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Biomedical subjects

D S Bautista

Publications and source records attributed to D S Bautista.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Isolation and characterization of insertion mutants in E1A of adenovirus type 5.

We have constructed a series of insertion mutations at 18 sites in the coding sequences of early region 1A (E1A) of human adenovirus type 5 (Ad5). At each site we have introduced three types of mutation: a 39-bp insertion specifying a 13-aa residue oligopeptide, a 39-bp insertion containing chain termination codons in all three reading frames, and a "collapsed" insert of 6-bp forming a conventional linker insertion mutation. All mutants were sequenced to determine the precise location, structure, and orientation of the inserts. The mutants were assayed for their abilities to trans-activate and to repress using transient expression assays in HeLa cells cotransfected with the E1A mutant plasmids and a reporter plasmid containing the bacterial beta-galactosidase (lac Z) gene under the control of Ad5 early promoters. The mutants were also tested for their ability to transform baby rat kidney cells in cooperation with either E1B or the ras oncogene. Each mutant was rescued into virus and infectivity was compared in HeLa and 293 cells. In addition, E1A protein synthesis was analyzed in cells infected with the mutant viruses and the insertions were found to have pronounced but unpredictable effects on electrophoretic mobility of E1A proteins in SDS-polyacrylamide gels. The results of functional assays indicated that only mutations mapping in, or deleting, the unique region of the 13 S mRNA product had any effect on ability to trans-activate and that a perfect correlation existed between ability of a mutant to trans-activate and to replicate efficiently in HeLa cells or to transform baby rat kidney cells in an E1A plus E1B mediated assay. In contrast, insertions near conserved region 2 of exon I and in the NH2-terminal portion of exon II significantly reduced repression activity but left transforming activity with E1B or with ras essentially unaffected suggesting that the repression function of E1A is separate from, or at least nonessential in, transformation.

Adenovirus Early Proteins

Anti-adenovirus type 5 cytotoxic T lymphocytes: immunodominant epitopes are encoded by the E1A gene.

Virus specific, major histocompatibility complex-restricted, cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) generated in Fischer strain rats infected with human adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) were found to recognize antigenic determinants encoded within the Ad5 early region 1A (E1A) gene. Preliminary mapping studies suggest that the E1A CTL epitopes are encoded within the regions between bp 625 to 810 and 916 to 974 in the first exon of this gene. These epitope-coding regions occur within subregions of E1A that are conserved functionally, and to some extent structurally (approximately 50% sequence homology), among adenoviruses of different groups. Nevertheless, Ad5-specific CTL lysed only targets infected with adenoviruses of the same group (group C; e.g., Ad2) and not targets infected with adenoviruses of different groups (groups A, B, and E). These results suggest that virus-specific CTL may limit adenoviral dissemination by destroying virus-infected cells at an early stage in the viral replicative cycle, during E1A gene expression. Expression of other adenovirus genes does not appear to be required to target infected cells for elimination by CTL.

Adenovirus Early Proteins

Insertional mutagenesis using a synthetic lac operator.

We have developed a novel cassette for generating insertion mutants in multi-copy bacterial plasmids. The cassette consists of synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides (oligos) which form a DNA duplex following reconstitution in vitro, due to sequence complementarity. It contains a 21-bp segment of the lac operator (lacZo), to provide a readily detectable phenotypic marker. Bacterial colonies harboring plasmids with insertions of this cassette are blue due to constitutive expression of the lac operon resulting from titration of lac repressor molecules by plasmid-borne lacZo sequences. Synthetic oligos containing a desire sequence may be added to the cassette by complementary ends for targeted insertion into plasmids. Sequencing of the resulting insertion mutants is facilitated by using oligos within the cassette as primers for bidirectional sequencing. This allows a complete characterization of each insertion in terms of location, structure of flanking sequences, and orientation of the inserted oligo. We have used this system to construct a series of mutants in early region 1a genes of human adenovirus type 5. For this purpose we designed a cassette which had all three possible translational reading frames open when inserted in one orientation, and all reading frames closed in the other orientation. The cassette also had BamHI restriction sites at each end which could be used to 'collapse' mutants, reducing the size of each insert to 6 bp.

Base Sequence

A simple technique for the rescue of early region I mutations into infectious human adenovirus type 5.

Early region 1 (E1) of the human adenoviruses has many intriguing properties which have prompted numerous mutational studies to help delineate and characterize the domains responsible for these functions. In mutational analyses being done currently, the E1 region is usually cloned into a bacterial plasmid where it is mutated and then the altered E1 sequences are "rescued" back into infectious virus. The most frequently used rescue procedures are somewhat tedious, requiring the purification and fractionation of linear viral DNA or DNA fragments, and often involve the screening of numerous plaque isolates. Several observations we have made recently on the properties of adenovirus DNA in infected cells and on infectious plasmids in transfected cells led us to design a new approach for rescuing E1 mutations into infectious viral genomes. We constructed a plasmid, pJM17, containing the entire Ad5 DNA molecule, with an insert in the E1 region that exceeds the packaging constraints of the adenovirus capsid. Following transfection of pJM17 into 293 cells the plasmid DNA is able to replicate but cannot be packaged into infectious virions. In contrast cotransfection of 293 cells with pJM17 plus an E1-containing plasmid carrying mutated sequences produces recombinant virions at high efficiencies. Neither plasmid needs to be linearized prior to contransfection. The technique eliminates the need to purify and manipulate infectious virion DNA and since no unique restriction sites are needed, both E1A and E1B mutants' as well as foreign gene inserts in the E1 region can be easily rescued into virus.

Adenovirus Early Proteins

Nonrandom insertion of Tn5 into cloned human adenovirus DNA.

The bacterial transposable element Tn5 displays regional selectivity in target sites for transposition. To examine this integration specificity of Tn5, we have mapped 57 insertion events in a plasmid pXC1 containing a eukaryotic viral DNA fragment as a target for Tn5 insertional mutagenesis. We found a nonrandom distribution of integration sites in pXC1, suggesting preferred targets for transposition. However, DNA sequence analysis of seven mutants revealed no target site sequence specificity for Tn5 insertion. We demonstrated that the majority of these insertions mapped downstream from a fortuitous promoter sequence which was present and active in this cloned insert in pXC1. Furthermore, when this promoter region was removed, Tn5 was able to transpose into previously unused upstream target sequences. Our data suggest that transcriptional activity may influence Tn5 transposition.

Adenoviruses, Human