Cloning of the marmoset herpesvirus thymidine kinase gene and analyses of the boundaries of the coding region

Bovine herpesvirus-1 (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus)-based viral vector which expresses foot-and-mouth disease epitopes

A recombinant infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (IBRV) vector has been constructed to express bovine growth hormone signal sequence plus a foot-and-mouth disease virus [FMDV (O1K)] capsid protein (VP1) epitope as the N-terminal sequence of an IBRV glycoprotein gIII fusion protein on the surface of virus infected cells and on the surface of virus particles. Sequences encoding the first 38 amino acids of IBRV gIII were deleted from the recombinant to avoid redundant glycoprotein signal sequences, but IBRV gIII epitopes detected by anti-gIII monoclonal antibodies were retained. Phenotypes were confirmed by in situ immunostaining of virus plaques with anti-FMDV peptide sera, by immunogold staining of permeabilized- and non-permeabilized infected cells, and by virus neutralization experiments with anti-FMDV peptide sera. Vaccination with the IBRV-FMDV recombinant induced protective levels of anti-FMDV antibodies in calves and protected them from challenge with virulent IBRV.

Modified-live infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus vaccine expressing monomer and dimer forms of foot-and-mouth disease capsid protein epitopes on surface of hybrid virus particles

Modified-live, attenuated infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) hybrid virus vaccines have been constructed by inserting in the major IBRV glycoprotein gIII gene chemically synthesized deoxyribonucleotide sequences encoding the bovine growth hormone signal sequence and monomeric or dimeric forms of the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) VP 1 epitope sequences. The foreign DNA sequences were inserted at the N-terminal end of the IBRV gIII coding sequence and were driven by the IBRV gIII promoter. The sequences encoding the first 38 and the first 21 amino acids of the IBRV gIII were deleted from the hybrid viruses containing inserts of the monomeric and dimeric FMDV epitope sequences, respectively, to avoid redundant signal sequences. Plaque immunoassay experiments with guinea pig and bovine anti-FMDV peptide antisera, and with anti-IBRV gIII monoclonal antibodies demonstrated that IBRV-FMDV fusion proteins were expressed in virus-infected MDBK cells. Immunoelectron microscopy analyses demonstrated that the IBRV-FMDV fusion proteins were expressed as repeated structures on the surface of virus particles. Experiments showed that the recombinant IBRV-FMDV viruses protected cattle from IBRV (Cooper) challenge and induced anti-FMDV peptide antibodies, thereby demonstrating that the FMDV epitopes were expressed in vivo.

Nucleotide sequence changes in thymidine kinase gene of herpes simplex virus type 2 clones from an isolate of a patient treated with acyclovir

To identify the nucleotide changes that occur in drug-induced thymidine kinase (TK) mutants of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), we compared the nucleotide sequences of the tk genes of two mutant HSV-2 clones isolated from a patient who had been treated with acyclovir [9-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)guanine; ACV] with the nucleotide sequence of the parental TK+ HSV-2(8703) strain isolated from the same patient. One of the mutants, TK-altered (TKA) HSV-2(9637), was ACV resistant but induced the incorporation of [14C]thymidine into the DNA of infected rabbit skin cells. The nucleotide sequence of the tk gene of mutant TKA HSV-2(9637) had a single change (G to A) at nucleotide 668, which would cause an arginine-to-histidine substitution at amino acid residue 223 of the TK polypeptide. The second ACV-resistant mutant, TK- HSV-2(8710), did not induce detectable incorporation of [14C]thymidine into the DNA of infected rabbit skin cells. This mutant exhibited a deletion of a single base at nucleotide 217 of its nucleotide sequence. This deletion would cause a frameshift mutation at amino acid residue 73 and chain termination at amino acid residue 86 of the TK polypeptide. The nucleotide sequence of TK+ HSV-2(8703) was the same as that of the laboratory strain, TK+ HSV-2(333). The nucleotide sequence of a bromodeoxyuridine-resistant TK- HSV-2(333) mutant of TK+ HSV-2(333) also exhibited a single-base deletion, but at nucleotide 439. This deletion would cause a frameshift mutation at amino acid residue 147 and chain termination at amino acid residue 182. The frameshift mutations of TK- HSV(8710) and TK- HSV-2(333), respectively, occurred in sequences in which C was repeated three times and G was repeated seven times. The results raise the possibility that TK- frameshift mutations of HSV-2 may be common.

Induction of thymidine kinase activity by viruses with group B DNA genomes: bovine cytomegalovirus (bovine herpesvirus 4)

The bovine herpesvirus type 4 (BHV-4) group has a slow replication cycle, a narrow host range, and cytopathogenic effects characteristic of cytomegaloviruses (CMV), but a Group B genome structure similar to that of lymphotropic Herpesvirus saimiri (HVS). Reference BHV-4 strain DN599 and BHV-4 strains N124 and FHV-2 induced in the cytosol fraction of thymidine kinase-negative (TK-) rabbit skin (RAB-BU) cell mutants a novel TK activity. The BHV-4-induced thymidine kinase (TK) differed from the principal cytosol TK of mock-infected cells in PAGE mobility (Rm) under non-denaturing conditions and in the capacity to efficiently substitute CTP for ATP as a phosphate donor. The BHV-4 thymidine phosphorylating activity could also be distinguished from many common herpesvirus-induced TKs because it lacked iododeoxycytidine phosphorylating activity. Iododeoxyuridine, trifluorothymidine and bromovinyldeoxyuridine inhibited [3H]thymidine (0.01 mM) phosphorylation by the BHV-4 enzyme in a dose-dependent manner, but arabinosylthymine and 2'-fluoro-5-methyl-arabinosyluracil (FMAU) were poor inhibitors of [3H]thymidine phosphorylation, and acyclovir and (dihydroxy-2-propoxymethyl)guanine (DHPG) did not inhibit at all at 60 and 40 times the concentrations of [3H]thymidine, respectively.

Resistance to mutagenesis of cells biochemically transformed by herpesvirus DNA fragments

LM(TK-) mouse fibroblast cells that were biochemically transformed to the dThd kinase-positive phenotype by restriction nuclease fragments of herpes simplex virus or marmoset herpesvirus DNA, all of which contained the virus dThd kinase coding region, or by HeLa S3 DNA were more resistant to mutagenesis by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine or 5-bromodeoxyuridine than were dThd kinase-positive LM and LM(TK-) cells. Measurements of dNTP pool sizes did not reveal relative imbalances for representative cell lines under several conditions of growth.

Nucleotide sequence of the marmoset herpesvirus thymidine kinase gene and predicted amino acid sequence of thymidine kinase polypeptide

The nucleotide sequence of a 2549-bp DNA fragment containing the entire coding region of the marmoset herpesvirus (MarHV) thymidine kinase gene (tk) and the flanking sequences was determined by the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method. The MarHV thymidine kinase polypeptide predicted from the nucleotide sequence contained 376 amino acids and had a molecular weight of 41,281. The sequencing data also reveal that the coding portion of another MarHV gene probably begins only 292 nucleotides downstream from the stop codon of the MarHV tk gene. There was relatively little nucleotide sequence homology between the MarHV tk gene and that of the herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 tk genes. Comparisons of the predicted amino acid sequences of the MarHV thymidine kinase polypeptide with that of the HSV-1 and HSV-2 thymidine kinase polypeptides, however, revealed clear, but interrupted, homology within several regions of the polypeptide chains. Amino acid sequence homology was particularly striking at residues 10 to 27 of the MarHV thymidine kinase polypeptide and residues 49 to 66 of the HSV-1 and HSV-2 thymidine kinase polypeptides. These same amino acid residues exhibit noticeable sequence homology to the mitochondrial beta subunit ATPase, oncogene p21 protein, adenylate kinase, and to other nucleotide-binding proteins. It has been proposed that the indicated regions of homology are elements of a nucleotide-binding pocket in ATPase, p21, and adenylate kinase, raising the possibility that amino acid residues 15 to 25 of the MarHV thymidine kinase and 54 to 64 of the HSV-1 and HSV-2 enzymes are likewise parts of nucleotide-binding sites.

Nucleotide sequence of the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) thymidine kinase gene and predicted amino acid sequence of thymidine kinase polypeptide and its comparison with the HSV-1 thymidine kinase gene

To analyze the boundaries of the functional coding region of the HSV-2(333) thymidine kinase gene (TK gene), deletion mutants of hybrid plasmid pMAR401 H2G, which contains the 17.5 kbp BglII-G fragment of HSV-2 DNA, were prepared and tested for capacity to transform LM(TK-) cells to the thymidine kinase-positive phenotype. These studies showed that hybrid plasmids containing 2.2-2.4 kbp subfragments of HSV-2 BglII-G DNA transformed LM(TK-) cells to the thymidine kinase-positive phenotype and suggested that the region critical for transformation might be less than 2 kbp. That the activity expressed in the transformants was HSV-2 thymidine kinase was shown by experiments with type-specific enzyme-inhibiting rabbit antisera and by disc-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analyses. DNA fragments of the HSV-2 TK gene were subcloned in phage M13mp9 and M13mp8. A sequence of 1656 bp containing the entire coding region of the TK gene and the flanking sequences was determined by the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method. Comparisons with the HSV-1(Cl 101) TK gene revealed that PstI, PvuII, and EcoRI cleavage sites had homologous locations as did promoter, translational start and stop, and polyadenylation signals. Extensive homology was observed in the nucleotide sequence preceding the ATG translational start signal and in portions of the coding region of the genes. Comparisons of the predicted amino acid sequences of the HSV-1 and HSV-2 thymidine kinase polypeptides revealed that both were enriched in alanine, arginine, glycine, leucine, and proline residues and that clear, but interrupted homology existed within several regions of the polypeptide chains. Stretches of 15-30 amino acid residues were identical in conserved regions. The possibility is suggested that domains containing some of the conserved amino acid sequences might have a role in substrate binding and as major antigenic determinants.

Attenuated marmoset herpesvirus isolated from recombinants of virulent marmoset herpesvirus and hybrid plasmids

Marmoset herpesvirus (MarHV) deletion mutants in the thymidine kinase (TK) gene were isolated after infection of OMK cells with TK+ MarHV DNA and the hybrid plasmid, pMAR401, which lacks a 2.6-kb KpnI-M fragment in the coding region of the MarHV TK gene. After plaque purification in TK- HeLa(BU25) cells, the DNA's from five recombinant araT-resistant MarHV clones were analyzed with restriction nucleases to verify that the 2.6-kb KpnI-M fragment (and a 0.9-kb BglII-Q fragment) were deleted from the viral DNA's. Molecular hybridization experiments using 32P-labeled pMAR4 probes and viral DNA fragments also showed that the recombinant viral DNA's lacked the KpnI-M and BglII-Q fragments, that BamHI-I of parental virus was shortened, and that three new HindIII fragments replaced the parental virus HindIII-G fragment. The recombinants did not induce TK activity in LM (TK-) cells. To study the relative virulence of the recombinants, 3-week-old Swiss mice were injected intracerebrally (Ic) or subcutaneously (Sc) in the sacro-lumbar region with either parental or recombinant viruses. The LD50 for the parental virus was 3 p.f.u. (Ic) and 7,600 p.f.u. (Sc). The recombinant viruses were significantly less virulent than TK+ MarHV after Ic inoculation (LD50 of 62,000 and 32,000 p.f.u., respectively, for viruses 5D-6B and 5D-4B) and gave no fatalities after Sc inoculation. Mice surviving TK- MarHV infections were protected from challenge with TK+ parental MarHV. Recombinant TK- MarHV's may be useful as vectors for the expression of foreign genes in animal cells and as the starting material for the design of vaccines.

Inhibition by interferon of biochemical transformation induced by cloned herpesvirus thymidine kinase genes

To learn whether interferon could prevent the biochemical transformations induced by cloned herpesvirus thymidine kinase (TK) genes, LM(TK-) mouse fibroblast cultures were pretreated for 24 h with 2.4-40 international units (I.U.)/ml mouse alpha + beta interferon, and subsequently transformed to the TK+ phenotype with recombinant plasmids containing the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) TK gene (pAGO and pMH110) and the marmoset herpesvirus (MarHV) TK gene (pMAR035). Mouse alpha + beta interferon inhibited transformation and the inhibition was interferon dose-dependent. Transformation was also inhibited when LM(TK-) cells were pretreated for 2-5 h with 40 I.U./ml interferon. Maximal inhibitions of TK+ colony formation were observed following a 9-20 h pretreatment period with interferon. In contrast, 40 I.U./ml interferon treatment for 20 h did not reduce the rate or extent of LM(TK-) cell growth. Experiments in which cultures were first treated with plasmid pAGO and only afterwards treated with interferon also showed that, as the interferon concentration used, interferon did not inhibit the outgrowth of transformated colonies. Enzyme assays showed that pretreatment with interferon inhibited the induction of TK activity in cells that had been transfected with pAGO DNA.

Functional expression of the Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene in Escherichia coli K-12

The recombinant plasmid pAGO contains the Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) thymidine kinase (TK) gene and consists of a 2-kb PvuII fragment of HSV-1 DNA inserted into the PvuII site of pBR322. A deletion mutant of pAGO, designated pMH110, has been isolated which removes the normal HSV-1 TK gene promoter but places the promoter of the pBR322 tetracycline-resistance (tetr) gene only about 400 bp from the translational start codon of the HSV-1 TK polypeptide. In contrast to pAGO, which transforms mouse LM(TK-) cells to TK+ but is only weakly expressed in TK- bacteria, pMH110 not only efficiently transforms LM(TK-) cells to TK+ but also enables TK- Escherichia coli K-12 cells to form colonies on selective plates containing 5-fluorodeoxyuridine (FdUrd) plus thymidine (dThd) and to exhibit fully restored ability to incorporate [3H]dThd into DNA. The levels of TK activity expressed by bacteria harboring pMH110 were about as high as those expressed by bacteria harboring plasmid pTK3, which contains the wild-type E. coli TK gene. The TK activity expressed in bacteria harboring pMH110 was partially purified and shown to be HSV-1-specific by serological and disc PAGE analyses and by experiments demonstrating that this enzyme phosphorylated [125I]deoxycytidine.