ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF RNA FROM REOVIRUS AND WOUND TUMOR VIRUS

Comparison of the ribonucleic Acid subunits of reovirus, cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus, and wound tumor virus

Double-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) from intact cytoplasmic polynedrosis virus (CPV) and wound tumor virus (WTV) was analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Using RNA from type 3 reovirus as a standard, it was calculated that CPV-RNA consisted of 9 subunits corresponding to a molecular weight of 12.7 x 10(6) and WTV-RNA consisted of 12 subunits corresponding to a molecular weight of 15.5 x 10(6).

The Zoology Department at Washington University (1944-1954): from undergraduate to graduate studies with Viktor Hamburger

Beginning from an undergraduate's perspective and continuing through graduate school, this student's experiences in the Department of Zoology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri was a time of many rewarding experiences. Now, on this occasion of his 100th birthday, I wish to express my appreciation to the Chairman, Dr. Viktor Hamburger, for his teachings, his encouragement, and his friendship that has lasted over the past 56 years.

Flexibility of RNA

One of the fundamental properties of the RNA helix is its intrinsic resistance to bend- or twist-deformations. Results of a variety of physical measurements point to a persistence length of 700-800 A for double-stranded RNA in the presence of magnesium cations, approximately 1.5-2.0-fold larger than the corresponding value for DNA. Although helix flexibility represents an important, quantifiable measure of the forces of interaction within the helix, it must also be considered in describing conformational variation of nonhelix elements (e.g. internal loops, branches), since the latter always reflect the properties of the flanking helices; that is, such elements are never completely rigid. For one important element of tertiary structure, namely, the core of yeast tRNAPhe, the above consideration has led to the conclusion that the core is not substantially more flexible than an equivalent length of pure helix.

ENZYMATIC ENHANCEMENT OF INFECTIVITY OF REOVIRUS

Spendlove, R. S. (California State Department of Public Health, Berkeley), and F. L. Schaffer. Enzymatic enhancement of infectivity of reovirus. J. Bacteriol. 89:597-602. 1965.-Enhancement of infectivity by chymotrypsin treatment has been demonstrated with all three types of reovirus, although not in all viral preparations. Enzyme treatment did not produce a simultaneous increase in the hemagglutinating activity of reovirus type 1 (the only type tested). The infectivity of reovirus type 1 (Lang strain) was increased by treatment with chymotrypsin, trypsin, papain, and a filtrate from a culture of a Pseudomonas sp. but not by treatment with pepsin. Sedimentation experiments showed that the property of enhanceability was closely associated with the virus particles themselves. Results of studies involving various sequential treatments with chymotrypsin, and with heat in the presence or absence of 2 m MgCl(2), were compatible with the interpretation that inhibited virus is resistant to exposure to a temperature of 56 C in the absence of MgCl(2), whereas activated virus is thermolabile. Activation of reovirus infectivity by heat in the presence of MgCl(2) and by chymotrypsin was not additive.

Ultrastructural characterization of genome of epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus

Purified epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) virus preparations were treated with urea and sodium perchlorate. The viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) released when spread on protein monolayers according to the Kleinschmidt technique was examined by rotary shadow-casting electron microscopy. The viral RNA released by urea treatment had filaments which frequently formed three to five loop-shaped figures of varied length. In 80% of the virus particles the lengths of the viral RNA released were 2.5 to 4.5 mum. The sodium perchlorate-released viral nucleic acid also appeared linear, and about 70% had lengths of 0.1 to 2.0 mum, the longest filament measuring 5.8 mum. Evidence was obtained that EHD virus contains double-stranded RNA as its genetic material and the molecular weight of the EHD viral RNA was calculated to be 12.2 x to 10(6) to 15.1 x 10(6) daltons.

Electron microscopy of the nucleic acid of mouse mammary tumor virus

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MTV) was isolated from the milk of RIII mice by density-gradient centrifugation in Ficoll. The homogeneity of the preparation was demonstrated in electron micrographs. The nucleic acid was extracted with phenol in the presence of Pronase. Its viral origin was attested by failure of ribo-nuclease and deoxyribonuclease treatment of the virus preparation to destroy the filamentous molecules; after phenol extraction, the molecules were destroyed by ribonuclease but not by deoxyribonuclease. Rotary shadowed preparations were examined in the electron microscope. The length distribution of the RNA filaments showed peaks at 1.2, 2.4, and 3.6 mum. The molecular weight of the longest molecule of MTV-RNA was estimated as 3.6 x 10(6) daltons.

Electron microscopic observations on the ribonucleic acid of murine leukemia virus

The ribonucleic acid (RNA) of murine leukemia virus (MLV) Rauscher strain was observed by the aid of electron microscopy with the use of the protein monolayer technique. RNA was observed directly after release from virus particles or after isolation by sedimentation in sucrose density gradients. Molecules were found in an extended linear form. Many of the RNA filaments released by detergent treatment contained curled regions, suggesting the linear filaments were originally coiled within the virus particle. The relationship of the curled areas to the containment of the RNA within the virus particle is discussed, and a mechanism for the inclusion of RNA in the budding virion is proposed. Treatment of the extended MLV-RNA with dimethyl sulfoxide resulted in the collapse of the molecule forming a tangled complex. Treatment with urea or heating at 50 C in 3 mm NaCl also produced this effect. Also under the conditions in which MLV-RNA was linear, RNA from Rous sarcoma virus also was linear, but Newcastle disease virus RNA and ribosomal RNA of rat liver had collapsed structures. The results indicated that the RNA of MLV, and perhaps other RNA-containing tumor viruses, has a specific unique conformation dependent upon hydrogen bonds.

Double-stranded Ribonucleic Acid from Cytoplasmic Polyhedrosis Virus of the Silkworm

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted by phenol treatment from cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus isolated from the midgut of infected silkworms. This RNA appears as threads when precipitated in alcohol. Two components having different sedimentation constants were observed. The molecular weight of the RNA preparation obtained by sedimentation coefficient (weight-averaged) and intrinsic viscosity was about 2 × 10 6 to 3 × 10 6 . It was one-half to one-third the size of the calculated molecular weight for an entire RNA molecule in a virion. Electron micrographs of this RNA preparation showed two peaks in the distribution of contour length, at 0.4 and 1.3 μm, which would correspond to molecular weights of 10 6 and 3 × 10 6 , respectively. The extracted RNA seemed to split into segments at a preferential breaking point. This RNA was soluble in concentrated salt solution, differing from single stranded high-molecular-weight RNA. The base composition of this RNA was complementary in the ratios of adenosine to uridine and guanosine to cytosine. It contained 43% guanosine plus cytosine. Based on its filamentous appearance by electron microscopy, typical pattern of optical rotatory dispersion and circular dichroism, sharp transition of the optical properties on heating, great hyperchromicity on degradation, nonreactivity with formaldehyde, and resistance to ribonucleases, it is concluded that this RNA is double-stranded and has regular base pairings of guanosine-cytosine and adenosine-uridine.

Separation of ten reovirus genome segments by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

Double-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) extracted from purified reoviruses of all three serotypes and from type 3 virus-infected cells was analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It was calculated that each RNA includes 10 segments: 3 large, 3 intermediate, and 4 small fragments corresponding to molecular weights of about 2.5, 1.4, and 0.8 x 10(6) daltons, respectively, or a total of 15 x 10(6) daltons.

Transcription of the genomes of type 1 and type 3 reoviruses

The double-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome of type 1 reovirus was fragmented into three size classes on extraction, as has already been shown for reovirus type 3. The relative amounts and molecular weights of the three classes were the same for the two viruses. Cells infected with type 1 virus synthesized three classes of messenger RNA. Each class of messenger RNA hybridized exclusively with a denatured double-stranded RNA fragment of equivalent length, as had also been found for type 3 reovirus. The double-stranded RNA segments thus act as specific units for transcription of messenger RNA in the infected cells. In cells infected with type 3 reovirus, the three classes of messenger RNA are made in equal amounts throughout the course of multiplication. In contrast, cells infected with type 1 virus produced only half as much of the largest messenger RNA as they did of the other two classes at all times during the replicative cycle. This finding suggests that transcription of the largest segments of type 1 viral genome is restricted.

Replication of bacteriophage ribonucleic acid: analysis of the ultrastructure of the replicative form and the replicative intermediate of bacteriophage R17

A detailed qualitative and quantitative comparison was made of the ultrastructure of single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) from bacteriophage R17 and double-stranded replicative form (RF) and replicative intermediate (RI) from cells infected with this bacteriophage. The nucleic acids were prepared for electron microscopy by the protein monolayer spreading technique of Kleinschmidt. Single-stranded RNA aggregated during spreading in the absence of urea, whereas RF and RI did not. On the other hand, RF and RI appeared to be susceptible to shear during spreading, whereas R17 RNA was not. From the maximal length of RF, a base translation of 3.14 A was calculated. This value favors a 10-fold helix model of double-stranded RNA. The same base translation was found for R17 RNA, indicating a stacked base structure for single-stranded RNA spread in the presence of urea. RI is a branched structure and the branches are removed by ribonuclease treatment. The branches are believed to be nascent single-stranded viral RNA. The contour length of the branch was equal to the contour length of the main chain up to the branch point, as predicted from theoretical analysis of the replication of viral RNA. The structure of RF and the main chain of RI was also analyzed by plotting the log (end-to-end distance squared) versus log (contour length). This demonstrated structures intermediate in stiffness between a random coil and a rigid rod.

Single-stranded, adenine-rich RNA from purified reoviruses

Images

Structural units of reovirus ribonucleic acid and their possible functional significance

Reovirus contains ribonucleic acid (RNA) equivalent in amount to a molecular weight of approximately 10(7) daltons. On isolation, this RNA is invariably broken into fragments of three different sizes. The three pieces have been separated from each other by chromatography on methylated albumin-kieselguhr columns. Denaturation of the three fragments of RNA in dimethyl sulfoxide led to separation of the strands, as suggested by sucrose gradient sedimentation patterns and by the second-order kinetics of reannealing. Molecular weights of 0.8 x 10(6), 1.4 x 10(6), and 2.4 x 10(6) were determined for the double-stranded fragments from the sedimentation rates of the single-stranded RNA obtained by denaturation. There was little or no homology among the three classes of denatured RNA when taken in pairs in hybridization tests. The three pieces of double-stranded RNA, therefore, did not result from random breaks in the original viral RNA molecule. Virusspecific single-stranded RNA formed in infected cells, and previously found to be largely if not entirely messenger RNA transcribed from the viral genome, was also separated into three size classes by sedimentation through sucrose gradients. Each class of single-stranded RNA corresponded in size to one of the three fragments of double-stranded RNA. The largest piece of single-stranded RNA hybridized uniquely with the largest fragment of denatured viral RNA. By whatever means this fragment of double-stranded RNA may be joined into the viral RNA molecule, it seems to act as a specific unit for transcription of an uninterrupted messenger RNA of equivalent length.

Reovirus-directed ribonucleic acid synthesis in infected L cells

Reovirus replication in L-929 mouse fibroblasts was unaffected by 0.5 mug of actinomycin per ml, a concentration which inhibited cell ribonucleic acid (RNA) synthesis by more than 90%. Under these conditions of selective inhibition, the formation of both single-stranded and double-stranded virus-specific RNA was detected beginning at 6 hr after infection. The purified double-stranded RNA was similar in size and base composition to virus RNA and presumably was incorporated into mature virus. The single-stranded RNA formed ribonuclease-resistant duplexes when annealed with denatured virus RNA but did not self-anneal, thus indicating that it includes copies of only one strand of the duplex. The single-stranded RNA was polyribosome-associated and may function as the virus messenger RNA. Production of both types of virus-induced RNA required protein synthesis 6 to 9 hr after infection. At later times in the infectious cycle, only double-stranded RNA synthesis was dependent on continued protein formation.

Synthesis of reovirus ribonucleic acid in L cells

Kudo, Hajime (The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia, Pa.), and A. F. Graham. Synthesis of reovirus ribonucleic acid in L cells. J. Bacteriol. 90:936-945. 1965.-There is no inhibition of protein or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis in L cells infected with reovirus until the time that new virus starts to form about 8 hr after infection. At this time, both protein synthesis and DNA synthesis commence to be inhibited. Neither the synthesis of ribosomal ribonucleic acid (RNA) nor that of the rapidly labeled RNA of the cell nucleus is inhibited before 10 hr after infection. Actinomycin at a concentration of 0.5 mug/ml does not inhibit the formation of reovirus, although higher concentrations of the antibiotic do so. Pulse-labeling experiments with uridine-C(14) carried out in the presence of 0.5 mug/ml of actinomycin show that, at 6 to 8 hr after infection, two species of virus-specific RNA begin to form and increase in quantity as time goes on. One species is sensitive to ribonuclease action and the other is very resistant. The latter RNA is probably double-stranded viral progeny RNA, and it constitutes approximately 40% of the RNA formed up to 16 hr after infection. The function of the ribonuclease-sensitive RNA is not yet known. Synthesis of both species of RNA is inhibited by 5 mug/ml of actinomycin added at early times after infection. Added 6 to 8 hr after infection, when virus-specific RNA has already commenced to form, 5 mug/ml of actinomycin no longer inhibit the formation of either species of RNA.

Reoviruses II. Structure and Composition of the Virion

Mayor, Heather D. (Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Tex.), Richard M. Jamison, Liane E. Jordan, and M. Van Mitchell . Reoviruses. II. Structure and composition of the virion. J. Bacteriol. 89: 1548–1556. 1965.—Reovirus type 1 has been grown in green monkey kidney cells and harvested 24 hr after infection (“early” virus) and 96 hr after infection (“late” virus). A number of biological parameters have been determined on purified preparations of both “early” and “late” harvests of reovirus. There were no significant differences in values obtained for the molecular weight, RNA content, and buoyant density of virions prepared from early or late harvests. The size of the capsids and their morphology were also identical. Late harvests of reovirus were particularly rich in empty viral capsids (density, 1.28 in cesium chloride), and a significant number of empty inner capsid shells were routinely found. These shells could be prepared readily by controlled digestion of complete virus particles with trypsin. The inner shell appears to be composed of subunits packed with icosahedral symmetry to form a 45-mμ foundation on which the outer 92-subunit capsid is assembled. The inner shell is somewhat reminiscent in size and morphology of the capsid of papovaviruses. The fact that it can exist as a discrete entity has prompted us to propose some modifications to the current models for the reovirus capsid.