Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.7.7 (DNA polymerase)
 17,007 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Parvoviruses have small genomes and, consequently, are highly dependent on their host for various functions in their reproduction. Since these viruses generally use ubiquitous receptors, restrictions are usually intracellularly regulated. A lack of mitosis, and hence absence of enzymes required for DNA replication, is a powerful block of virus infection. Allotropic determinants have been identified for several parvoviruses: porcine parvovirus, canine parvovirus (CPV), feline parvovirus (feline panleukopenia virus), minute virus of mice, Aleutian disease virus, and GmDNV (an insect parvovirus). Invariably, these identifications involved the use of infectious clones of these viruses and the exchange of restriction fragments to create chimeric viruses, of which the resulting phenotype was then established by transfection in appropriate cell lines. The tropism of these viruses was found to be governed by minimal changes in the sequence of the capsid proteins and, often, only 2 or 3 critical amino acids are responsible for a given tropism. These amino acids are usually located on the outside of the capsid near or on the spike of the threefold axis for the vertebrate parvoviruses and on loops 2 or 3 for the insect parvoviruses. This tropism is not mediated via specific cellular receptors but by interactions with intracellular factors. The nature of these factors is unknown but most data point to a stage beyond the conversion of the single-stranded DNA genome by host cell DNA polymerase into monomeric duplex intermediates of the replicative form. The sudden and devastating emergence of mink enteritis virus (MEV) and CPV in the last 50 years, and the possibility of more future outbreaks, demonstrates the importance of understanding parvovirus tropism.
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PMID:Molecular and structural basis of the evolution of parvovirus tropism. 1049 31

The objective of this study was to assess the sensitivity of the Omni Klentaq-LA DNA polymerase for detecting Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) in mink blood and tissues by PCR without DNA extraction. The presence of AMDV DNA was directly tested by Klentaq in the plasma, serum, whole blood, and spleen homogenates of 188 mink 4 and 16 months after inoculation with the virus. Samples from bone marrow, small intestine, liver, lungs, kidneys, and lymph nodes of 20 of the same mink were also tested by Klentaq. DNA was extracted from paired samples of plasma and the aforesaid tissues by a commercial nucleic acid extraction kit (Dynabeads Silane) and tested by PCR. Compared with the extracted DNA, Klentaq detected a significantly greater number of samples in the whole blood, serum, plasma, spleen, and small intestine. It was concluded that Klentaq is a preferred system for directly detecting AMDV DNA in mink blood and tissues. The lower success rate of extracted DNA compared with Klentaq could be the result of DNA losses during the extraction process. This is an important factor in chronically infected mink, which have a low AMDV copy number in the bloodstream. Direct AMDV detection also reduces the cost of PCR amplification and lowers the risk of sample contamination.
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PMID:A fast and accurate method of detecting Aleutian mink disease virus in blood and tissues of chronically infected mink. 2817 88