Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
 31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Retroelements (retrotransposons and retroviruses) have two genes in common: gag, which specifies structural proteins that form a virus or virus-like particle, and pol, which specifies catalytic proteins required for replication. For many retroelements, gag and pol are present on separate reading frames. Their expression is highly regulated, and the ratio of Gag to Pol is critical for retroelement replication. The Saccharomyces retrotransposon Ty5 contains a single open reading frame, and we characterized Gag and Pol expression by generating transpositionally active Ty5 elements with epitope tags at the N terminus or C terminus or within the integrase coding region. Immunoblot analysis identified two Gag species (Gag-p27 and Gag-p37), reverse transcriptase (Pol-p59), and integrase (Pol-p80), all of which are largely insoluble in the absence of urea or ionic detergent. These proteins result from proteolytic processing of a polyprotein, because elements with mutations in the presumed active site of Ty5 protease express a single tagged protein (Gag-Pol-p182). Protease mutants are also transpositionally inactive. In a time course experiment, we monitored protein expression, proteolytic processing, and transposition of a Ty5 element with identical epitope tags at its N and C termini. Both transposition and the abundance of Gag-p27 increased over time. In contrast, the levels of Gag-p37 and reverse transcriptase peaked after approximately 14 h of induction and then gradually decreased. This may be due to differences in stability of Gag-p27 relative to Gag-p37 and reverse transcriptase. The ratio of Ty5 Gag to Pol averaged 5:1 throughout the time course experiment, suggesting that differential protein stability regulates the amounts of these proteins.
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PMID:Expression and processing of proteins encoded by the Saccharomyces retrotransposon Ty5. 1116 Jun 77

Long-term use of antiretroviral nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) as therapy for human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection is limited by mitochondrial toxicity. Here we document mitochondrial pathology during the long-term culture of human HeLa cells in the presence or absence of the NRTI Zidovudine(R) (AZT, 800 muM) for up to 77-passages (p), with samples taken at early (p5-p11), middle (p36 and p37), and late (p70-p77) passages. Samples were analyzed for changes in mitochondrial morphology, mitochondrial (mt)DNA quantity, nuclear and mitochondrial gene expression, and mitochondrial membrane potential. Mitochondria showed abnormal proliferation at p5 and abnormal morphology >/=p36. mtDNA quantity was increased at p5 and p11, and 65% depleted at p71. Hierarchical clustering of nuclear gene expression, examined at p37 by the NCI cDNA microarray in AZT-exposed cells, showed down-regulation of 13 out of 16 lipid-metabolizing genes, and up-regulation of most oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) genes. OXPHOS genes encoded by mtDNA, examined at p5, p36, and p75 using the Mitochondrial Gene Mini Array, revealed up-regulation of genes coding for polypeptides of NADH dehydrogenase, ATP synthase, and cytochrome c oxidase. Mitochondrial membrane potential, monitored by JC1 staining, was elevated at p10 and p32, and essentially completely absent at p71. The data show that during chronic exposure of HeLa cells to AZT, a compensatory response was induced at the earlier passages (p5-p37), and by p71 there was widespread mitochondrial morphological damage, severe mtDNA depletion, and a substantial loss of mitochondrial membrane potential.
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PMID:Morphological and molecular course of mitochondrial pathology in cultured human cells exposed long-term to Zidovudine. 1689 29