Wilmington, DE 19880-0328 Communicated by John D. Roberts, September 10, 1990 ABSTRACT A single-chain tethered dimer of human immunodeficiency virus protease (HIV-PR) was produced by expression of a synthetic gene in Escherichia coli. The tethered dimer, which consists of two 99-amino acid HIV-PR subunits linked together by a pentapeptide, was isolated from inclusion

The virally encoded protease of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is responsible for specific cleavage events leading to the liberation of the enzymes reverse transcriptase, integrase, ribonuclease H, and the core proteins from the gag-pol and gag polyprotein precursors. Utilizing gag polyprotein synthesized in vitro, we have shown that this substrate is sequentially cleaved by purified HIV protease to yield products that on the basis of their sizes and immunoreactivities correspond to p15, p6, p7, pl7, and finally mature p24. We have placed unique restriction sites flanking the pl7-p24 domain in order to facilitate replacement of cleavage site sequences by utilizing oligonucleotide cassettes. Replacement of the rapidly cleaved methionine-methionine bond at the p24-pi5 junction with tyrosine-proline or replacement of the tyrosine-proline bond at the pl7-p24 junction with methionine-methionine results in sites that cannot be efficiently cleaved. A basic amino acid at the pl7-p24 scissile bond is not tolerated. Replacement of this cleavage site with an inverted repeat amino acid sequence gives intermediate rates of cleavage. In an attempt to convert the pl7-p24 domain into a p24-pl5 domain, residues flanking the scissile bond were exchanged in an expanding iterative fashion. When four residues flanking the scissile bond had been replaced, the rate of cleavage relative to that of the native pl7-p24 sequence was increased fourfold. The cleavage rate of the native p24-p1S sequence is still some 10-fold greater than that of the pl7-p24 sequence, suggesting that more-distant residues significantly affect the cleavage rate.

Treatment of human rhinovirus type 2 (HRV 2) virions at pH 5, at 56 C or in 2 M urea, produces one or both of two types of subviral particles. These subviral particles sediment at 135S or at 80S and both share what have been designated as C-antigenic determinants; the determinants of native virions have been designated D. These sets of determinants have been contrasted by the techniques of immunodiffusion, complement fixation, and serum blocking, and the results indicate that many or most of the D-determinants are lost in the conversion to C antigenicity. Some of the HRV 2 C-determinants also react, in immunodiffusion and in complement fixation tests, with antisera produced against HRV 1A virions. The inverse reaction has also been detected by complement fixation. Purified natural top component (NTC) of HRV 2 contains C-and, to a lesser extent, D-determinants. The D-determinants of NTC are also, like those of virions, lost upon treatment at pH 5. These results are discussed in terms of a conformational model for the Dto C-antigenic conversion.

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Human rhinovirus type 2 did not replicate in nonpermissive mouse cells; the restriction was not in adsorption but in the early events of virus replication. Mutants which had been adapted to grow in mouse cells had the following characteristics: (i) no change in the structural protein, (ii) a larger nonstructural protein and its precursor protein, and (iii) an altered viral RNA synthesis. The altered nonstructural proteins correlated with a change in host range of the virus and may be involved in viral RNA synthesis.

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Temperature-sensitive mutants of Sindbis virus, which synthesize viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) but not mature virus at the nonpermissible temperature, were selected for the study of viral maturation. Of these, three mutants which complement each other genetically were used. Two major proteins, the nucleocapsid and membrane proteins, located, respectively, in the viral nucleoid and membrane, were found in intact virions. In cells infected with wild-type Sindbis virus, four distinct types of viral RNA with sedimentation coefficients of 40S, 26S, 20S, and 15S were detected in constant distribution. The 20S RNA was ribonuclease-resistant, whereas the other types were ribonuclease-sensitive. The 40S RNA, identical to that obtained from the virion, was found associated with nucleocapsid protein as a subviral particle, which was assumed to be the nucleoid. Viral materials from cells infected with the mutants under nonpermissive conditions were compared with those from cells infected with wild-type virus, in terms of (i) the distribution of the different types of RNA, (ii) the association of infectious viral RNA into subviral particles, and (iii) the ability of infected cells to hemadsorb goose erythrocytes. According to these criteria, each of the three mutants demonstrated different maturation defects. Defective nucleocapsid proteins and membrane proteins may each account for one of the above mutants. The third mutant may have defects in a minor structural protein or possibly a maturation protein which is involved in the assembly of Sindbis virus.

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