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Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are known etiologic agents of cervical cancer. Vaccines that contain virus-like particles (VLPs) made of L1 capsid protein from several high risk HPV types have proven to be effective against HPV infections. Raising high levels of neutralizing antibodies against each HPV type is believed to be the primary mechanism of protection, gained by vaccination. Antibodies elicited by a particular HPV type are highly specific to that particular HPV type and show little or no cross-reactivity between HPV types. With an intention to understand the interplay between the L1 structure of different HPV types and the type specificity of neutralizing antibodies, we have prepared the L1 pentamers of four different HPV types, HPV11, HPV16, HPV18, and HPV35. The pentamers only bind the type-specific neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NmAbs) that are raised against the VLP of the corresponding HPV type, implying that the surface loop structures of the pentamers from each type are distinctive and functionally active as VLPs in terms of antibody binding. We have determined the crystal structures of all four L1 pentamers, and their comparisons revealed characteristic conformational differences of the surface loops that contain the known epitopes for the NmAbs. On the basis of these distinct surface loop structures, we have provided a molecular explanation for the type specificity of NmAbs against HPV infection.

Phosphorylation of the polyomavirus major capsid protein VP1 plays a role in virus assembly and may function in virus-cell recognition. Previous mapping of the in vivo phosphorylation sites on VP1 identified phosphorylation of threonine residues Thr-63 and Thr-156 (Li, M., and Garcea, R. L. (1994) J. Virol. 68, 320-327). Phosphoserine was detected in a tryptic phosphopeptide encompassing residues 58-78. Because of consensus casein kinase II (CK II) sites in this peptide, we examined the in vitro phosphorylation of the purified recombinant VP1 protein by CK II. CK II phosphorylated VP1 on serine, and the resulting tryptic phosphopeptide eluted in a 30-31 min high performance liquid chromatography fraction corresponding to residues 58-78. The VP1 tryptic phosphopeptide also co-migrated in two-dimensional peptide analysis with one of the tryptic peptides obtained from VP1 isolated after in vivo 32P labeling of virus-infected cells. A site-directed mutant VP1 protein, Ser-66 to Ala, was phosphorylated poorly by CK II in vitro. As determined by electron microscopy, all of the mutant proteins were isolated in pentameric form similar to the wild-type protein, although the Ala-66 pentamers had a tendency to self-assemble in vitro into tubular as well as capsid-like structures. These findings identify Ser-66 as a site of VP1 phosphorylation in vitro, and suggest that VP1 may serve as a substrate for CK II in vivo.

A method is described for the isolation of a yeast chromatin fraction highly enriched in ribosomal DNA sequences. In the presence of exogenous yeast RNA polymerase III, this purified chromatin actively synthesizes a set of 5 S ribosomal RNAs all of which have 5'-sequences identical with mature 5 S RNA but which end with a variable number (up to 10) of additional residues at the 3'-terminus. These extra nucleotides are precisely removed by a processing nuclease found in the chromatin supernatant fraction.

The binding of the "activated" receptor-glucocorticoid complexes of cultured rat hepatoma cells to nuclei, chromatin, and DNA has been studied under cell-free conditions. A critical factor in determining the shape of the binding curve is shown to be an inhibitory material which is present in crude cytosol and which can be removed without destroying the receptor-steroid complex. These and other results argue that the apparent saturation observed in earlier experiments may have been due to the inhibitors. Thus, the actual number of acceptor sites in hepatoma tissue culture cell nuclei is much larger than previously estimated and their affinity for the complex is lower. Nuclear binding experiments indicate that the inhibitory material interacts with the receptor-steroid complex. The inhibitors appear to be macromolecular; but their effects cannot be mimicked by albumin or hemoglobin. The acceptor capacity at low ionic strength for binding receptor-glucocorticoid complexes increases when proceeding from nuclei to DNA. An analysis of the kinetics of association and dissociation and of the relative binding behavior of nuclei and DNA argues that the affinity of complex for nuclei is much greater than for DNA. DNA-associated histones reduce the amount of complex that binds to DNA. These and perhaps other chromosomal proteins may be responsible for the ordering of acceptor capacity. Evidence is presented that the difference in affinities of nuclear and DNA acceptors could also be due to chromosomal proteins. In nuclei, these proteins may thus both reduce the amount of complex binding by rendering regions of DNA less accessible and increase the binding affinity of some, or all, of those DNA binding sites which remain exposed.

We have expression-cloned in Escherichia coli the major polyoma virus capsid protein, VP1. Under the inducible control of the hybrid tac promoter, VP1 constituted between 2 and 3% of the total host cell protein. The expressed VP1 was purified to near homogeneity with initial yields to 10%. Optimal expression was temperature-dependent, and significant intracellular degradation could be demonstrated. The final product was obtained as one predominant isoelectric focusing species, without the pattern of post-translational modification seen in virus-infected eukaryotic cells. The purified VP1 from E. coli will be useful as a substrate for the purification of VP1 modification enzymes and in the study of inter-VP1 oligomerization.

We have studied the pattern of histone acetylation in intact rat hepatoma tissue culture (HTC) cells, in isolated HTC nuclei, and in chromatin prepared from these cells. The results have been compared with the histone acetylation observed in a reconstituted in vitro system consisting of a variety of purified soluble nucleosomal substrates, [3H]acetyl-CoA, and one of two different purified histone N-acetyltransferases. Acetylase A, a highly purified nuclear enzyme, catalyzed the acetylation of 1) nucleosomally bound histones in the order H4 > H2a = H2b > H3, and 2) free histones in the order H4 > H3 > H2b > H2a. Acetylase B, a cytoplasmic enzyme, modified only free histone H4, and it failed to acetylate histones in nucleosomes. The pattern of histone acetylation obtained by in vitro reaction of purified nucleosomes with the purified nuclear acetylase A differed considerably from the corresponding patterns obtained either by acetate labeling of intact cells, or by the acetyl-CoA labeling of nuclei and crude preparations of nucleosomes, as catalyzed by endogenous chromatin-bound acetylase(s). The most striking difference was in the relative preference for acetylation of histone H4 versus acetylation of histone H3: with the purified acetylase, histone H4 in nucleosomes was acetylated to a much greater extent than was histone H3, whereas the reverse preference was found with the endogenous acetylase(s). This result suggests that either a second nuclear acetylase enzyme, or a separate cofactor for acetylase A, is required for histone H3 acetylation in vivo. In support of this view, we find that the acetylation of histones H4, H2a, and H2b in nuclei is inhibited by urea, salt, or N-ethylmaleimide treatments to a very different extent than is the acetylation of histone H3. By comparing n-butyrate-treated HTC cells with untreated cells, classes of nucleosomes specially accessible and inaccessible to acetylation can be distinguished (Cousens, L. S., Gallwitz, D., and Alberts, B. M. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 1716-1723). Both types of special nucleosomal reactivities were present in isolated nuclei, but were lost as nucleosomes were purified from these cells. OUr data thus suggest the existence of labile specificity factors or structures, which guide the acetylase(s) to restricted groups of otherwise similar nucleosomes in vivo.