Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), which belongs to the betaherpesvirus subfamily and infects mainly T cells in vitro, causes acute and latent infections. Two variants of HHV-6 have been distinguished on the basis of differences in several properties. We have determined the complete DNA sequence of HHV-6 variant B (HHV-6B) strain HST, the causative agent of exanthem subitum, and compared the sequence with that of variant A strain U1102. A total of 115 potential open reading frames (ORFs) were identified within the 161,573-bp contiguous sequence of the entire HHV-6 genome, including some genes with remarkable differences in amino acid identity. All genes with <70% identity between the two variants were found to contain deleted regions when ORFs that could not be expressed were excluded from the comparison. Except in the case of U47, these differences were found in immediate-early/regulatory genes, DR2, DR7, U86/90, U89/90, and U95, which may represent characteristic differences of variants A and B. Also, we have successfully typed 14 different strains belonging to variant A or B by PCR using variant-specific primers; the results suggest that the remarkable differences observed were conserved evolutionarily as variant-specific divergence.
Introduction c-Kit is a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), which constitutes a type III RTK subfamily with the receptors for platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1), and flt-3 ligand. 1,2 The type III RTKs are characterized by an extracellular domain with 5 immunoglobulinlike domains and a cytoplasmic domain consisting of a kinase domain that is interrupted by a kinase insert. c-Kit (KIT) and its ligand stem cell factor (SCF) play an important role in hematopoiesis, melanogenesis, and gametogenesis, 3 as has been clearly shown by loss of function mutations of c-kit gene. In addition, c-kit gene product has been associated with various forms of neoplasms. Activating mutants of KIT, either in the juxtamembrane domain or the catalytic domain, were identified as the cause for transformation of hematopoietic stem cells, mast cells, and gastrointestinal stromal cells. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Thus, KIT/SCF has pleiotropic functions such as proliferation, survival, differentiation, and transformation. In this report, we focus on SCF/KITmediated cell migration, which is also a characteristic function of SCF in hematopoietic stem cells and mast cells, [11][12][13] and has critical roles in immunity, metastasis, and development.On ligand stimulation, KIT receptors dimerize, activate its intrinsic tyrosine kinase, and autophosphorylate. The phosphorylated KIT receptor generates binding sites for SH2 domaincontaining proteins, which include proteins of the p21Ras-mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, 14 the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3Ј kinase (PI3K), 15 phospholipase C-␥ 1 , the Grb2 adaptor protein, 16 the Src family kinases (SFKs), 17 Cbl, CRKL, 19 SHP1, and SHP2. 20 Those proteins are subsequently activated or phosphorylated and further transduce signaling cascades that lead to various cellular responses. However, little is known about which signaling is essential for SCF-mediated migration. Recently, a few reports indicated that Lyn or p38 MAPK plays an important role, 21,22 but no comprehensive investigation has been done in which the tyrosine residue of KIT is involved in signal transduction, which is required for cell migration. In this study, we have converted all possible tyrosine (Y) residues on KIT cytoplasmic domain to phenylalanine (F) and introduced these YF substitute mutants on 293T cells or murine interleukin 3 (IL-3)-dependent BAF3 cells. We used these cell lines to elucidate signaling cascades that are important for SCF-mediated cell Supported in part by grants from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and the Japan Society for Promotion of Science.Reprints: Yuzuru Kanakura, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2, Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; e-mail: kanakura@bldon.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate thi...
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