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Journal of Virology, August 1999, p. 6228-6234, Vol. 73, No. 8
Howard Hughes Medical
Institute1 and Department of
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell
Biology,2 Northwestern University, Evanston,
Illinois 60208-3500
Received 19 February 1999/Accepted 20 April 1999
Simian parainfluenza virus 5 (SV5) is a prototype of the
Paramyxoviridae family of nonsegmented negative-sense RNA
viruses. The single-stranded RNA genomes of these viruses contain a
series of tandemly linked genes separated by intergenic (IG) sequences flanked by gene-end (GE) and gene-start (GS) sequences. The viral RNA
polymerase (vRNAP) complex is thought to enter the genome at its 3'
end, and synthesis of mRNAs is thought to occur by a stop-start
mechanism in a sequential and polar manner, with transcriptional attenuation occurring primarily at the intergenic regions. As a
result, multiple nonoverlapping mRNA species are
generated for each single entry of the vRNAP. To investigate the
functions of GE, IG, and GS sequences in transcription,
we constructed plasmids containing cDNAs of the full-length SV5 genome
in which the gene junction sequences (GE, IG, and GS
sequences) located between the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and
the polymerase (L) genes were replaced with the counterpart
sequences from other gene junctions. By using reverse genetics, we
recovered viable viruses from each cDNA construct, although their
growth characteristics varied. Analysis of the HN and L mRNAs by
quantitative RNase protection assay indicated that the ratios of HN to
L mRNAs varied over a fourfold range. The alteration of the gene
junction sequences also permitted examination of the hypothesized
requirement for hexamer nucleotide position of the GS sites. The
recovery of infectious viruses with transcription initiation sites that
occurred at nucleotide positions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the hexamer
suggest that the requirement is nonstringent.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Effect of Inserting Paramyxovirus Simian Virus 5 Gene Junctions
at the HN/L Gene Junction: Analysis of Accumulation of
mRNAs Transcribed from Rescued Viable Viruses
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern
University, 2153 North Campus Dr., Evanston, IL 60208-3500. Phone:
(847) 491-5433. Fax: (847) 491-2467. E-mail: ralamb{at}nwu.edu.
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