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Negative regulatory regions of the PAT1 promoter of Hz-1 virus contain GATA elements which associate with cellular factors and regulate promoter activity.

The persistence-associated transcript 1 (PAT1) is actively expressed during persistent infection with Hz-1 virus, while transcription of the rest of the viral genes is shut down. Previously, results of a series deletion of the PAT1 promoter suggested that the regions from nucleotides -312 to -212 and nucleotides -158 to -90 negatively regulate the promoter activity. Here, the negative regulatory effect of the -312/-90 fragment was confirmed using a heterologous IE0 promoter of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus. Further, the negative regulation of the -312 to -212 region was orientation-independent. The results of electrophoresis mobility shift assays showed that cellular protein(s) bind specifically to DNA fragments -312/-212 and -158/-90. In each of these fragments, a GATA element was identified by computer-assisted analysis. Mutating both GATA elements in the -312/-90 fragment completely eliminated its negative effect on IE0 promoter activity, while mutating only one of these elements had little or no effect. Together, these results suggest that the GATA element has a negative regulatory role on the IE0 and PAT1 promoters.

Animals↗

Drosophila C virus: experimental study of infectious yields and underlying pathology in Drosophila melanogaster laboratory populations.

The underlying pathology of a nonhereditary virus, the Drosophila C virus, was studied. This study was related to the contamination routes (ingestion or contact) and developmental timing. When oral contamination occurred at the first larval instar: (1) the flies were contaminated, (2) the flies which had developed the most rapidly were the most infected, (3) in newly emerged females, the level of virus was higher than in newly emerged males, (4) when infected flies were reared on virus-free medium only males lost their virus. Moreover, oral contamination of adults was very efficient, but the highest virus yield was obtained when both larvae and imagos grew on virus-contaminated medium. About 30 to 50% of the flies died on the sixth day. They were as DCVC invaded as DCVC-injected flies. It seemed that when the virus yield was higher than a given threshold, all flies died, whatever had been the contamination routes. When contaminated adult females and virus-free males were reared together on a virus-free medium, females could infect males. In contrast, contaminated males were not able to infect virus-free females. Thus, only females were able to contaminate a rearing medium or other flies.

Animals↗

The virus infecting the parasitoid Leptopilina boulardi exerts a specific action on superparasitism behaviour.

Parasites often induce behavioural changes in their host. However, it is not necessarily easy to determine whether these changes are representative of an adaptation of the parasite (parasite manipulation), an adaptive response of the host or a side-effect of infection. In a solitary parasitoid of Drosophila larvae (Leptopilina boulardi), viral particles (LbFV) modify the host acceptance behaviour of infected females by increasing their tendency to superparasitize. This behavioural alteration allows for the horizontal transmission of the virus within superparasitized Drosophila larvae. To add support for or against the 'manipulation hypothesis', we investigated whether other behavioural components of the parasitoid are affected by viral infection, and whether other forms of horizontal transmission exist. Neither the ability of females to locate host kairomones nor their daily rhythm of locomotor activity was affected by viral infection. However, infected females showed a lower rate of locomotor activity, suggesting a physiological cost of infection. The searching paths of females were also unaffected. Males from infected and uninfected lines showed the same ability to locate females'sexual pheromones. Moreover, alternative modes of horizontal transmission (through food consumption and/or contact with the same Drosophila larvae) did not lead to viral contamination of the parasitoid. The overall specificity of behavioural alteration and of viral horizontal transmission is consistent with the hypothesis that the virus manipulates the behaviour of the parasitoid.

Animals↗

Cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus classification by electropherotype; validation by serological analyses and agarose gel electrophoresis.

Serological analyses of several different cytoplasmic polyhedrosis viruses (CPVs), including two type 1 CPVs from Bombyx mori, type 1 CPV from Dendrolimus spectabilis, type 12 CPV from Autographa gamma, type 2 CPV from Inachis io, type 5 CPV from Orgyia pseudotsugata and type 5 CPV from Heliothis armigera, demonstrated a close correlation between the antigenic properties of the polyhedrin or virus particle structural proteins and the genomic dsRNA electropherotypes. The dsRNAs of these viruses were analysed by electrophoresis in 3% and 10% polyacrylamide gels with a discontinuous Tris-HCl/Tris-glycine buffer system or by 1% agarose gel electrophoresis using a continuous Tris-acetate-EDTA buffer system. Electrophoretic analysis in agarose gels was found to be the most suitable for the classification of CPV isolates into electropherotypes, and the results obtained showed a close correlation with the observed antigenic relationships between different virus isolates. However, electrophoretic analysis in 10% polyacrylamide gels was most sensitive for the detection of intra-type variation and the presence of mixed virus isolates.

Animals↗

Production of polyhedrin monoclonal antibodies for distinguishing two Orgyia pseudotsugata baculoviruses.

Monoclonal antibodies were produced to polyhedrins from Orgyia pseudotsugata multicapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus (OpMNPV) and single-capsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus (OpSNPV). Although the polyhedrins are closely related, antibodies were selected which allowed differentiation between the two viruses. In an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, purified OpMNPV and OpSNPV polyhedrins could be detected by specific monoclonal antibodies at concentrations as low as 2 and 5 ng/ml, respectively. The antibodies were also capable of identifying their homologous polyhedrin in extracts of infected insects. These antibodies would be useful for monitoring production of the viral insecticide, TM Biocontrol-1, which by license must contain only OpMNPV, and to confirm that insect mortality after aerial spraying with this insecticide is attributable to OpMNPV infection.

Animals↗

Effect of two novel inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus protease on the maturation of the HIV gag and gag-pol polyproteins.

The ability of two novel synthetic compounds to inhibit the HIV protease-mediated processing of HIV-1 precursor polyproteins was investigated in an in vitro gag-protease mixed lysate assay system and in an assay using recombinant baculoviruses engineered to express the HIV-1 gag and pol genes in cultured insect cells. With the in vitro mixed lysate assay we have shown that both compounds at 1 microM can completely inhibit the HIV-1 and HIV-2 protease-mediated release of p24 from the HIV-1 gag precursor at pH 5.5 and pH 7.0. In the intracellular baculovirus system these compounds were shown to inhibit the protease-mediated maturation of gag and also the excision of the protease moiety from its precursor.

Animals↗

Quantification of two viruses in technical preparations of Orgyia pseudotsugata baculovirus by means of buoyant density centrifugation of viral deoxyribonucleic acid.

A reliable method was developed for the quantitative determination of two nuclear polyhcdrosis viruses present in commercially prepared viral insecticides used against Orgyia pseudotsugata. Deoxyribonucleic acids, from nuclear polyhedrosis bundle virus and nuclear polyhedrosis single-rod virus, were separated on CsCl gradients according to their respective buoyant densities, 1.715 and 1.704 g/ml. The proportions of the two viruses were quantified by measuring the relative absorbance at 254 nm of their deoxyribonucleic acid peaks.

Animals↗

Translation of black beetle virus RNA and heterologous viral RNAs in cell-free lysates derived from Drosophila melanogaster.

A cell-free protein synthesizing system was prepared from cells of Drosophila melanogaster line 1 and made mRNA dependent by treatment with micrococcal nuclease. The system was tested with homologous RNA from black beetle virus propagated in Drosophila cells, with Drosophila heat shock mRNA, and with various heterologous viral mRNA's. Under optimal conditions amino acid incorporation programmed with black beetle virus RNAs was 30-fold higher than endogenous incorporation. RNAs 1 and 2 primarily directed the synthesis of proteins with approximately molecular weights of 120,000 and 46,000, respectively. mRNA's, prepared by transcription from vesicular stomatitis virus or vaccinia virus, were translated efficiently and yielded products that comigrated with authentic viral proteins. Brome mosaic virus RNA and encephalomyocarditis virus RNA were translated poorly. The system retained full activity after freezing.

Animals↗

Expression of the glycoprotein gene from a fish rhabdovirus by using baculovirus vectors.

A cDNA fragment containing the gene encoding the glycoprotein of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus was inserted into Autographa californica baculovirus vectors under the control of the polyhedrin promoter. A 66-kilodalton protein, identical in size to the glycosylated glycoprotein of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus, was expressed at high levels in Spodoptera frugiperda cells infected with the recombinant viruses. The expressed protein reacted with antiserum to the glycoprotein on Western blots (immunoblots).

Animals↗

Antigenic subunits of Hantaan virus expressed by baculovirus and vaccinia virus recombinants.

Baculovirus and vaccinia virus vectors were used to express the small (S) and medium (M) genome segments of Hantaan virus. Expression of the complete S or M segments yielded proteins electrophoretically indistinguishable from Hantaan virus nucleocapsid protein or envelope glycoproteins (G1 and G2), and expression of portions of the M segment, encoding either G1 or G2 alone, similarly yielded proteins which closely resembled authentic Hantaan virus proteins. The expressed envelope proteins retained all antigenic sites defined by a panel of monoclonal antibodies to Hantaan virus G1 and G2 and elicited antibodies in animals which reacted with authentic viral proteins. A Hantaan virus infectivity challenge model in hamsters was used to assay induction of protective immunity by the recombinant-expressed proteins. Recombinants expressing both G1 and G2 induced higher titer antibody responses than those expressing only G1 or G2 and protected most animals from infection with Hantaan virus. Baculovirus recombinants expressing only nucleocapsid protein also appeared to protect some animals from challenge. Passively transferred neutralizing monoclonal antibodies similarly prevented infection, suggesting that an antibody response alone is sufficient for immunity to Hantaan virus.

Animals↗

Beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone and firefly luciferase simultaneously synthesized in insect cells using a recombinant baculovirus are differentially expressed and transported.

A recombinant baculovirus vAc beta hCG-luc was constructed that carried the cDNAs encoding firefly luciferase (luc) and beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (beta hCG) placed under the transcriptional control of individual copies of the baculovirus polyhedrin gene promoter. The simple, rapid, and sensitive detection of LUC expression was used for selecting recombinant viruses that simultaneously expressed beta hCG, which was identical in all respects to that synthesized using a recombinant baculovirus carrying the beta hCG gene alone. Immunofluorescence staining of virus-infected cells using anti-LUC antibodies revealed that LUC, a nonglycosylated, intracellular protein was retained within the cells whereas beta hCG, an extensively glycosylated, secretory protein, was processed and secreted into the culture medium. LUC and beta hCG were both immunoreactive on Western blot. beta hCG was bioactive, as evident from its ability to associate with alpha hCG and bind with the receptor and produce testosterone in an in vitro mouse Leydig cell assay system. Comparison of recombinant LUC and beta hCG synthesized by the virus-infected insect cells surprisingly revealed that the level of the former was quantitatively higher by at least 10-fold than the latter. A blot of total RNA isolated from vAc beta hCG-luc-infected insect cells, when probed with probes corresponding to the 3' region of the beta hCG or luc genes, indicated differential transcription of the two genes. Computer-aided sequence analysis indicated extensive secondary structure and stem-loop complex-forming potential of the beta hCG gene, which could be responsible for the transcriptional difference observed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A simplified method for the characterization of nuclear polyhedrosis virus genomes.

A simplified restriction endonuclease analysis procedure is described which allows the characterization of baculovirus DNA obtained directly from a single larvae without purification of virus. This rapid method was used to demonstrate the genomic stability of nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPVs) from Agrotis segetum, Euxoa messoria and Mamestra brassicae after several passages in Euxoa scandens.

Animals↗

Proteins encoded by the bovine papillomavirus E1 open reading frame: expression in heterologous systems and in virally transformed cells.

The E1 open reading frame (ORF) of bovine papillomavirus type 1 is required for the persistence of viral genomes as multicopy plasmid molecules in transformed rodent fibroblasts. E1 has been reported to contain two separate complementation groups (M and R, corresponding to N- and C-terminal domains, respectively) which regulate viral replication. However, E1 behaves as a single gene with respect to cell transformation and viral transcription. We examined the proteins translated from the entire ORF by using three antisera raised against E1 peptide or bacterial fusion proteins. The capacity of the whole ORF to encode a 72-kDa protein was demonstrated by translation of synthetic RNA in a reticulocyte lysate system, by microinjection of RNA into Xenopus oocytes, and by expression in recombinant baculoviruses and vaccinia viruses. In eucaryotic cells, this protein was found to be phosphorylated and targeted to the cell nucleus. In vitro translation also produced shorter peptides, containing only the E1 C-terminal domain, because of internal translation starts on the third and fourth methionine codons within E1 ORF. On the other hand, mammalian cells infected by vaccinia E1 recombinant virus contained additional larger E1 phosphoproteins (transient 85-kDa and stable 88-kDa species), likely representing processed forms of the 72-kDa species. The E1 72-kDa nuclear phosphoprotein was detected in bovine papillomavirus type 1-transformed cells. We report the biochemical characteristics of full-sized and truncated E1 proteins: (i) the C-terminal half of E1 ORF contains a phosphorylation site(s); (ii) the full-sized E1, but not the C-terminal protein, binds DNA, without indication for recognition of defined sequences, and critical determinants for this activity are likely confined to an N-terminal domain of the protein; (iii) covalent affinity labeling experiments performed on vaccinia virus-encoded E1 proteins with an ATP analog confirmed our previous observation of sequence similarities between the E1 C-terminal domain and the ATPase domain of simian virus 40 large T antigen.

Animals↗