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Evidence for the contribution of LTR retrotransposons to C. elegans gene evolution.

LTR retrotransposons may be important contributors to host gene evolution because they contain regulatory and coding signals. In an effort to assess the possible contribution of LTR retrotransposons to C. elegans gene evolution, we searched upstream and downstream of LTR retrotransposon sequences for the presence of predicted genes. Sixty-three percent of LTR retrotransposon sequences (79/124) are located within 1 kb of a gene or within gene boundaries. Most gene-retrotransposon associations were located along the chromosome arms. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that LTR retrotransposons have contributed to the structural and/or regulatory evolution of genes in C. elegans.

Animals↗

Regulation of the visna virus long terminal repeat in macrophages involves cellular factors that bind sequences containing AP-1 sites.

Visna virus gene expression is highly restricted in monocytes but is induced by monocyte-macrophage differentiation in vivo. Deletion and linker-scanning mutants, gel shift assays, and DNase I footprinting were used to identify sequences in the visna virus long terminal repeat involved in the developmental regulation of gene expression in the U937 monocytic cell line. We found that an AP-1 and an AP-4 binding site were critical for basal activity and that the AP-1 site was required for phorbol ester-inducible gene expression. These results suggest that cellular factors that interact with AP-1 sites are involved in the developmental regulation of visna virus gene expression in macrophages.

Base Sequence↗

Nucleotide sequence of diatom plasmids: identification of open reading frames with similarity to site-specific recombinases.

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of two small circular DNA plasmids, pCf1 and pCf2 [22], from the marine diatom Cylindrotheca fusiformis. pCf1 is 4273 bp, and pCf2 is 4079 bp in size. In each plasmid, all of the major open reading frames (ORFs) are encoded on the same DNA strand. Two ORFs are similar, comparing the two plasmids. ORF218 (pCf1) and ORF217 (pCf2) share 80% amino acid identity and ORF482 (pCf1) and ORF484 (pCf2) share 54% amino acid identity. ORF218/217 shows significant similarity (28-31% amino acid identity) to the Tn3 class of resolvases. Resolvases are most commonly found in bacterial transposons. However, two other features found in the Tn3 class of transposon are missing in the plasmids; an ORF encoding a transposase and terminal inverted repeat sequences. This, and data mapping the portions of the plasmids that hybridize to genomic chloroplast DNA, suggest that the plasmids do not contain active transposons. By analogy with the R46 plasmid from Enterobacter [5, 6], another potential role for the resolvases encoded by pCf1 and pCf2 is the conversion of multimeric forms of the plasmid to monomers. The similarity of ORF218/217 to resolvases documents the first identification of a potential coding function in an algal plasmid.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Mutation screening of the c-MYB negative regulatory domain in acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia.

Over-expression of the c-myb gene and expression of activated forms of myb are known to transform haemopoietic cells, particularly cells of the myeloid lineage. Truncations or mutations that disrupt the negative regulatory domain (NRD) of the Myb protein confer an increased ability to transform cells. Although it has proved difficult to link mutations in c-MYB to human leukaemia, no studies investigating the presence of mutations within the c-MYB NRD have been reported. Therefore, we have performed mutational analysis of this region, using polymerase chain reaction-single-stranded conformation polymorphism and sequence analysis, in 26 patients with acute or chronic myeloid leukaemia. No mutations were detected, indicating that mutation of this region of the Myb protein is not common in the pathogenesis or progression of these diseases.

Acute Disease↗

Mutations at position 184 of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 reverse transcriptase affect virus titer and viral DNA synthesis.

Methionine at position 184 of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) was changed to valine, isoleucine, threonine, or alanine in an HIV-1-based vector. The vectors were analyzed for replication capacity and for resistance to the nucleoside analog 2',3'-dideoxy-3'thiacytidine (3TC) using a single-cycle assay. Viruses containing the valine or isoleucine mutations were highly resistant to 3TC and replicated almost as well as the wild-type virus. The virus containing the threonine mutation was resistant to 3TC, but replicated about 30% as well as the wild-type. The alanine mutation conferred partial resistance to 3TC, but replicated poorly. The amounts of viral DNA synthesized decreased in 3TC-treated cells when the cells were infected with wild-type virus and the M184A mutant. The effect of these mutations on the generation of the ends of the linear viral DNA was determined using the sequence of the 2-LTR circle junctions. The M184T mutation increased the proportion of 2-LTR circle junctions containing a tRNA insertion, suggesting that the mutation affected the RNase H activity of RT.

Binding Sites↗

The application of LTR retrotransposons as molecular markers in plants.

Retrotransposons are major, dispersed components of most eukaryotic genomes. They replicate by a cycle of transcription, reverse transcription, and integration of new copies, without excising from the genome in the process. Because they represent a major share of the genome, cause easily detectable genetic changes having known ancestral and derived states, and contain conserved regions for which polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers may be designed, retrotransposon insertions can be exploited as powerful molecular marker systems. Here, we describe the background and strategies, as well as give detailed laboratory protocols, for four key retrotransposon-based methods: SSAP, IRAP, REMAP, and RBIP. The SSAP, IRAP, and REMAP methods are multiplex and generate anonymous marker bands; RBIP scores individual loci, much as microsatellite-based marker systems do. The methods are variously suited to marker detection on agarose and polyacrylamide slab gels, slab and capillary sequencing devices, and arrays on solid supports. The different strengths and weaknesses of these approaches and their performance relative to conventional marker methods are discussed, together with their applicability to marker-assisted breeding, phylogenetic analyses, biodiversity determinations, and evolutionary studies.

Biomarkers↗

Detection of specific reticuloendotheliosis virus sequence and protein from REV-integrated fowlpox virus strains.

The detection is described of reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) protein in tissue culture of chicken embryonated cells (CEFs) infected with field isolates of fowl poxvirus (FPV). By the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), five out of the six field isolates, but two out of the seven vaccine strains of FPV, were found to have had a 291 bp repeat sequence of REV-LTR integrated in their genomic DNA. An immunofluorescence (IF) method was employed using a monoclonal antibody (MAb) known to specify strain common envelope proteins for REV and allowed to detect the presence of a specific REV protein. The IF results indicate the localization of REV proteins in boundaries defined precisely within cells infected with these field strains of FPV carrying REV (FPV-REV). Furthermore, by immunoblotting (IB) using a chemiluminescent detection kit, the REV protein reacted specifically with the MAb and had a relative molecular mass (RMM) of 62 kDa. The data have the potential to advance substantially the current understanding of the integrated REV in FPV strains; and the identification of a unique protein associated with variant forms of FPV will also offer great potential for identification of novel vaccine candidates for use in poultry against variant forms of FPV.

Animals↗

Alternate polypurine tracts (PPTs) affect the rous sarcoma virus RNase H cleavage specificity and reveal a preferential cleavage following a GA dinucleotide sequence at the PPT-U3 junction.

Retroviral polypurine tracts (PPTs) serve as primers for plus-strand DNA synthesis during reverse transcription. The generation and removal of the PPT primer requires specific cleavages by the RNase H activity of reverse transcriptases; removal of the PPT primer defines the left end of the linear viral DNA. We replaced the endogenous PPT from RSVP(A)Z, a replication-competent shuttle vector based on Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), with alternate retroviral PPTs and the duck hepatitis B virus "PPT." Viruses in which the endogenous RSV PPT was replaced with alternate PPTs had lower relative titers than the wild-type virus. 2-LTR circle junction analysis showed that the alternate PPTs caused significant decreases in the fraction of viral DNAs with complete (consensus) ends and significant increases in the insertion of part or all of the PPT at the 2-LTR circle junctions. The last two nucleotides in the 3' end of the RSV PPT are GA. Examination of the (mis)cleavages of the alternate PPTs revealed preferential cleavages after GA dinucleotide sequences. Replacement of the terminal 3' A of the RSV PPT with G caused a preferential miscleavage at a GA sequence spanning the PPT-U3 boundary, resulting in the deletion of the terminal adenine normally present at the 5' end of the U3. A reciprocal G-to-A substitution at the 3' end of the murine leukemia virus PPT increased the relative titer of the chimeric RSV-based virus and the fraction of consensus 2-LTR circle junctions.

Adenine↗

Performance- and safety-enhanced lentiviral vectors containing the human interferon-beta scaffold attachment region and the chicken beta-globin insulator.

Retroviral vectors are the most efficient means of stable gene delivery to hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). However, transgene expression from retroviral vectors is frequently subject to the negative influence of chromosomal sequences flanking the site of integration. Toward the development of autonomous transgene expression cassettes, we inserted the human interferon-beta scaffold attachment region (IFN-SAR) and the chicken beta-globin 5' DNase I hypersensitive site 4 (5'HS4) insulator both separately and together into a series of self-inactivating (SIN) lentiviral vector backbones. Transduced cells of the human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor line KG1a-pooled populations as well as individual clones harboring single integrants--were analyzed for reporter expression during culture periods of up to 4 months. Vectors carrying both the 5'HS4 insulator and the IFN-SAR consistently outperformed control vectors without inserts as well as vectors carrying either element alone. The performance of a set of vectors containing the murine stem cell virus long terminal repeat as an internal promoter was subsequently assessed during in vitro monocytic differentiation of transduced primary human CD34+ cord blood cells. Similar to what was observed in the KG1a hematopoietic progenitor cell model, optimal reporter expression in primary monocytes was obtained with the vector bearing both regulatory elements. These findings indicate that the 5'HS4/IFN-SAR combination is particularly effective at maintaining open chromatin domains permissive for high-level transgene expression at early and late stages of hematopoietic development, and thus could be of utility in HSC-directed retroviral vector-mediated gene transfer applications.

Animals↗

Role of a conserved amino-terminal sequence in the ecotropic MLV receptor mCAT1.

The amino-terminus of mCAT1 and homologous proteins is predicted to form a positively charged, amphipathic alpha helix on the cytoplasmic side of the plasma membrane. Peptides with similar sequence motifs often provide membrane anchors, protein-protein interaction domains, or intracellular transport-targeting signals. Deleting most of the cytoplasmic N-terminal sequence of mCAT1 led to reduced expression on the cell surface and accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum but did not abrogate receptor function. Surprisingly, when the N-terminal 36 or 18 amino acids of mCAT1 were fused to green fluorescent protein (gfp), gfp accumulated almost exclusively in mitochondria. Mitochondrial targeting depended on arginines at positions 15 and 16 and was inhibitable by downstream transmembrane sequences. Although the full-length mCAT1 was not detected in mitochondria, the mitochondrial-targeting property of the N-terminal sequence fused to gfp is conserved in orthologous and paralogous proteins that diverged approximately 80 million years ago, suggesting a conserved biological function. We propose that the conserved N-terminal motif of CAT proteins provides a regulatable signal for transport to, or retention in, different cell membrane compartments.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

i-Genome: a database to summarize oligonucleotide data in genomes.

BACKGROUND: Information on the occurrence of sequence features in genomes is crucial to comparative genomics, evolutionary analysis, the analyses of regulatory sequences and the quantitative evaluation of sequences. Computing the frequencies and the occurrences of a pattern in complete genomes is time-consuming. RESULTS: The proposed database provides information about sequence features generated by exhaustively computing the sequences of the complete genome. The repetitive elements in the eukaryotic genomes, such as LINEs, SINEs, Alu and LTR, are obtained from Repbase. The database supports various complete genomes including human, yeast, worm, and 128 microbial genomes. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation presents and implements an efficiently computational approach to accumulate the occurrences of the oligonucleotides or patterns in complete genomes. A database is established to maintain the information of the sequence features, including the distributions of oligonucleotide, the gene distribution, the distribution of repetitive elements in genomes and the occurrences of the oligonucleotides. The database can provide more effective and efficient way to access the repetitive features in genomes.

Alu Elements↗

Differential interaction of cisplatin with the HIV-1 long terminal repeat in a resistant ovarian carcinoma cell line.

We constructed a recombinant plasmid, pBHIV1, carrying the long terminal repeat (LTR) sequences of HIV-1 linked to the reporter chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene and to the aminoglycoside phosphotransferase (aph) gene as a selectable marker. We have introduced pBHIV1 in a human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 and in a cisplatin resistant variant 2780CP, and obtained stable geneticin resistant A27HIV1-1 and 27CPHIV1-1 cells, respectively. Both transfectant cells expressed CAT activity from the HIV LTR promoter. The response to the anti-neoplastic drug cisplatin was studied on the LTR regulated CAT activity in both cell lines. It was found that cisplatin at 2.5 x 10(-5) M concentration stimulates the expression of CAT by 26-fold from the HIV LTR in A27HIV1-1, but requires a concentration of 5 x 10(-5) M to enhance expression by 4.1-fold in the cisplatin resistant 27CPHIV1-1 cells. Carboplatin, over a range of concentrations (1 x 10(-6) to 1 x 10(-4) M), does not stimulate expression of CAT from the HIV-1 LTR in either of the transfected cells.

Carboplatin↗

The expanding role of Tax in transcription.

The viral transactivator of HTLV-I, Tax, has long been shown to target the earliest steps of transcription by forming quaternary complexes with sequence specific transcription factors and histone-modifying enzymes in the LTR of HTLV-I. However, a new study suggests that Tax preferentially transactivates the 21-bp repeats through CREB1 and not other bZIP proteins. The additional transactivation of Tax-responsive promoters subsequent to initiation is also presented. This result highlights a potentially novel role of Tax following TBP recruitment (i.e. initiation) and may expand the mechanism of Tax transactivation in promoter clearance and transcriptional elongation.

Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein↗

Negative regulatory element associated with potentially functional promoter and enhancer elements in the long terminal repeats of endogenous murine leukemia virus-related proviral sequences.

Three series of recombinant DNA clones were constructed, with the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene as a quantitative indicator, to examine the activities of promoter and enhancer sequence elements in the 5' long terminal repeat (LTR) of murine leukemia virus (MuLV)-related proviral sequences isolated from the mouse genome. Transient CAT expression was determined in mouse NIH 3T3, human HT1080, and mink CCL64 cultured cells transfected with the LTR-CAT constructs. The 700-base-pair (bp) LTRs of three polytropic MuLV-related proviral clones and the 750-bp LTRs of four modified polytropic proviral clones, in complete structures either with or without the adjacent downstream sequences, all showed very little or negligible activities for CAT expression, while ecotropic MuLV LTRs were highly active. The MuLV-related LTRs were divided into three portions and examined separately. The 3' portion of the MuLV-related LTRs that contains the CCAAC and TATAA boxes was found to be a functional promoter, being about one-half to one-third as active as the corresponding portion of ecotropic MuLV LTRs. A MboI-Bg/II fragment, representing the distinct 190- to 200-bp inserted segment in the middle, was found to be a potential enhancer, especially when examined in combination with the simian virus 40 promoter in CCL64 cells. A PstI-MboI fragment of the 5' portion, which contains the protein-binding motifs of the enhancer segment as well as the upstream LTR sequences, showed moderate enhancer activities in CCL6 cells but was virtually inactive in NIH 3T3 cells and HT1080 cells; addition of this fragment to the ecotropic LTR-CAT constructs depressed CAT expression. Further analyses using chimeric LTR constructs located the presence of a strong negative regulatory element within the region containing the 5' portion of the enhancer and the immediate upstream sequences in the MuLV-related LTRs.

Animals↗

High prevalence of MMTV-like env gene sequences in gestational breast cancer.

Gestational breast cancer (BC) is generally associated with rapid growth and increased mortality. Because the presence of MMTV-like sequences in BC has been associated with laminin receptor expression, a marker of poor prognosis, gestational BCs were analyzed for MMTV env gene-like sequences to explore whether MMTV-like sequences were also associated with its adverse outcome. Whereas 30-38% of sporadic BC have the sequences, in gestational BC the prevalence is 62%. We suggest that hormonal response elements present in the MMTV-like LTR may play a role in promoting cell growth, as they do in the mouse system.

Animals↗

A simplified RT-PCR-based detection of recombinant Plum pox virus isolates.

Closely related natural Plum pox virus (PPV) isolates derived from homologous RNA recombination between PPV-D and PPV-M have been recently identified and shown naturally spread in several European countries. As their serological properties were identical with those of conventional PPV-M isolates, they could be detected only by combined analysis of at least two different genome parts. To simplify the detection of such recombinants primers specific to PPV-M and PPV-D sequences with binding sites located on both sides of the recombination crossover situated in the C-terminal part of NIb were designed. They were used for direct differentiation of PPV-M, PPV-D and their recombinants by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This method is convenient for identification of a recombinant PPV in single as well as mixed infection with PPV-M or PPV-D.

DNA Primers↗

Chromosome translocation induced by the insertion of the URA blaster into the major repeat sequence (MRS) in Candida albicans.

Electrophoretic karyotype studies have shown that clinical isolates of Candida albicans have extensive chromosome length polymorphisms. Chromosome translocation is one of the causes of karyotypic variation. Chromosome translocation events have been shown to occur very frequently at or near the major repeat sequence (MRS) on chromosomes. The MRS consists of the repeated sequences RB2, RPS and HOK, and the repeated sequences are considered to be the template for recombination. To investigate which element of the MRS is important for chromosome translocation, we constructed three cassettes, each containing a URA blaster and sequences homologous to one of the repeats, for insertion into the MRS region on the chromosomes. The ura3 strain STN22u2, which shows a stable, standard karyotype, was transformed with each construct. Insertion events with each cassette occurred at almost all chromosomes. Insertion into the RB2 repeat, but not into the RPS repeat, was accompanied by chromosome translocation in some transformants: chromosome translocations between chromosomes R and 7 and chromosomes 1 and 7 were found, as well as deletions of 7A and 7C from chromosome 7. We conclude that the insertion at the RB2 region may initiate chromosome translocation in C. albicans.

Candida albicans↗

Evaluation of invasion-conferring genotypes and antibiotic-induced hyperinvasive phenotypes in multiple antibiotic resistant Salmonella typhimurium DT104.

Antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria is a problem in both industrialized and developing countries. This is especially evident in Salmonella typhimurium, a foodborne pathogen that causes gastrointestinal and systemic disease throughout the world. S. typhimurium DT104 further poses a major health concern due to its apparent enhanced ability to acquire multiple antibiotic resistance genes and its putative hypervirulent phenotype. Recently, we demonstrated that multiresistant S. typhimurium do not appear to be more invasive than non-resistant cohorts. In the present study, we evaluated the presence of Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) flanking and internal sequences in over 400 isolates of multiresistant S. typhimurium. With these same isolates, we also used a tissue culture invasion assay to evaluate a potential relationship between antibiotic exposure and a hyperinvasive phenotype. Our studies revealed that SPI1 flanking sequences are similar in multiresistant and non-resistant S. typhimurium. Furthermore, we failed to identify any isolates that were hyperinvasive in the presence of any of the 14 antibiotics evaluated. These results further indicate that the putative hypervirulence of multiresistant S. typhimurium is not likely to occur at the level of invasion.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗