Comparative Properties of RNA and DNA Templates for the DNA Polymerase of Rous Sarcoma Virus

Several natural RNAs were compared with respect to their template activities for the DNA polymerase of Rous Sarcoma Virus during a 2-hr incubation period. 60-70S viral RNA was found to be a 5- to 10-fold better template than heat-dissociated Rous viral RNA, influenza virus RNA, tobacco mosaic virus RNA, or ribosomal RNA. Denatured salmon DNA is a little better, and poly(dAT) is 2-4 times better as a template for the enzyme than is 60-70S Rous viral RNA. The 60-70S RNAs of different strains of avian tumor viruses have very similar template activities for a given avian tumor virus DNA polymerase. Oligo(dT) or oligo(dC) were found to enhance the template activity of heat-dissociated Rous viral RNA 20- to 30-fold, and that of other natural RNAs tested one- to several-fold. DNA syntheses of 1-24% were obtained during a 2-hour incubation of the enzyme with the above RNA templates. The results suggest that the enzyme prefers partially doublestranded or hybrid regions of RNAs for optimal DNA synthesis, but certain regions of single-stranded RNA can also serve as templates.Poly(dAT) competes with viral RNA for purified DNA polymerase during DNA synthesis, as would be expected if RNA- and DNA-dependent DNA synthesis was performed by at least one common active site of the same enzyme.     

RNA-directed DNA synthesis by the DNA polymerase of Rous sarcoma virus: structural and functional identification of 4S primer RNA in uninfected cells.

The RNA-directed DNA polymerase of Rous sarcoma virus requires a 4S RNA molecule as primer for the initiation of DNA synthesis on the viral 70S RNA genome. We have now functionally identified primer activity in uninfected cells on the basis of the capacity of cellular 4S RNA to actively participate in the initiation of DNA synthesis by the RNA-directed DNA polymerase of Rous sarcoma virus in vitro. This was accomplished by reconstitution experiments in which 4S RNA from uninfected avian cells was tested for its ability to restore template activity to the viral RNA genome from which all primer had been removed. Similar reconstitution experiments were employed to demonstrate a primer activity in the 4S RNA population of duck, mouse, and human cells. Primer activity appears to be absent in lower eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells. Unambiguous identification of the Rous sarcoma virus primer molecule in uninfected cells was accomplished by directly purifying a 4S RNA molecule from the bulk of host cell transfer RNA and establishing structural similarities between this cellular 4S RNA species and the Rous sarcoma virus primer by two-dimensional paper electrophoresis of oligonucleotides obtained from a T1 ribonuclease digest of the RNA species. We conclude that the Rous sarcoma virus DNA polymerase can utilize a host cell molecule as primer for the initiation of RNA-directed DNA synthesis in vitro.     

Evidence for 30-40S RNA as precursor of the 60-70S RNA of Rous sarcoma virus

Rous sarcoma virus harvested from cells at intervals of 3 min has the same density, sedimentation coefficient, and DNA polymerase as virus harvested at hourly intervals. The RNA of the Prague strain-C consists of a minor class of 60-70S RNA, a major class 30-40S RNA, and a 4-12S class of RNA present at variable concentration. The RNA of the Schmidt-Ruppin strain-A contains more 60-70S than 30-40S RNA. Upon incubation of virus harvested at 3-min intervals at 40 degrees in cell growth medium or Tris-saline, most of the 30-40S RNA is converted to 60-70S RNA.The electrophoretic mobility of the 30-40S RNA of the Rous virus harvested at 3-min intervals is lower than that of the 30-40S subunits of completely dissociated 60-70S RNA; after heating, their mobilities are identical. Heating also releases some small RNAs from 30-40S RNA of virus harvested at 3-min intervals, but five times more 4S RNA is released if the 30-40S RNA is allowed to convert to 60-70S in the virus. The template activity for Rous virus DNA polymerase of the 30-40S RNA of Rous virus harvested at 3-min intervals is about five times lower than that of 60-70S RNA. It is suggested that association of 30-40S RNAs with some RNAs of the 4-12S class may take place simultaneously with their conversion to 60-70S RNA.     

Moieties in an RNA promoter specifically recognized by a viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

RNAs 33 nucleotides in length can direct accurate initiation of subgenomic RNA synthesis by the brome mosaic virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), provided that the native sequences are maintained at five positions: −17, −14, −13, −11, and the +1 initiation site. The functional groups in the bases of these essential nucleotides required to interact with RdRp were examined by using chemically synthesized RNAs containing base analogs at each of the five positions. Analysis using a template competition assay revealed that the mode of recognition for the initiation nucleotide (+1) is distinct from that of the other essential nucleotides in the promoter. Competition experiments also determined that three template nucleotides are sufficient for stable interaction with RdRp. These results identify base moieties in the brome mosaic virus subgenomic promoter required for efficient RNA synthesis and support the hypothesis that the recognition of a RNA promoter by a viral RdRp is analogous to the recognition of DNA promoters by DNA-dependent RNA polymerases.     

Mechanism of Carcinogenesis by RNA Tumor Viruses, I. An RNA-Dependent DNA Polymerase in Murine Sarcoma Viruses

A highly active and stable DNA polymerase was found in purified preparations of two murine sarcoma viruses. Enzyme activity is not detected in most virus preparations unless they are treated with low concentrations of a nonionic detergent such as Nonidet P-40. The incorporation of labeled thymidine triphosphate requires all four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates and either Mg(2+) or Mn(2+). Enzyme activity is proportional to virus concentration and is linear with time up to 90 min. That the template is RNA is suggested by the reduction in polymerase activity upon treatment of murine sarcoma virus with RNase, and by the absence of detectable amounts of DNA in the virus. That the product is DNA is shown by the incorporation of all four deoxyribo-nucleoside triphosphates into an acid-insoluble product which is stable in alkali, is destroyed by DNase, sediments in alkaline sucrose gradients with a sedimentation coefficient of 7 S, and bands in isopycnic CsCl gradients with a mean buoyant density of 1.700.     

DNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase from Yeast Mitochondria

The DNA-dependent RNA polymerase present in the mitochondria of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been solubilized using a 0.5 M KCI solution, and the soluble enzyme has been purified. Two forms of mitochondrial enzyme were obtained; they differ in their template specificity and metal-ion dependency. The mitochondrial RNA polymerase also differs from enzyme obtained from the nucleus with respect to antibiotic sensitivity and template specificity. Only the nuclear enzyme is sensitive to alpha-amanitin inhibition. The relative activities of the isolated nuclear and mitochondrial polymerases toward their homologous DNAs are consistent with their in vivo functions. The possibilities of bacterial- and nuclear-enzyme contamination of the mitochondrial enzyme preparation have been ruled out. RNA polymerase activity in two petite mutants has been studied. Isolated mitochondria from a petite mutant with no detectable mitochondrial DNA has greatly diminished mitochondrial DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity, while a petite mutant with only a small change in mitochondrial DNA base composition has normal amounts of enzyme.     

Cytology of rheumatoid synovial cells in culture. IV. Further investigations of cell lines cocultivated with rheumatoid synovial cells.

A previous report described a cell isolate presumed to have arisen by accidental cocultivation (contamination) of the Chang 'liver' cell line and rheumatoid synovial cells. This cell isolate had the same glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase isoenzyme as the Chang cell and also some shared antigens. It clearly differed in its karyotype, its ability to grow in semisolid agar, and in the possession of bleb-like projections of the cytoplasmic membrane filled with collections of beaded or granular material. In addition, it had a novel antigen(s) not present in the Chang cell. As these properties might have been acquired from the synovial cells and because the bleb structures resembled those seen in some cell lines transformed by leucovirus the cell isolate has been further studied. Cytochemical methods at the light and electron microscope level showed that the granular material was polysaccharide in nature, probably glycogen. No evidence was found of the presence of a virus or a viral genome using a variety of techniques including attempted induction followed by 3H-uridine labelling of the cultures, and assay of the supernatant fluid from the culture for viral RNA-dependent DNA polymerase. In addition, cell extracts were not found to contain viral RNA-dependent DNA polymerase or RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. No rubella virus or leucovirus interspecies antigens were detected on the cell membranes.     

THE ISOLATION OF TWO ENZYME-RIBONUCLEIC ACID COMPLEXES INVOLVED IN THE SYNTHESIS OF FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE VIRUS RIBONUCLEIC ACID

The foot-and-mouth disease virus-RNA polymerase complex was released from membrane particulates present in the cytoplasm of infected baby hamster kidney cells. The soluble polymerase complex was fractionated by zonal centrifugation in sucrose gradients. Two polymerase complexes (RNA and protein complex) active in the cell-free system were isolated and had S-rate ranges of 20-70S and 100-300S, respectively. The light polymerase complex contained 20S double-stranded RNA; and the heavy polymerase complex contained a polydisperse, partially RNase-resistant RNA. The cell-free product of these two polymerase complexes was analyzed by zonal centrifugation in sucrose gradients. The light polymerase complex synthesized only 20S double-stranded RNA. The product of the heavy polymerase complex contained no detectable 20S double-stranded RNA and only a peak of single-stranded RNA with S-rate corresponding to 37S viral RNA. A third polymerase complex was isolated with S-rate greater than 300S, and it contained a polydisperse, partially RNase-resistant RNA. This third polymerase complex synthesized both 37S viral RNA and 20S double-stranded RNA in the cell-free system, and it is probably the native polymerase complex still bound to cellular particulates.     

A New Synthetic RNA-Dependent DNA Polymerase from Human Tissue Culture Cells

Two DNA polymerases that can copy synthetic RNA polymers are present in human tissue culture cells. These enzymes which have each been purified about 500-fold, are present in both HeLa cells, which are derived from a cervical carcinoma, and in WI-38 cells, a normal diploid strain originating from human embryonic lung tissue. These synthetic RNA-dependent DNA polymerases are identified by their ability to copy efficiently the ribo strand of synthetic oligonucleotide-homopolymer complexes, and differ in this respect from the known DNA-dependent DNA polymerases found in HeLa cells. The template requirements of these new DNA polymerases resemble that of the RNA-dependent DNA polymerases of the RNA tumor-viruses.