The mechanism of replication of the simian virus 40 (SV40) genome closely resembles that of cellular chromosomes, thereby providing an excellent model system for examining the enzymatic requirements for DNA replication. Only one viral gene product, the large tumour antigen (large-T antigen), is required for viral replication, so the majority of replication enzymes must be cellular. Indeed, a number of enzymatic activities associated with replication and the S phase of the cell cycle are induced upon SV40 infection. Cell-free extracts derived from human cells, when supplemented with immunopurified SV40 large-T antigen support efficient replication of plasmids that contain the SV40 origin of DNA replication. Using this system, a cellular protein of relative molecular mass 36,000 (Mr = 36K) that is required for the elongation stage of SV40 DNA replication in vitro has been purified and identified as a known cell-cycle regulated protein, alternatively called the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) or cyclin. It was noticed that, in its physical characteristics, PCNA closely resembles a protein that regulates the activity of calf thymus DNA polymerase-delta. Here we show that PCNA and the polymerase-delta auxiliary protein have similar electrophoretic behaviour and are both recognized by anti-PCNA human autoantibodies. More importantly, both proteins are functionally equivalent; they stimulate SV40 DNA replication in vitro and increase the processivity of calf thymus DNA polymerase-delta. These results implicate a novel animal cell DNA polymerase, DNA polymerase-delta, in the elongation stage of replicative DNA synthesis in vitro.

DNA polymerase delta from calf thymus has been purified to apparent homogeneity by a new procedure which utilizes hydrophobic interaction chromatography with phenyl-Sepharose at an early step to separate most of the calcium-dependent protease activity from DNA polymerase delta and alpha. The purified enzyme migrates as a single protein band on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under nondenaturing conditions. The sedimentation coefficient of the enzyme is 7.9 S, and the Stokes radius is 53 A. A molecular weight of 173K has been calculated for the native enzyme. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the homogeneous enzyme reveals two polypeptides of 125 and 48 kDa. This subunit structure differs from that of DNA polymerase delta prepared by our previous procedure, which was composed of subunits of 60 and 49 kDa [Lee, M. Y. W. T., Tan, C.-K., Downey , K. M., & So, A. G. (1981) Prog . Nucleic Acid Res. Mol. Biol. 26, 83-96], suggesting that the 60-kDa polypeptide may have been derived from the 125-kDa polypeptide during enzyme purification, possibly as the result of cleavage of an unusually sensitive peptide bond. DNA polymerase delta is separated from DNA polymerase alpha by hydrophobic interaction chromatography on phenyl-Sepharose; DNA polymerase delta is eluted at pH 7.2 and DNA polymerase alpha at pH 8.5. DNA polymerase delta can also be separated from DNA polymerase alpha by chromatography on hydroxylapatite; DNA polymerase alpha binds to hydroxylapatite in the presence of 0.5 M KCl, whereas DNA polymerase delta is eluted at 90 mM KCl.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Certain bis(heteroaryl)piperazines (BHAPs) are potent inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) at concentrations lower by 2-4 orders of magnitude than that which inhibits normal cellular DNA polymerase activity. Combination of a BHAP with nucleoside analog IIV-1 RT inhibitors suggested that together these compounds inhibited RT synergistically. In three human lymphocytic cell systems using several laboratory and clinical HIV-1 isolates, the BHAPs blocked HIV-1 replication with potencies nearly identical to those of 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine or 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine; in primary cultures of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, concentrations of these antiviral agents were lower by at least 34 orders of magnitude than cytotoxic levels. The BHAPs do not inhibit replication of HIV-2, the simian or feline immunodeficiency virus, or Rauscher murine leukemia virus in culture. Evaluation of a BHAP in HIV-1-infected SCID-hu mice (severe combined ict mice implanted with human fetal lymph node) showed that the compound could block HIV-1 replication in vivo. The BHAPs are readily obtained synthetically and have been extensively characterized in preclinical evaluations. These compounds hold promise for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.The reverse transcriptase (RT) encoded by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) catalyzes the conversion of the viral genomic RNA into proviral DNA (1, 2). Since RT is essential for virus replication and has no closely related identified cellular homolog, it has been the prime target for antiviral therapy against theacquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS; refs. 3 and 4). This strategy is appropriate since 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (AZT), a nucleoside analog inhibitor of reverse transcription, was the first drug shown to benefit HIV-1-infected individuals (5). Other nucleoside analog RT inhibitors also show promise in clinical evaluations (6, 7). However, the administration of these drugs to patients is usually limited by serious toxicities (7,8). In addition, HIV-1 with reduced AZT-sensitivity has been obtained from AZT-treated patients, suggesting the emergence of resistant virus will limit the drug's efficacy (9, 10). Thus, effective prolonged treatment of HIV-1 infection likely requires the discovery of other, perhaps multiple, RT inhibitors. To this end, we and others (11, 12) have sought to identify other nonnucleoside HIV-1 RT inhibitors. MATERIALS AND METHODSCell Culture and Virus Infections. The cell cultures were maintained at 370C in 5% C02/95% air. The HIV-1 infectivity studies were conducted in MT-2 cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), and H9 cells as described (9,(13)(14)(15). In brief, MT-2 or H9 cells were infected with HIV-1 (IlIb isolate) at a multiplicity of infection of 0.001. In MT-2 cells syncytium formation was determined 4 days after infection at the peak of the viral cytopathic effect (13). In H9 cells, growth medium with fresh drug was replaced every 3-4 days, and at 14 days-...

A new species of DNA polymerase has been purified more than 10 000-fold from the cytoplasm of erythroid hyperplastic bone marrow. This DNA polymerase, in contrast to previously described eukaryotic DNA polymerases, is associated with a very active 3' to 5' exonuclease activity. Similar to the 3' to 5' exonuclease activity associated with prokaryotic DNA polymerases, this enzyme catalyzes the removal of 3'-terminal nucleotides from DNA, as well as a template-dependent conversion of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates to monophosphates. The exonuclease activity is not separable from the DNA polymerase activity by chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex or hydroxylapatite, and upon sucrose density gradient centrifugation the two activities cosediment at 7 S or at 11 S depending on the ionic strength. Both exonuclease and polymerase activities have identical rates of heat inactivation and both are equally sensitive to hemin and Rifamycin AF/013, inhibitors of DNA synthesis that act by binding to DNA polymerase and causing its dissociation from its template/primer. These results are consistent with the coexistence of two enzyme activities in a single protein.

Consistent with previous observations, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) promotes DNA synthesis by calf thymus DNA polymerase ␦ (pol ␦) past several chemically defined template lesions including model abasic sites, 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine (dG) and aminof luorene-dG (but not acetylaminof luorene-dG). This synthesis is potentially mutagenic. The model abasic site was studied most extensively. When all deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates and a template bearing a model abasic site were present, DNA synthesis by pol ␦ beyond this site was stimulated 53-fold by addition of homologous PCNA. On an unmodified template (lacking any lesions), PCNA stimulated pol ␦ by 1.3-fold. Product analysis demonstrated that as expected from the ''A-rule,'' fully and near-fully extended primers incorporated predominantly dAMP opposite the template lesion. Moreover, corollary primer extension studies demonstrated that in the presence (but not the absence) of PCNA, pol ␦ preferentially elongated primers containing dAMP opposite the model abasic template site. p21, a specific inhibitor of PCNA-dependent DNA replication, inhibits PCNA-stimulated synthesis past model abasic template sites. We propose that DNA synthesis past template lesions by pol ␦ promoted by PCNA results from the fundamental mechanism by which PCNA stimulates pol ␦, i.e., stabilization of the pol ␦⅐template-primer complex.Eukaryotes are currently known to contain six DNA polymerases; DNA polymerase (pol) ␣ is thought to synthesize primers required for replication, DNA pol ␤ is thought to be primarily involved in repair, DNA pols and ␦ (pol and pol ␦, respectively) are essential for replicative DNA synthesis and DNA pol ␥ is required for mitochondrial DNA replication (for a review, see ref. 1). Though considerable uncertainty remains, a sixth eukaryotic enzyme, DNA pol , was identified in several organisms (2-5). For Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast), this polymerase is thought to participate directly in replication past template damage in vivo (refs. 4 and 5 and references therein). Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was identified as a specific auxiliary factor of pol ␦ (6). In certain contexts, it also stimulates pol (7-9). These effects imply that PCNA interacts with both pol ␦ and pol . PCNA also interacts specifically with several other cellular proteins. These include replication factor C (10-16), FEN-1 (17), p21 (18-20), Gadd45 (21), and cyclin D (22). Functionally, PCNA is essential for both DNA replication and repair (23-31).PCNA stimulates pol ␦ by enhancing processivity, the ratelimiting step for pol ␦-catalyzed dNMP polymerization. PCNA enhances processivity both by modestly increasing the rate of single nucleotide incorporation (32) and by dramatically decreasing the dissociation of pol ␦ from model template-primers (33). It is thought that PCNA performs this latter function by acting as a sliding clamp that tethers pol ␦ to DNA during replication (34); this notion was substantiated by results from x-ray crystallographic study of recombinant ...

Current models suggest that two or more DNA polymerases may be required for high-fidelity semiconservative DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. In the present study, we directly compare the fidelity of SV40 origin-dependent DNA replication in human cell extracts to the fidelity of mammalian DNA polymerases alpha, delta, and epsilon using lacZ alpha of M13mp2 as a reporter gene. Their fidelity, in decreasing order, is replication greater than or equal to pol epsilon greater than pol delta greater than pol alpha. DNA sequence analysis of mutants derived from extract reactions suggests that replication is accurate when considering single-base substitutions, single-base frameshifts, and larger deletions. The exonuclease-containing calf thymus DNA polymerase epsilon is also highly accurate. When high concentrations of deoxynucleoside triphosphates and deoxyguanosine monophosphate are included in the pol epsilon reaction, both base substitution and frameshift error rates increase. This response suggests that exonucleolytic proofreading contributes to the high base substitution and frameshift fidelity. Exonuclease-containing calf thymus DNA polymerase delta, which requires proliferating cell nuclear antigen for efficient synthesis, is significantly less accurate than pol epsilon. In contrast to pol epsilon, pol delta generates errors during synthesis at a relatively modest concentration of deoxynucleoside triphosphates (100 microM), and the error rate did not increase upon addition of adenosine monophosphate. Thus, we are as yet unable to demonstrate that exonucleolytic proofreading contributes to accuracy during synthesis by DNA polymerase delta. The four-subunit DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex from both HeLa cells and calf thymus is the least accurate replicative polymerase. Fidelity is similar whether the enzyme is assayed immediately after purification or after being stored frozen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

No abstract

Bisheteroarylpiperazines are potent inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT). We describe a novel bisheteroarylpiperazine, U-90152 {1-(5-methanesulfonamido-IH-indol-2-yI-carbonyl)-4-[3-(1-methylethyl-amino)pyridinyllpiperazine}, which inhibited recombinant HIV-1 RT at a 50%Y inhibitory concentration (IC.) of 0.26 FLM (compared with IC50s of >440 ,uM for DNA polymerases at and B). U-90152 blocked the replication in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 25 primary HWV-i isolates, including variants that were highly resistant to 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (AZT) or 2',3'-dideoxyinosine, with a mean 50%o effective dose of 0.066 + 0.137 pM. U-90152 had low cellular cytotoxicity, causing less than 8% reduction in peripheral blood lymphocyte viability at 100 ,uM. In experiments assessing inhibition of the spread of HIV-MB in cell cultures, U-90152 was much more effective than AZT. When approximately 500 HIV-1l1m-infected MT-4 cells were mixed 1:1,000 with uninfected cells, 3 ,uM AZT delayed the evidence of rapid viral growth for 7 days. In contrast, 3 ,uM U-90152 totally prevented the spread of HIV-i, and death and/or dilution of the original inoculum of infected cells prevented renewed viral growth after U-90152 was removed at day 24. The combination of U-90152 and AZT, each at 0.5 ,uM, also totally prevented viral spread. Finally, although the RT amino acid substitutions K103N (lysine 103 to asparagine) and Y181C (tyrosine 181 to cysteine), which confer cross-resistance to several nonnucleoside inhibitors, also decrease the potency of U-90152, this drug retains significant activity against these mutant RTs in vitro (IC50s, approximately 8 ,uM).