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A K Robbins

Publications and source records attributed to A K Robbins.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Pseudorabies virus glycoprotein gIII is required for efficient virus growth in tissue culture.

Glycoprotein gIII of pseudorabies virus is a major antigen found in the envelopes of virus particles as well as in and on the surfaces of infected cells. It is not an essential gene product for virus growth in tissue culture. In this report, we provide evidence that, although it is not essential, the gIII protein is required for efficient virus growth and that gIII mutants are quickly outgrown by wild-type virus in mixed infections.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Analysis of pseudorabies virus glycoprotein gIII localization and modification by using novel infectious viral mutants carrying unique EcoRI sites.

We have constructed two pseudorabies virus (PRV) mutants, each with a unique EcoRI restriction site in the nonessential gIII envelope glycoprotein gene. Since no natural PRV isolate has been reported to contain EcoRI sites, the isolation and single-step growth curve analysis of these mutants established that PRV can carry such a site with little ill effect in tissue culture. Virus carrying these defined mutations produced novel gIII proteins that enabled us to begin functional assignment of protein localization information within the gIII gene. Specifically, one viral mutant contained an in-frame synthetic EcoRI linker sequence that was flanked on one side by the first one-third of the gIII gene and on the other side by the last one-third of the gene. The resulting protein lacked the middle one-third of the parental species, including five of eight putative N-linked glycosylation signals, but was still glycosylated and found in enveloped virions; it was not secreted into the medium. A second viral mutant contained an in-frame synthetic EcoRI linker sequence that additionally specified a nonsense codon at position 158, producing a gIII protein that was glycosylated and secreted into the medium; the fragment was not found in enveloped virions. By endoglycosidase and pulse-chase analyses, we established a precursor-product relationship between the various forms of gIII expressed in the parental and mutant strains, and perhaps determined certain features of the gIII protein that are required for its efficient export within the cell.

Alleles↗
PubMed1987

The pseudorabies virus gII gene is closely related to the gB glycoprotein gene of herpes simplex virus.

We have looked for conserved DNA sequences between four herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein genes encoding gB, gC, gD, and gE and pseudorabies virus (PRV) DNA, HSV-1 DNA fragments representing these four glycoprotein-coding sequences were hybridized to restriction enzyme fragments of PRV DNA by the Southern blot procedure. Specific hybridization was observed only when HSV-1 gB DNA was used as probe. This region of hybridization was localized to a 5.2-kilobase (kb) region mapping at approximately 0.15 map units on the PRV genome. Northern blot (RNA blot) analysis, with a 1.2-kb probe derived from this segment, revealed a predominant hybridizing RNA species of approximately 3 kb in PRV-infected PK15 cells. DNA sequence analysis of the region corresponding to this RNA revealed a single large open reading frame with significant nucleotide homology with the gB gene of HSV-1 KOS 321. In addition, the beginning of the sequenced PRV region also contained the end of an open reading frame with amino acid homology to HSV-1 ICP 18.5, a protein that may be involved in viral glycoprotein transport. This sequence partially overlaps the PRV gB homolog coding sequence. We have shown that the PRV gene with homology to HSV-1 gB encoded the gII glycoprotein gene by expressing a 765-base-pair segment of the PRV open reading frame in Escherichia coli as a protein fused to beta-galactosidase. Antiserum, raised in rabbits, against this fusion protein immunoprecipitated a specific family of PRV glycoproteins of apparent molecular mass 110, 68, and 55 kilodaltons that have been identified as the gII family of glycoproteins. Analysis of the predicted amino acid sequence indicated that the PRV gII protein shares 50% amino acid homology with the aligned HSV-1 gB protein. All 10 cysteine residues located outside of the signal sequence, as well as 4 of 6 potential N-linked glycosylation sites, were conserved between the two proteins. The primary protein sequence for HSV-1 gB regions known to be involved in the rate of virus entry into the cells and cell-cell fusion, as well as regions known to be associated with monoclonal antibody resistance, were highly homologous with the PRV protein sequence. Furthermore, monospecific antibody made against PRV gII immunoprecipitated HSV-1 gB from infected cells. Taken together, these findings suggest significant conservation of structure and function between the two proteins and may indicate a common evolutionary history.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Characterization of a pseudorabies virus glycoprotein gene with homology to herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 glycoprotein C.

A pseudorabies virus (Becker strain) glycoprotein gene was located in the UL region at map position 0.40. The gene was identified by using open reading frame Escherichia coli plasmid expression vectors and specific antibody reagents. A 1.55-kilobase unspliced transcript from the gene was detected in pseudorabies virus-infected tissue culture cells. The DNA sequence revealed a single open reading frame of 1,437 base pairs encoding 479 amino acids. The predicted primary translation product has a molecular weight of 50,860 and contains features of a typical herpesvirus glycoprotein. An E. coli expression plasmid was constructed that contained essentially all of the open reading frame for this gene. Antibodies raised in rabbits against the protein expressed in bacteria by this plasmid immunoprecipitated pseudorabies virus-specific glycoproteins of 92,000 and 74,000 daltons from infected cell extracts. It is likely that these two forms represent different glycosylation states of the protein.

Cloning, Molecular↗
PubMed1986

Pseudorabies virus gene encoding glycoprotein gIII is not essential for growth in tissue culture.

We have established that in the Becker strain of pseudorabies virus (PRV), the glycoprotein gIII gene is not essential for growth in cell culture. This was accomplished by construction and analysis of viral mutants containing two defined deletion mutations affecting the gIII gene. These mutations were first constructed in vitro and introduced into Escherichia coli expression plasmids to verify structure and protein production. Each mutation was then crossed onto PRV by cotransfection of plasmid DNA and parental viral DNA by using gIII-specific monoclonal antibodies as selective and screening reagents. One resultant virus strain, PRV-2, contained an in-frame deletion of a 402-base-pair (bp) SacI fragment contained within the gIII gene. Another virus strain, PRV-10, contained a deletion of a 1,480-bp XhoI fragment removing 230 bp of the upstream, putative transcriptional control sequences and 87% of the gIII coding sequence. The deletion mutants were compared with parental virus by analysis of virion DNA, gIII specific RNA, and proteins reacting with gIII specific antibodies. Upon infection of PK15 cells, the deletion mutants did not produce any proteins that reacted with two gIII specific monoclonal antibodies. However, two species of truncated glycosylated proteins were observed in PRV-2 infected cells that reacted with antiserum raised against bacterially produced gIII protein. PRV-10 produced no detectable gIII-specific RNA or protein. PRV-10 could be propagated without difficulty in tissue culture. Virus particles lacking gIII were indistinguishable from parental PRV virus particles by analysis of infected-cell thin sections in the electron microscope. We therefore conclude that expression of the gIII gene was not absolutely essential for PRV growth in tissue culture.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Construction of E. coli expression plasmid libraries: localization of a pseudorabies virus glycoprotein gene.

We describe the use of a combined cloning/expression protocol to identify a gene encoding a Pseudorabies virus (PRV) glycoprotein. Prior to this study, the genome locations of PRV glycoproteins had not been described. We first identified PRV glycoproteins using antibodies directed against PRV virions. Using affinity chromatography and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the PRV glycoproteins were separated and antibodies were made against them in rabbits. Using DNase digestion, PRV genomic DNA was fragmented into approximately 500-base-pair regions. These random fragments were inserted in an expression vector and the PRV DNA sequences were expressed as proteins fused to beta-galactosidase. The antibodies made in rabbits were then used as probes in a Western blot analysis to screen for the presence of PRV-specific glycoprotein sequences in these PRV-beta-galactosidase fusion proteins. Two expression plasmids were isolated that specified fusion proteins that reacted in the Western blot analysis with rabbit antibodies directed against a 74,000 molecular weight PRV glycoprotein. The PRV DNA sequences represented in the expression plasmids were mapped within a single BamHI fragment of PRV genomic DNA, but were not overlapping. PRV-beta-galactosidase fusion proteins produced by these two expression plasmids were used to inoculate rabbits. Antibodies produced against both fusion proteins recognized PRV-specific glycoproteins of 74,000 and 92,000 molecular weight. This protocol should have general application in localizing genes within large DNA virus genomes.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

SV40 gene expression is modulated by the cooperative binding of T antigen to DNA.

We analyzed the DNA binding properties of wild-type simian virus 40 large T antigen and found that the protein binds cooperatively to three tandem sites at a regulatory region of SV40 DNA. One consequence of this T antigen:DNA interaction is the specific repression of SV40 early RNA synthesis in vitro. We mapped a region of 85 base pairs that is necessary and sufficient to initiate early SV40 transcription in vitro. This promoter region lies directly adjacent to the third T antigen binding site but does not include that "TATA" sequence. To determine how T antigen interacts with its binding sites to repress RNA synthesis, we analyzed transcription directed by a variety of wild-type, mutant and hybrid template DNAs. Our findings suggest that the cooperative binding of T antigen to its sites is directly responsible for inhibiting the initiation, rather than blocking elongation, of early RNA synthesis. A model is presented to explain the role of T antigen binding in the regulation of viral transcription and DNA replication during SV40 lytic infection.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗
PubMed1977

Phophorylation of polyoma and SV40 virus proteins.

The polypeptides of polyoma and SV40 virions are phosphorylated. An estimate of the amount of phosphorylation of the major virus capsid protein (VPI) has been made using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to resolve phosphorylated from non-phosphorylated forms. The results suggest that in both polyoma and SV40 virions about 12% of VPI molecules are phosphorylated. In unassembled VPI molecules immunoprecipitated from extracts of infected cells the proportion is greater, about 33%. The possibility that phosphorylated VPI may form the penton proteins of the virus capsid is discussed.

Capsid↗
PubMed1976

The cleavage of polyoma virus DNA by restriction enzymes KpnI and PstI.

The action of two restriction endonucleases on polyoma virus DNA has been examined and the sites at which they cleave the DNA located. One of the enzymes, KpnI from Klebsiella pneumoniae OK8, cleaves polyoma DNA twice at about 11-6 and 59-2% from the EcoRI site. The other enzyme, PstI from Providencia stuartii 164, cleaves polyoma DNA five times at about 14-8, 16-5, 32-6, 50-3 and 80-0% from the EcoRI site. Some of the cleavages produced by these enzymes alone, or in conjunction with other endonucleases, may be of use in the isolation of regions of particular interest from the virus DNA.

DNA Restriction Enzymes↗