Metabolic changes in chick fibroblasts after infection with Newcastle disease virus

Engineering challenges of BioNEMS: the integration of microfluidics, micro- and nanodevices, models and external control for systems biology

Systems biology, i.e. quantitative, postgenomic, postproteomic, dynamic, multiscale physiology, addresses in an integrative, quantitative manner the shockwave of genetic and proteomic information using computer models that may eventually have 10(6) dynamic variables with non-linear interactions. Historically, single biological measurements are made over minutes, suggesting the challenge of specifying 10(6) model parameters. Except for fluorescence and micro-electrode recordings, most cellular measurements have inadequate bandwidth to discern the time course of critical intracellular biochemical events. Micro-array expression profiles of thousands of genes cannot determine quantitative dynamic cellular signalling and metabolic variables. Major gaps must be bridged between the computational vision and experimental reality. The analysis of cellular signalling dynamics and control requires, first, micro- and nano-instruments that measure simultaneously multiple extracellular and intracellular variables with sufficient bandwidth; secondly, the ability to open existing internal control and signalling loops; thirdly, external BioMEMS micro-actuators that provide high bandwidth feedback and externally addressable intracellular nano-actuators; and, fourthly, real-time, closed-loop, single-cell control algorithms. The unravelling of the nested and coupled nature of cellular control loops requires simultaneous recording of multiple single-cell signatures. Externally controlled nano-actuators, needed to effect changes in the biochemical, mechanical and electrical environment both outside and inside the cell, will provide a major impetus for nanoscience.

Measles virus ribonucleic acid and protein synthesis: effects of 6-azauridine and cycloheximide on viral replication

Cycloheximide and 6-azauridine were employed to study the time course of measles virus protein and nucleic acid syntheses in AV3 cells. Synthesis of ribonucleic acid (RNA) essential for infectivity was first detected at 6 hr and increased concurrently with the formation of essential protein. Maximum levels of virus-specific RNA and protein were present by 18 hr, a time when only 5% of progeny virus was detected. Essential RNA and protein syntheses preceded the formation of infectious virus by at least 10 to 12 hr. The time course of RNA and protein syntheses essential for the formation of complement-fixing (CF) antigen and salt-dependent agglutinin (SDA) was also determined. RNA synthesis essential for the formation of SDA was first detected at 2 hr and was present maximally by 6 hr, whereas SDA-protein increased concurrently with the protein essential for infectivity. This suggested that the last protein essential for infectivity may be SDA. RNA synthesis essential for the formation of CF antigen was first detected at 4 hr, while CF-protein increased at 5 hr and preceded SDA-protein and protein essential for infectivity by approximately 3 hr. Reversal of inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide indicated that early protein synthesis (1 to 3 hr) was required for the formation of infectious virus. The data suggest that the relatively long eclipse period observed with measles virus is related to a long maturation period rather than to late formation of early proteins, viral RNA, or structural proteins.

Inhibition of host-cell protein and ribonucleic acid synthesis by Newcastle disease virus

The mechanisms of Newcastle disease virus-(NDV) induced inhibition of cell protein and ribonucleic acid (RNA) synthesis were investigated. It was observed that the ability of NDV to inhibit cell RNA synthesis is dependent on the virus strain. The inhibitors, azauridine and cycloheximide, were added to cell cultures at different times after infection to study the roles of protein and RNA synthesis in the viral inhibition process. Viral inhibition of cell RNA synthesis and viral inhibition of cell protein synthesis become resistant to cycloheximide at a different time after infection than that in which they become resistant to azauridine. The results indicate that the inhibition of cell RNA synthesis by the Texas strain involves the synthesis of inhibitory proteins which are coded by the viral genome. The Texas and Beaudette strains of NDV appear to employ different mechanisms for the inhibition of host-cell protein synthesis. Viral inhibition of cell protein synthesis does not appear to cause, or be the result of, viral inhibition of cell RNA synthesis.