This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Crotty, S.
Right arrow Articles by Andino, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Crotty, S.
Right arrow Articles by Andino, R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Virology, May 2003, p. 5378-5388, Vol. 77, No. 9
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.9.5378-5388.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Manganese-Dependent Polioviruses Caused by Mutations within the Viral Polymerase

Shane Crotty,1,{dagger} David Gohara,2,{ddagger} Devin K. Gilligan,2 Sveta Karelsky,1 Craig E. Cameron,2 and Raul Andino1*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0414,1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-45002

Received 7 October 2002/ Accepted 21 January 2003

Viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases exhibit great sequence diversity. Only six core amino acids are conserved across all polymerases of positive-strand RNA viruses of eukaryotes. While exploring the function of one of these completely conserved residues, asparagine 297 in the prototypic poliovirus polymerase 3Dpol, we identified three viable mutants with noncanonical amino acids at this conserved position. Although asparagine 297 could be replaced by glycine or alanine in these mutants, the viruses exhibited Mn2+-dependent RNA replication and viral growth. All known RNA polymerases and replicative polymerases of bacterial, eukaryotic, and viral organisms are thought to be magnesium dependent in vivo, and therefore these mutant polioviruses may represent the first viruses with a requirement for an alternative polymerase cation. These results demonstrate the extreme functional flexibility of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases. Furthermore, the finding that strictly conserved residues in the nucleotide binding pocket of the polymerase can be altered in a manner that supports virus production suggests that drugs targeting this region of the enzyme will still be susceptible to the problem of drug-resistant escape mutants.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, 513 Parnassus Ave., Box 0414, San Francisco, CA 94143-0414. Phone: (415) 502-7196. Fax: (415) 476-0939. E-mail: andino{at}itsa.ucsf.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.


Journal of Virology, May 2003, p. 5378-5388, Vol. 77, No. 9
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.9.5378-5388.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.




This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Lin, L., Wan, F., Hu, J. (2008). Functional and Structural Dynamics of Hepadnavirus Reverse Transcriptase during Protein-Primed Initiation of Reverse Transcription: Effects of Metal Ions. J. Virol. 82: 5703-5714 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Letzel, T., Mundt, E., Gorbalenya, A. E. (2007). Evidence for functional significance of the permuted C motif in Co2+-stimulated RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of infectious bursal disease virus. J. Gen. Virol. 88: 2824-2833 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Korneeva, V. S., Cameron, C. E. (2007). Structure-Function Relationships of the Viral RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase: FIDELITY, REPLICATION SPEED, AND INITIATION MECHANISM DETERMINED BY A RESIDUE IN THE RIBOSE-BINDING POCKET. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 16135-16145 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fullerton, S. W. B., Blaschke, M., Coutard, B., Gebhardt, J., Gorbalenya, A., Canard, B., Tucker, P. A., Rohayem, J. (2007). Structural and Functional Characterization of Sapovirus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase. J. Virol. 81: 1858-1871 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Rohayem, J., Jager, K., Robel, I., Scheffler, U., Temme, A., Rudolph, W. (2006). Characterization of norovirus 3Dpol RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity and initiation of RNA synthesis. J. Gen. Virol. 87: 2621-2630 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ranjith-Kumar, C. T., Sarisky, R. T., Gutshall, L., Thomson, M., Kao, C. C. (2004). De Novo Initiation Pocket Mutations Have Multiple Effects on Hepatitis C Virus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase Activities. J. Virol. 78: 12207-12217 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Puustinen, P., Makinen, K. (2004). Uridylylation of the Potyvirus VPg by Viral Replicase NIb Correlates with the Nucleotide Binding Capacity of VPg. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 38103-38110 [Abstract] [Full Text]