Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.7.48 (transcriptase)
9,479 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The undivided double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) genome of Helminthosporium victoriae 190S virus (Hv190SV) (genus Totivirus) consists of two large overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). The 5'-proximal ORF encodes a capsid protein (CP), and the downstream, 3'-proximal ORF encodes an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP). Unlike the RDRPs of some other totiviruses, which are expressed as a CP-RDRP (Gag-Pol-like) fusion protein, the Hv190SV RDRP is detected only as a separate, nonfused polypeptide. In this study, we examined the expression of the RDRP ORF fused in frame to the coding sequence of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in bacteria and Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells. The GFP fusions were readily detected in bacteria transformed with the monocistronic construct RDRP:GFP; expression of the downstream RDRP:GFP from the dicistronic construct CP-RDRP:GFP could not be detected. However, fluorescence microscopy and Western blot analysis indicated that RDRP:GFP was expressed at low levels from its downstream ORF in the dicistronic construct in S. pombe cells. No evidence that the RDRP ORF was expressed from a transcript shorter than the full-length dicistronic mRNA was found. A coupled termination-reinitiation mechanism that requires host or eukaryotic cell factors is proposed for the expression of Hv190SV RDRP.
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PMID:Expression of the Totivirus Helminthosporium victoriae 190S virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from its downstream open reading frame in dicistronic constructs. 1062 63

The objective of this study was to identify the active form of the feline calicivirus (FCV) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP). Multiple active forms of the FCV RdRP were identified. The most active enzyme was the full-length proteinase-polymerase (Pro-Pol) precursor protein, corresponding to amino acids 1072 to 1763 of the FCV polyprotein encoded by open reading frame 1 of the genome. Deletion of 163 amino acids from the amino terminus of Pro-Pol (the Val-1235 amino terminus) caused a threefold reduction in polymerase activity. Deletion of an additional one (the Thr-1236 amino terminus) or two (the Ala-1237 amino terminus) amino acids produced derivatives that were 7- and 175-fold, respectively, less active than Pro-Pol. FCV proteinase-dependent processing of Pro-Pol in the interdomain region preceding Val-1235 was not observed in the presence of a catalytically active proteinase; however, processing within the polymerase domain was observed. Inactivation of proteinase activity by changing the catalytic cysteine-1193 to glycine permitted the production and purification of intact Pro-Pol. Biochemical analysis of Pro-Pol showed that this enzyme has properties expected of a replicative polymerase, suggesting that Pro-Pol is an active form of the FCV RdRP.
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PMID:Proteinase-polymerase precursor as the active form of feline calicivirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. 1115 94

The bone marrow (BM) in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) undergoes pathobiological changes that mimic an inflammatory process, and hence, an infectious etiology was suspected in these disorders. In the present report, we examined the bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC) of 19 MDS patients and seven normal donors for the expression of one latency-related (Latency membrane protein 1 (LMP-1) and immediate early protein (IEP)) and one activation-related (BZLF and DNA-Pol) m-RNA each for two herpes viruses, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV), respectively. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used for this purpose. The latency-related transcripts (EBV-LMP-1 and CMV-IEP) were present in all the MDS and normal specimens. Intriguingly, 10/19 MDS specimens ( approximately 53%) and 2/7 normal donors ( approximately 28%) were positive for active EBV-BZLF (P=0.0067), while 2/19 MDS specimens ( approximately 11%) with 1/7 normal ( approximately 14%) showed active CMV-DNA-Pol (P=0.1588). Later, from another set of MDS patients (n=7) and normal donors (n=4), BM stromal cultures were established, which, at a 75% confluency, were overlaid with cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMNC). IEP was detectable in the CBMNC before and after co-incubation with MDS, as well as normal stroma. So, it was also present both in MDS and normal stromal cells. The other three were absent both in MDS and normal stromal layers. In CBMNC though, active EBV-BZLF and CMV-DNA-Pol m-RNA were detectable in one of seven MDS co-cultures each, albeit from different patients. None of the normal co-cultures showed active virus, either in stroma or CBMNC. Thus, the present report demonstrates, for the first time, the presence of active herpes viruses in the BMMNC of MDS patients and reveals the ability of the MDS stroma to support the viral activation.
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PMID:Presence of activation-related m-RNA for EBV and CMV in the bone marrow of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. 1117 35

RNA interference (RNAi) is the process of sequence-specific, posttranscriptional gene silencing in animals and plants initiated by double-stranded (ds) RNA that is homologous to the silenced gene. This technology has usually involved injection or transfection of dsRNA in model nonvertebrate organisms. The longer dsRNAs are processed into short (19 25 nucleotides) small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) by a ribonucleotide protein complex that includes an RNAse III related nuclease (Dicer), a helicase family member, and possibly a kinase and an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP). In mammalian cells it is known that dsRNA 30 base pairs or longer can trigger interferon responses that are intrinsically sequence-nonspecific, thus limiting the application of RNAi as an experimental and therapeutic agent. Duplexes of 21-nucleotide siRNAs with short 3' overhangs, however, can mediate RNAi in a sequence-specific manner in cultured mammalian cells. One limitation in the use of siRNA as a therapeutic reagent in vertebrate cells is that short, highly defined RNAs need to be delivered to target cells--a feat thus far only accomplished by the use of synthetic, duplex RNAs delivered exogenously to cells. In this report, we describe a mammalian Pol III promoter system capable of expressing functional double-stranded siRNAs following transfection into human cells. In the case of the 293 cells cotransfected with the HIV-1 pNL4-3 proviral DNA and the siRNA-producing constructs, we were able to achieve up to 4 logs of inhibition of expression from the HIV-1 DNA.
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PMID:Expression of small interfering RNAs targeted against HIV-1 rev transcripts in human cells. 1261 May 64

We have performed an extensive mutational analysis of the proposed promoter region of the phlebovirus Uukuniemi (UUK), a member of the Bunyaviridae family. This was achieved by using a recently developed RNA polymerase I (Pol I)-driven reverse genetics system (R. Flick and R. F. Pettersson, J. Virol. 75:1643-1655, 2001). Chimeric cDNAs containing the coding region for the reporter chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) in an antisense orientation were flanked by the 5'- and 3'-terminal nontranslated regions of the UUK virus-sense RNA (vRNA) derived from the medium-sized (M) RNA segment. The chimeric cDNAs (Pol I expression cassettes) were cloned between the murine Pol I promoter and terminator, and the plasmids were transfected into BHK-21 cells. CAT activity was determined after cotransfection with viral expression plasmids encoding the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (L) and the nucleoprotein (N) or, alternatively, after superinfection with UUK virus helper virus. Using oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis, single point mutations (substitutions, deletions, and insertions) were introduced into the viral promoter region. Differences in CAT activities were interpreted to reflect the efficiency of mRNA transcription from the mutated promoter and the influence on RNA replication. Analysis of 109 mutants allowed us to define two important regulatory regions within the proximal promoter region (site A, positions 3 to 5 and 2 to 4; site B, positions 8 and 8, where underlined nucleotides refer to positions in the vRNA 3' end). Complementary double nucleotide exchanges in the proximal promoter region, which maintained the possibility for base pairing between the 5' and 3' ends, demonstrated that nucleotides in the two described regions are essential for viral polymerase recognition in a base-specific manner. Thus, mere preservation of panhandle base pairing between the 5' and 3' ends is not sufficient for promoter activity. In conclusion, we have been able to demonstrate that both ends of the M RNA segment build up the promoter region and are involved in the specific recognition by the viral polymerase.
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PMID:Mutational analysis of the Uukuniemi virus (Bunyaviridae family) promoter reveals two elements of functional importance. 1236 28

Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) RNA synthesis is mediated by a viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) on membrane-bound replication complexes in the host cell cytoplasm. However, it is not known how the putative MHV RdRp (Pol) is targeted to and retained on cellular membranes. In this report, we show that a 100-kDa protein was stably detected by an anti-Pol antiserum as a mature product throughout the virus life cycle. Gradient fractionation and biochemical extraction experiments demonstrated that Pol was not an integral membrane protein but was tightly associated with membranes and coimmunoprecipitated with the replicase proteins 3CLpro, p22, and p12. By immunofluorescence confocal microscopy, Pol colocalized with viral proteins at replication complexes, distinct from sites of virion assembly, over the entire course of infection. To determine if Pol associated with cellular membranes in the absence of other viral factors, the pol domain of gene 1 was cloned and expressed in cells as a fusion with green fluorescent protein, termed Gpol. In Gpol-expressing cells that were infected with MHV, but not in mock-infected cells, Gpol relocalized from a diffuse distribution in the cytoplasm to punctate foci that colocalized with markers for replication complexes. Expression of Gpol deletion mutants established that the conserved enzymatic domains of Pol were dispensable for replication complex association, but a 38-amino-acid domain in the RdRp unique region of Pol was required. This study demonstrates that viral or virus-induced factors are necessary for Pol to associate with membranes of replication complexes, and it identifies a defined region of Pol that may mediate its interactions with those factors.
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PMID:Characterization of the expression, intracellular localization, and replication complex association of the putative mouse hepatitis virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. 1297 Apr 36

Genome replication and transcription of riboviruses are catalyzed by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP). RdRPs are normally associated with other virus- or/and host-encoded proteins that modulate RNA polymerization activity and template specificity. The polymerase complex of double-stranded dsRNA viruses is a large icosahedral particle (inner core) containing RdRP as a minor constituent. In phi6 and other dsRNA bacteriophages from the Cystoviridae family, the inner core is composed of four virus-specific proteins. Of these, protein P2, or Pol subunit, has been tentatively identified as RdRP by sequence comparisons, but the role of this protein in viral RNA synthesis has not been studied until recently. Here, we overview the work on the Pol subunits of phi6 and related viruses from the standpoints of function, structure and evolution.
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PMID:RNA-dependent RNA polymerases of dsRNA bacteriophages. 1501 Feb 16

The major human tRNALys isoacceptors, tRNALys1,2 and tRNALys3, are selectively packaged into HIV-1 during assembly, where tRNALys3 acts as the primer for initiating reverse transcription. In this report, we shall review the evidence that supports a model for the formation of a tRNALys packaging complex, whose components include the precursor proteins Gag and Gag-Pol, viral genomic RNA, tRNALys, and lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysRS). In the model proposed, the tRNALys packaging complex is formed when a Gag/Gag-Pol/viral RNA complex interacts with a tRNALys/LysRS complex, with Gag interacting with LysRS, and Gag-Pol interacting with tRNALys. The incorporation of Gag-Pol into HIV-1 requires its interaction with Gag multimers whose polymerization is promoted by RNA. Reverse transcriptase sequences within Gag-Pol also bind to tRNALys, and this binding is required for tRNALys packaging into viruses. LysRS, the enzyme that aminoacylates tRNALys, is also incorporated into HIV-1, and this protein is a strong candidate for being the signal that specifically targets tRNALys for viral incorporation. Newly-synthesized LysRS is a main source of viral LysRS, and its incorporation into viruses occurs via its interaction with Gag and independently of tRNALys packaging. While tRNALys incorporation into viruses depends upon its interaction with LysRS, tRNALys aminoacylation is not a requirement for viral packaging.
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PMID:The tRNALys packaging complex in HIV-1. 1518 44

In vitro mapping studies of the MD145 norovirus (Caliciviridae) ORF1 polyprotein identified two stable cleavage products containing the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) domains: ProPol (a precursor comprised of both the proteinase and polymerase) and Pol (the mature polymerase). The goal of this study was to identify the active form (or forms) of the norovirus polymerase. The recombinant ProPol (expressed as Pro(-)Pol with an inactivated proteinase domain to prevent autocleavage) and recombinant Pol were purified after synthesis in bacteria and shown to be active RdRp enzymes. In addition, the mutant His-E1189A-ProPol protein (with active proteinase but with the natural ProPol cleavage site blocked) was active as an RdRp, confirming that the norovirus ProPol precursor could possess two enzymatic activities simultaneously. The effects of several UTP analogs on the RdRp activity of the norovirus and feline calicivirus Pro(-)Pol enzymes were compared and found to be similar. Our data suggest that the norovirus ProPol is a bifunctional enzyme during virus replication. The availability of this recombinant ProPol enzyme might prove useful in the development of antiviral drugs for control of the noroviruses associated with acute gastroenteritis.
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PMID:Norovirus proteinase-polymerase and polymerase are both active forms of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. 1568 40

Plants encode subunits for a fourth RNA polymerase (Pol IV) in addition to the well-known DNA-dependent RNA polymerases I, II, and III. By mutation of the two largest subunits (NRPD1a and NRPD2), we show that Pol IV silences certain transposons and repetitive DNA in a short interfering RNA pathway involving RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 2 and Dicer-like 3. The existence of this distinct silencing polymerase may explain the paradoxical involvement of an RNA silencing pathway in maintenance of transcriptional silencing.
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PMID:RNA polymerase IV directs silencing of endogenous DNA. 1569 15


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