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R C Craven

Publications and source records attributed to R C Craven.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Cloning and expression of a 30 kDa surface antigen of Pasteurella haemolytica.

Pasteurella haemolytica biotype A serotype 1 is the principal etiologic agent of bovine pneumonic pasteurellosis. A clear understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease and the mechanisms of resistance to it has been limited by a lack of information on the important antigens of the organisms. Using recombinant DNA techniques we have cloned a segment of DNA from P. haemolytica A1 that encodes three proteins of 28, 30, and 32 kDa. Two of these proteins, 30 and 28 kDa, react strongly on a Western blot with a bovine serum raised against live cells of P. haemolytica A1. The gene for the 30 kDa protein was localized to a 3.1 kbp EcoRI fragment, and expression of the 30 kDa protein was found to be independent of an E. coli promoter. The 30 kDa protein comigrated with a 30 kDa P. haemolytica protein that was susceptible to radioiodination and presumably exposed on the bacterial cell surface. The other principal radiolabeled P. haemolytica proteins were 100, 45, and 15 kDa. Antibodies against the 30 kDa protein, isolated from E. coli carrying the recombinant plasmid, recognized 30 kDa and 15 kDa proteins in P. haemolytica serotypes 1-15 and caused agglutination of whole P. haemolytica A1 cells. Cattle vaccinated with live P. haemolytica, P. haemolytica outer membrane proteins, or the cloned 30 kDa protein developed antibodies to the cloned 30 kDa protein as detected by Western blotting and densitometry. Sera were obtained from cattle vaccinated with live or killed P. haemolytica or saline and challenged with P. haemolytica. Those sera were evaluated for antibody responses to the cloned 30 kDa protein. High antibody responses to the 30 kDa protein significantly correlated (P less than 0.01) with resistance to challenge. From these studies it is concluded that the 30 kDa protein represents a surface antigen of P. haemolytica A1 that may be important in inducing immunity to P. haemolytica.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1991

Amino acids encoded downstream of gag are not required by Rous sarcoma virus protease during gag-mediated assembly.

Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) and its relatives are unique in that they appear to encode their viral protease in the gag reading frame. As a result, this 124-amino-acid sequence is found at the carboxy terminus of each Gag precursor molecule and, upon ribosome frameshifting, embedded within each Gag-Pol molecule. However, rigorous proof has never been obtained for the activity of this 124-amino-acid Gag domain during virion assembly in vivo. If the active protease actually included amino acids encoded downstream in the pol reading frame, then the sequence organization would be more in line with those of other retroviruses. To examine this issue, mutations that disrupt the addition of amino acids by ribosome frameshifting were analyzed for their effects on particle assembly and Gag processing in a mammalian expression system (J. W. Wills, R. C. Craven, and J. A. Achacoso, J. Virol. 63:4331-4343, 1989). A 2-base substitution which created a nonsense mutation in the pol reading frame and was predicted to disrupt the hairpin structure of the ribosome frameshift signal had no effect on particle assembly or Gag processing, definitively showing that downstream amino acids are unnecessary. Mutations that fused the gag and pol reading frames to place 85 amino acids at the carboxy terminus of Gag hindered particle assembly and totally abolished the activity of the protease. A smaller fusion protein containing only the seven-amino-acid spacer peptide that links Gag and reverse transcriptase allowed particle formation but slowed processing. The reduced rate of processing exhibited by this mutant also revealed a previously unnoticed series of late maturation steps associated with the RSV capsid (CA) protein. Another mutant containing two substituted amino acids plus one additional amino acid at the carboxy terminus of protease nearly abolished processing. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of the carboxy terminus for proteolytic activity and suggest that this end must be unrestrained for optimal activity. If this hypothesis is correct, then the RSV protease may be encoded at the end of gag simply to ensure the production of a free carboxy terminus by translational termination.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Role of the avian retroviral protease in the activation of reverse transcriptase during virion assembly.

The retroviruses of the avian sarcoma-leukosis virus group synthesize their viral protease (PR) in two precursor forms--as a carboxy-terminal domain of the Gag precursor and as an embedded domain within the Gag-Pol precursor. We have shown previously that the Gag-derived PR is fully capable of processing the Gag precursor in the absence of the embedded PR (R.P. Bennett, S. Rhee, R.C. Craven, E. Hunter, and J.W. Wills, J. Virol. 65:272-280, 1991). In this study, we examined the question of whether or not the PR domain of Gag-Pol has an essential role in the maturation of the Pol proteins. The Gag-Pol precursor was expressed in the absence of Gag by use of a simian virus 40-based vector in which the gag and pol reading frames were fused. The fusion protein accumulated to high levels in transfected cells without being released into the medium but could be rescued into particles by coexpression of the Gag protein from a second vector. The resulting particles contained mature Gag and Pol proteins and active reverse transcriptase (RT). Using this complementation system, the effects of PR defects in the Gag and/or Gag-Pol proteins on the activation of RT were examined. The results showed that the presence of a functional PR on the Gag precursor, but not on Gag-Pol, was required for full activation of RT. The embedded PR of Gag-Pol was unable to carry out any detectable processing of the Gag precursor and was able to activate RT to only a low level in the absence of a functional Gag PR domain. Finally, some point mutations in the Gag-Pol PR domain inhibited activation of RT in trans by a wild-type PR, suggesting that the correct conformation of the PR domain in Gag-Pol is prerequisite for activation of RT.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Suppression of retroviral MA deletions by the amino-terminal membrane-binding domain of p60src.

The molecular mechanism by which retroviral Gag proteins are directed to the plasma membrane for the formation of particles (budding) is unknown, but it is widely believed that the MA domain, located at the amino terminus, plays a critical role. Consistent with this idea, we found that small deletions in this segment of the Rous sarcoma virus Gag protein completely blocked particle formation. The mutant proteins appear to have suffered only localized structural damage since they could be rescued (i.e., packaged into particles) when coexpressed with Gag proteins that are competent for particle formation. To our surprise, the effects of the MA deletions could be completely suppressed by fusing as few as seven residues of the myristylated amino terminus of the oncoprotein p60src to the beginning of the mutant Gag proteins. Particles produced by the chimeras were of the same density as the wild type. Two myristylated peptides having sequences distinct from that of p60src were entirely unable to suppress MA deletions, indicating that myristate alone is not a sufficient membrane targeting signal. We hypothesize that the amino terminus of p60src suppresses the effects of MA deletions by diverting the Rous sarcoma virus Gag protein from its normal site of assembly to the Src receptor for particle formation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Creation and expression of myristylated forms of Rous sarcoma virus gag protein in mammalian cells.

Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), a member of the avian sarcoma and leukosis family of retroviruses, has long been known to be capable of infecting and transforming mammalian cells; however, such transformed cells do not release virus particles. The RSV gag product (Pr76gag) produced in these cells is not released into the culture medium or proteolytically processed to release mature products. Thus, the behavior of Pr76gag in mammalian cells is much like that of mammalian retroviral Gag proteins which have been altered so as to block the addition of myristic acid at residue 2 (Gly). Because the RSV gag product does not possess a myristic acid addition site, we hypothesized that the creation of one by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis might permit particles to be released from mammalian cells. Two myristylated forms of Pr76 were created. In Pr76myr1, the first 10 amino acids have been exchanged for those of p60v-src, which are known to be sufficient for myristylation. In Pr76myr2, the Glu at the second residue has been substituted with Gly. The alleles encoding the modified and wild-type forms of Pr76 have been expressed at high levels in mammalian (CV-1) cells by using an SV40-based vector. Surprisingly, we have found that expression of high levels of the unmodified (wild-type) product, Pr76myr0, results in low levels of particle formation and precursor processing. This indicates that myristic acid is not the sole determinant for targeting. However, the addition of myristic acid to Pr76myr1 or Pr76myr2 resulted in a fivefold enhancement in Gag function. In all aspects examined, the behavior of myristylated Pr76 was identical to that of the authentic product produced in avian cells. We also show that processing is mediated by the gag-encoded protease and that removal of the amino terminus to create Pr76gagX results in an inability to form particles or be processed. This suggests that proper targeting is prerequisite for activation of the RSV protease in mammalian cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Effect of repeated in vitro transfer of Pasteurella haemolytica A1 on encapsulation, leukotoxin production, and virulence.

Pasteurella haemolytica serotype 1 was transferred daily for 128 serial passages on both unsupplemented brain heart infusion agar and the same basal medium supplemented with bovine blood, horse serum, and yeast extract. Repeatedly transferred cultures were shown to retain the ability to produce both capsular material and leukotoxin. Furthermore, intact organisms were found to be as toxic in vitro for bovine leukocytes and as virulent for mice as unpassaged cultures. These results indicate that the precaution of using only freshly isolated cultures in the study of this organism may not be necessary.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Chemotaxis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: involvement of methylation.

The involvement of a protein methyl transfer system in the chemotaxis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated. When a methionine auxotroph of P. aeruginosa was starved for methionine, chemotaxis toward serine, measured by a quantitative capillary assay, was reduced 80%, whereas background motility was unaffected or increased. When unstarved bacteria were labeled with L-[methyl-3H]methionine, a labeled species of 73,000 molecular weight which was methylated in response to stimulation by L-serine was identified. Under appropriate electrophoretic conditions, the 73,000 molecular weight species was resolved into two bands, both of which responded to stimulation by L-serine, L-arginine, and alpha-aminoisobutyrate (AIB) with an increased incorporation of methyl label. Arginine, which elicited the strongest chemotactic response in the capillary assay, also stimulated the greatest methylation response. Methylation of the 73,000 molecular weight species reached a maximum 10 min after stimulation by AIB and returned to the unstimulated level upon removal of the AIB. In vitro labeling of cell extracts with S-adenosyl[methyl-3H]methionine indicated that the 73,000 molecular weight species are methylated by an S-adenosylmethionine-mediated reaction. These results indicate that chemotaxis of P. aeruginosa toward amino acids is mediated by dynamic methylation and demethylation of methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins analogous to those of the enteric bacteria.

Aminoisobutyric Acids↗
PubMed1982

Flagellar preparations from Pseudomonas aeruginosa: isolation and characterization.

Flagella from various strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated by shearing the flagella followed by differential centrifugation to obtain typical filaments as viewed through an electron microscope. Electrophoretic analysis showed a major protein band corresponding to a flagellin with molecular weight of 53,000. Among the strains tested, flagellar antigen (FAg) preparations isolated from strains 1244 and 1210 routinely gave the highest percentage of flagellin, with the least amount of protein impurities, when grown on succinate-mineral salts medium. All FAg preparations contained 3 to 10 micrograms of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate-positive material per mg of protein. Strain PA-103 lacked flagella and exhibited no flagellin band, and preparations from PA-103 had a relatively higher content of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate. The isolation of highly purified, single-banded flagellin could be accomplished by elution of the 53,000-molecular weight gel band. Amino acid analysis showed 16 amino acids, but no proline. Antisera to FAg preparations were used to demonstrate inhibition of motility of strains RM-46 and M-2. Heated RM-46 FAg antisera and PA-103 antisera did not inhibit motility.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1982

Loss of virulence associated with absence of flagellum in an isogenic mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the burned-mouse model.

To test the importance of flagella as a virulence factor, virulent strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa M-2 was mutagenized, and a Fla mutant was isolated. An M-2 Fla spontaneous motile revertant was isolated from M-2 Fla. The three strains were biochemically and morphologically identical. Assay of Fla in the burned-mouse model showed a severe loss of virulence. The Fla revertant was fully virulent. The importance of P. aeruginosa motility (flagella) for virulence in burns infections is indicated.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Widespread West Nile virus activity, eastern United States, 2000.

In 1999, the U.S. West Nile (WN) virus epidemic was preceded by widespread reports of avian deaths. In 2000, ArboNET, a cooperative WN virus surveillance system, was implemented to monitor the sentinel epizootic that precedes human infection. This report summarizes 2000 surveillance data, documents widespread virus activity in 2000, and demonstrates the utility of monitoring virus activity in animals to identify human risk for infection.

Animals↗