave rise to present-day endogenous type C viruses of Old World monkeys. 4. The genomes of exogenously infectious viruses replicating in permissive host cells appear to evolve much more rapidly than endogenous virogenes which replicate as cellular genes. Laboratory strains of efficiently oncogenic type C viruses are presumed to be derived from activated endogenous viruses which have been selected for virulence and which, in certain cases, have acquired the capacity to replicate in the host's own cells. 5. The ubiquitous presence of endogenous type C viruses among vertegrates and their preservation throughout millions of years of evolution suggests that these genes express normal physiologic functions which provide a selective advantage to the species.

Animals↗

Nucleic acid homology of murine xenotropic type C viruses.

Two major subclasses of xenotropic (X-tropic) murine type C viruses can be distinguished by nucleic acid hybridization. The most frequently encountered subclass (MuLV-X-alpha) includes isolates from BALB/c, C57BL/6J, C58/J, AKR/J, CBA/J, and DBA/2J inbred strains and from the Asian feral mouse subspecies Mus musculus molossinus. The other subclass (MuLV-X-beta) consists of viruses isolated from the NIH Swiss and NZB/BINJ strains. Thus, significant polymorphism exists among the endogenous type C virogenes of a single species, Mus musculus. MuLV-X-alpha genes are found in strains that also have endogenous mouse-tropic viruses (either N-tropic, B-tropic, or both), whereas the MuLV-X-beta subclass is restricted to mouse strains from which mouse-tropic viruses have not yet been isolated. The results are consistent with a model which proposes that mouse-tropic endogenous viruses are derived from the MuLV-X-alpha subclass.

Animals↗

Detection of baboon type C viral sequences in various primate tissues by molecular hybridization.

Nucleic acid sequences homologous to a single-stranded [(3)H]DNA transcript prepared from a baboon type C virus replicating in dog thymus cells can be readily detected in the cellular DNA of several Old World monkeys (baboon, patas, African green, and two species of macaques-rhesus and stumptail). These results demonstrate that primates other than the baboon also contain endogenous type C viral genes. With the hybridization conditions employed (S(1) nuclease, 65 C), no homologous sequences were detected in DNA from human or New World monkey tissues. Of various nonprimate tissues examined, only domestic cat cellular DNA was partially homologous to the baboon virus [(3)H]DNA transcript. In reciprocal experiments, [(3)H]DNA transcripts of RNAs from endogenous cat viruses (RD-114/CCC group) show a significant partial homology with cellular DNA from Old World primates (baboon, patas, and rhesus monkey). The partial homology between type-C-related information in the DNA of domestic cats and various Old World monkeys suggests the possibility of horizontal transmission between the progenitors of these animals at some point in evolution. No nucleic acid sequences homologous to [(3)H]DNA transcripts prepared from type C viruses isolated from tumor tissue of a woolly monkey and a gibbon ape could be detected in any primate tissue DNA examined; however, a partial nucleic acid homology was found between woolly monkey and gibbon ape type C viral [(3)H]DNA and normal mouse cellular DNA.

Animals↗

In vitro synthesis of adenovirus core proteins.

mRNA extracted from polysomes of KB cells at late stages of productive infection with adenovirus type 2 was translated in a cell-free system derived from Krebs II ascites cells. Two of the polypeptides obtained in this reaction corresponded to the adenovirus core protein V and the precursor to core protein VII. The following criteria were used to establish identity between the in vitro products and the virion proteins: comigration during sodium dodecyl sulfatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, cochromatography in sodium dodecyl sulfate-hydroxyapatite, specific immunoprecipitation of the precursor to core protein VII, and tryptic peptide analysis.

Adenoviridae↗

Nucleic acid homology of murine type-C viral genes.

The nucleic acid sequence homology between various murine, endogenous type-C viruses (three host range classes of BALB/c virus, the AT-124 virus, and the CCL 52 virus) and two laboratory strains of murine leukemia virus (Rauscher and Kirsten) was determined by DNA:RNA hybridization. The viral sequences exhibit varying degrees of partial homology. DNA:DNA hybridizations were performed between [(3)H]DNA probes prepared from N- and X-tropic BALB/c endogenous viruses and cellular DNAs from BALB/c, NIH Swiss, and AKR inbred mouse strains as well as from California feral mice and the Asian mouse subspecies Mus musculus molossinus and M. musculus castaneus. All of these strains of mice are shown to possess multiple (six to seven per haploid genome), partially related copies of type-C virogenes in their DNAs. Thermal melting profiles of the DNA:RNA and DNA:DNA hybrids suggest that the partial homology of the viral nucleic acid sequences is the result of base alterations throughout the viral genomes, rather than the loss of discrete segments of viral sequences.

Animals↗

Tryptophan operon: structural gene mutation creating a "promoter" and leading to 5-methyltryptophan dependence.

A strain carrying the mutation trpA515, which maps in the "unusual" region (between the genes trpA and trpB) of the tryptophan operon of Salmonella typhimurium is capable of utilizing anthranilic acid as a growth factor only in the presence of the analog 5-methyltryptophan, normally a potent growth inhibitor. The reason for this peculiar phenotype is the creation by trpA515 of a transcription-initiating signal in the "unusual" region.

Culture Media↗