Physical and functional heterogeneity in TYMV RNA: evidence for the existence of an independent messenger coding for coat protein.
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Turnip yellow mosaic virus RNA can be separated into two distinct components of 2 times 10(6) and 300 000 daltons molecular weight after moderate heat treatment in the presence of SDS or EDTA. The two species cannot have arisen by accidental in vitro degradation of a larger RNA, as they both possess capped 5' ends. Analysis of the newly synthesized proteins resulting from translation of each RNA by a wheat germ extract shows that the 300 000 molecular weight RNA can be translated very efficiently into coat protein. When translated in vitro the longer RNA gave a series of high molecular weight polypeptides but only very small amounts of a polypeptide having about the same mass as the coat protein. Thus our results suggest that the small RNA is the functional messenger for coat protein synthesis in infected cells. (+info)
Tolerance of Arc repressor to multiple-alanine substitutions.
(26/26353)
Arc repressor mutants containing from three to 15 multiple-alanine substitutions have spectral properties expected for native Arc proteins, form heterodimers with wild-type Arc, denature cooperatively with Tms equal to or greater than wild type, and, in some cases, fold as much as 30-fold faster and unfold as much as 50-fold slower than wild type. Two of the mutants, containing a total of 14 different substitutions, also footprint operator DNA in vitro. The stability of some of the proteins with multiple-alanine mutations is significantly greater than that predicted from the sum of the single substitutions, suggesting that a subset of the wild-type residues in Arc may interact in an unfavorable fashion. Overall, these results show that almost half of the residues in Arc can be replaced by alanine en masse without compromising the ability of this small, homodimeric protein to fold into a stable, native-like structure. (+info)
Crossreactive recognition of viral, self, and bacterial peptide ligands by human class I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte clonotypes: implications for molecular mimicry in autoimmune disease.
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The immunodominant, CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response to the HLA-B8-restricted peptide, RAKFKQLL, located in the Epstein-Barr virus immediate-early antigen, BZLF1, is characterized by a diverse T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. Here, we show that this diversity can be partitioned on the basis of crossreactive cytotoxicity patterns involving the recognition of a self peptide-RSKFRQIV-located in a serine/threonine kinase and a bacterial peptide-RRKYKQII-located in Staphylococcus aureus replication initiation protein. Thus CTL clones that recognized the viral, self, and bacterial peptides expressed a highly restricted alphabeta TCR phenotype. The CTL clones that recognized viral and self peptides were more oligoclonal, whereas clones that strictly recognized the viral peptide displayed a diverse TCR profile. Interestingly, the self and bacterial peptides equally were substantially less effective than the cognate viral peptide in sensitizing target cell lysis, and also resulted only in a weak reactivation of memory CTLs in limiting dilution assays, whereas the cognate peptide was highly immunogenic. The described crossreactions show that human antiviral, CD8(+) CTL responses can be shaped by peptide ligands derived from autoantigens and environmental bacterial antigens, thereby providing a firm structural basis for molecular mimicry involving class I-restricted CTLs in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. (+info)
Bacillus subtilis bacteriophages SP82, SPO1, and phie: a comparison of DNAs and of peptides synthesized during infection.
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The genomes of Bacillus subtilis phages phie, SPO1, and SP82 were compared by DNA-DNA hybridization, analysis of DNA fragments produced by digestion with restriction endonucleases, comparison of the arrays of peptides synthesized during infection, and phage neutralization. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments indicated that about 78% of the SP82 DNA was homologous with SPO1 DNA, whereas 40% of the phie DNA was homologous to either SPO1 or SP82 DNA. Agarose gel electrophoresis was used to compare the molecular weights of DNA fragments produced by cleavage of SP82, SPO1, and phie DNAs with the restriction endonucleases Hae III, Sal I, Hpa II, and Hha I. Digestion of the DNAs with Hae III and Sal I produced only a few fragments, whereas digestion with Hpa II and Hha I yielded 29 to 40 fragments, depending on the DNA and the enzyme. Comparing the Hpa II fragments, 51% of the SP82 fragments had mobilities which matched those of SPO1 fragments, 32% of the SP82 fragments matched the phie fragments, and 34% of the SPO1 fragments matched the phie fragments. Comparing the Hha I digestion products, 62% of the SP82 fragments had mobilities matching the SPO1 fragments, 24% of the SP82 fragments matched the phie fragments, and 22% of the SPO1 fragments matched the phie fragments. Analysis of peptides by electrophoresis on one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide slab gels showed that approximately 70 phage-specific peptides were synthesized in the first 24 min of each infection. With mobility and the intervals of synthesis as criteria, 66% of the different SP82 peptides matched the SPO1 peptides, 34% of the SP82 peptides matched the phie peptides, and 37% of the SPO1 peptides matched the phie peptides. Phage neutralization assays using antiserum to SP82 yielded K values of 510 for SP82, 240 for SPO1, and 120 for phie. (+info)
Genome-linked protein associated with the 5' termini of bacteriophage phi29 DNA.
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A DNA-protein complex was isolated from Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage phi29 by sucrose gradient sedimentation or gel filtration in the presence of agents known to break noncovalent bonds. A 28,000-dalton protein was released from this complex by subsequent hydrolysis of the DNA. The DNA-protein complex was examined for its susceptibility to enzymes which act upon the 5' and 3' termini of DNA molecules. It was susceptible to exonucleolytic degradation from the 3' termini by exonuclease III but not from the 5' termini by lambda exonuclease. Attempts to label radioactively the 5' termini by phosphorylation with T4 polynucleotide kinase were unsuccessful despite prior treatment with alkaline phosphatase or phosphatase treatment of denatured DNA. Removal of the majority of the bound protein by proteolytic digestion did not increase susceptibility. These results suggest that the linked protein is covalently attached to the 5' termini of phi29 DNA. (+info)
Evidence that the neck appendages are adsorption organelles in Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage phi29.
(30/26353)
A mutant of Bacillus subtilis unable to adsorb phage phi29 efficiently has been isolated. This mutant can be infected by host range mutants of the phage. Since the host range mutations map in cistron 12, which codes for neck appendage protein, this would tend to confirm that these organelles are involved in viral adsorption. (+info)
Evidence for an adenovirus type 2-coded early glycoprotein.
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We have identified an adenovirus type 2 (Ad2)-induced early glycopolypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 20,000 to 21,000 (20/21K), as estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The 20/21K polypeptide could be labeled in vivo with [(3)H]glucosamine. [(35)S]methionine- and [(3)H]-glucosamine-labeled 20/21K polypeptides bound to concanavalin A-Sepharose columns and were eluted with 0.2 M methyl-alpha-d-mannoside. The pulse-labeled polypeptide appeared as a sharp band with an apparent molecular weight of 21K, but after a chase it converted to multiple bands with an average molecular weight of 20K. This variability in electrophoretic mobility is consistent with glycosylation or deglycosylation of the 20/21K polypeptide. Analysis of the pulse and pulse-chase-labeled forms by using partial proteolysis indicated that the polypeptides were highly related chemically, but not identical. Most of the 20/21K polypeptide is localized in the cytoplasm fraction of infected cells lysed by Nonidet P-40. The 20/21K polypeptide and a 44K polypeptide, labeled with [(35)S]methionine or [(3)H]glucosamine in Ad2-infected human cells, were precipitated by a rat antiserum against an Ad2-transformed rat cell line (T2C4), but not by antisera against three other Ad2-transformed rat cell lines, or by serum from nonimmune rats. The partial proteolysis patterns of the 20/21K and the 44K polypeptides were indistinguishable, indicating that the two polypeptides are highly related, and suggesting that the 44K polypeptide might be a dimer of the 20/21K polypeptide. The 20/21K polypeptide was also induced in Ad2-early infected monkey and hamster cells. These results imply that the 20/21K polypeptide is synthesized in Ad2-infected human, monkey, and hamster cells, and in one but not all Ad2-transformed rat cells. Thus, the 20/21K polypeptide is probably viral coded rather than cell coded and viral induced. (+info)
Crystal structure of deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase from bacteriophage T4, a component of the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate-synthesizing complex.
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Bacteriophage T4 deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase (EC 2.1.2.8), a homodimer of 246-residue subunits, catalyzes hydroxymethylation of the cytosine base in deoxycytidylate (dCMP) to produce 5-hydroxymethyl-dCMP. It forms part of a phage DNA protection system and appears to function in vivo as a component of a multienzyme complex called deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) synthetase. We have determined its crystal structure in the presence of the substrate dCMP at 1.6 A resolution. The structure reveals a subunit fold and a dimerization pattern in common with thymidylate synthases, despite low (approximately 20%) sequence identity. Among the residues that form the dCMP binding site, those interacting with the sugar and phosphate are arranged in a configuration similar to the deoxyuridylate binding site of thymidylate synthases. However, the residues interacting directly or indirectly with the cytosine base show a more divergent structure and the presumed folate cofactor binding site is more open. Our structure reveals a water molecule properly positioned near C-6 of cytosine to add to the C-7 methylene intermediate during the last step of hydroxymethylation. On the basis of sequence comparison and crystal packing analysis, a hypothetical model for the interaction between T4 deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase and T4 thymidylate synthase in the dNTP-synthesizing complex has been built. (+info)