Analysis of unintegrated avian RNA tumor virus double-stranded DNA intermediates.

1978 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 810-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
T W Hsu ◽  
J L Sabran ◽  
G E Mark ◽  
R V Guntaka ◽  
J M Taylor
Author(s):  
George C. Ruben ◽  
Kenneth A. Marx

In vitro collapse of DNA by trivalent cations like spermidine produces torus (donut) shaped DNA structures thought to have a DNA organization similar to certain double stranded DNA bacteriophage and viruses. This has prompted our studies of these structures using freeze-etch low Pt-C metal (9Å) replica TEM. With a variety of DNAs the TEM and biochemical data support a circumferential DNA winding model for hydrated DNA torus organization. Since toruses are almost invariably oriented nearly horizontal to the ice surface one of the most accessible parameters of a torus population is annulus (ring) thickness. We have tabulated this parameter for populations of both nicked, circular (Fig. 1: n=63) and linear (n=40: data not shown) ϕX-174 DNA toruses. In both cases, as can be noted in Fig. 1, there appears to be a compact grouping of toruses possessing smaller dimensions separated from a dispersed population possessing considerably larger dimensions.


Author(s):  
N. H. Sarkar ◽  
Dan H. Moore

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MTV) is believed to contain about 0.8% single stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA). This value of RNA content was estimated on a dry weight basis. The subject of this report is an attempt to visualize the RNA molecules of MTV particles.MTV particles were isolated from RIII mouse (tumor incidence approximately 80%) milk according to the method described by Lyons and Moore. Purified virions from 5 ml of milk were finally suspended in 0.2 ml of PBS, pH 7.4 and was mixed with an equal volume of pronase (5 mg/ml). This mixture was incubated at 37°C for an hour. RNA was extracted three times using freshly prepared cold phenol. It was then treated three times with cold ethyl ether to remove any trace of phenol. The RNA thus extracted was divided into two parts. One part was diluted four fold with 8M urea to avoid aggregation of the molecules. The other part was left untreated. Both samples were then mixed with an equal volume of 1M ammonium acetate, adjusted to pH 8.0 with NH3 containing chymotrypsin at a concentration of 0.01%.


Author(s):  
W. J. Hamilton

The study of RNA tumor viruses has been greatly facilitated by the use of immunochemical tagging methods. In the past these methods have been constrained to antibody conjugates with ferritin or peroxidase. In order to avoid the disadvantages of using conjugated antisera, investigators have applied the unlabeled antibody enzyme method of Sternberger to mammary tumor derived mouse cells prior to embedding for electron microscopy. The current study has successfully applied the Sternberger method to virusproducing cells and purified virus pellets after epoxy-embedding and ultrathin sectioning. The results demonstrate the distinct advantages of this “post-embedding” method for viral antigen localization.Purified Rauscher leukemia virus (RLV) and mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) were pelleted, fixed in buffered 2% paraformaldehyde and washed thoroughly. These were dehydrated in acetone, infiltrated and embedded in Spurr resin according to common procedures. A tumor derived cell line, Mm5mt, producing MMTV was embedded by parallel methods.


Author(s):  
D. C. Hixson

The abilities of plant lectins to preferentially agglutinate malignant cells and to bind to specific monosaccharide or oligosaccharide sequences of glycoproteins and glycolipids make them a new and important biochemical probe for investigating alterations in plasma membrane structure which may result from malignant transformation. Electron and light microscopic studies have demonstrated clustered binding sites on surfaces of SV40-infected or tryp- sinized 3T3 cells when labeled with concanavalin A (con A). No clustering of con A binding sites was observed in normal 3T3 cells. It has been proposed that topological rearrangement of lectin binding sites into clusters enables con A to agglutinate SV40-infected or trypsinized 3T3 cells (1). However, observations by other investigators have not been consistent with this proposal (2) perhaps due to differences in reagents used, cell culture conditions, or labeling techniques. The present work was undertaken to study the lectin binding properties of normal and RNA tumor virus-infected cells and their associated viruses using lectins and ferritin-conjugated lectins of five different specificities.


Author(s):  
Y. Ohtsuki ◽  
G. Seman ◽  
J. M. Bowen ◽  
M. Scanlon ◽  
L. Dmochowski

Recently, periodate-lysine-paraformaldehyde (PLP) fixation was reported for immunoelectron microscopy (1). In PLP fixation, carbohydrates are oxidized by periodate and cross-linked by lysine; paraformaldehyde stabilizes proteins and lipids. By using PLP fixation, intracytoplasmic type A viral antigens have been previously demonstrated by immunoperoxidase labeling (2). In the present study, PLP fixation has been applied for the detection of the same antigens in mouse mammary tumor culture cells by both immunoferritin and immunoperoxidase methods. Rabbit anti-intracytoplasmic type A virus serum (anti-A), kindly provided by Dr. M. Muller (3), rabbit anti-strain A mouse mammary tumor virus (anti-MMTV) and preimmune rabbit serum as control were used to detect viral antigens in cells of C3H/HeJ strain mouse mammary tumor culture. Attempts have been also made to demonstrate peroxidase labeling of type C virus particles in frozen sections of an SD-MSV-induced NZB rat bone tumor tissue by rabbit anti-MuLV serum.


Author(s):  
Ray Wu ◽  
G. Ruben ◽  
B. Siegel ◽  
P. Spielman ◽  
E. Jay

A method for determining long nucleotide sequences of double-stranded DNA is being developed. It involves (a) the synchronous digestion of the DNA from the 3' ends with EL coli exonuclease III (Exo III) followed by (b) resynthesis with labeled nucleotides and DNA polymerase. A crucial factor in the success of this method is the degree to which the enzyme digestion proceeds synchronously under proper conditions of incubation (step a). Dark field EM is used to obtain accurate measurements on the lengths and distribution of the DNA molecules before and after digestion with Exo III, while gel electrophoresis is used in parallel to obtain a mean length for these molecules. It is the measurements on a large enough sample of individual molecules by EM that provides the information on how synchronously the digestion proceeds. For length measurements, the DNA molecules were picked up on 20-30 Å thick carbon-aluminum films, using the aqueous Kleinschmidt technique and stained with 7.5 x 10-5M uranyl acetate in 90% ethanol for 3 minutes.


Author(s):  
Wm. J. Arnold ◽  
J. Russo ◽  
H. D. Soule ◽  
M. A. Rich

Our studies of mammary tumor virus have included the application of the unlabeled antibody enzyme method of Sternberger to mammary tumor derived mouse cells in culture and observation with an electron microscope. The method avoids the extravagance of covalent binding of indicator molecules (horseradish peroxidase) with precious antibody locator molecules by relying instead upon specific antibody-antigen linkages. Our reagents included: Primary Antibody, rabbit anti-murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV) which was antiserum 113 AV-2; Secondary Antibody, goat anti-rabbit IgG gamma chain (Cappel Laboratories); andthe Indicator, rabbit anti-horseradish peroxidase - horseradish peroxidase complex (PAP) (Cappel Labs.). Dilutions and washes were made in 0.05 M Tris 0.15 M saline buffered to pH 7.4. Cell monolayers, after light fixation in glutaraldehyde, were incubated in place by a protocol adapted from Sternberger and Graham and Karnovsky, then embedded by our usual method for monolayers. Reagents were confined to specific areas by neoprene 0-rings (Parker Seal Co.) reducing the amount of reagent needed to 50 microliters, 1/6th of that required to wet a 35 mm petri dish.


Author(s):  
George C. Ruben ◽  
Kenneth A. Marx

Certain double stranded DNA bacteriophage and viruses are thought to have their DNA organized into large torus shaped structures. Morphologically, these poorly understood biological DNA tertiary structures resemble spermidine-condensed DNA complexes formed in vitro in the total absence of other macromolecules normally synthesized by the pathogens for the purpose of their own DNA packaging. Therefore, we have studied the tertiary structure of these self-assembling torus shaped spermidine- DNA complexes in a series of reports. Using freeze-etch, low Pt-C metal (10-15Å) replicas, we have visualized the microscopic DNA organization of both calf Thymus( CT) and linear 0X-174 RFII DNA toruses. In these structures DNA is circumferentially wound, continuously, around the torus into a semi-crystalline, hexagonal packed array of parallel DNA helix sections.


Author(s):  
Ray A. Weigand ◽  
Gregory C. Varjabedian

We previously described the intracellular localization of murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV) p28 protein in thin sections (1). In that study, MuMTV containing cells fixed in 3% paraformaldehyde plus 0.05% glutaraldehyde were labelled after thin sectioning using ferritin-antiferritin in an unlabelled antibody technique. We now describe the labelling of murine leukemia virus (MuLV) particles using the unlabelled antibody technique coupled to ferritin-Fab antiferritin. Cultures of R-MuLV in NIH/3T3 cells were grown to 90% confluence (2), fixed with 2% paraformaldehyde plus 0.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M cacodylate at pH 7.2, postfixed with buffered 17 OsO4, dehydrated with a series of etha-nols, and embedded in Epon. Thin sections were collected on nickel grids, incubated in 107 H2O2, rinsed in HEPES buffered saline, and subjected to the immunoferritin labelling procedure. The procedure included preincubation in 27 egg albumin, a four hour incubation in goat antisera against purified gp69/71 of MuLV (3) (primary antibody), incubation in F(ab’)2 fragments of rabbit antisera to goat IgG (secondary antibody), incubation in apoferritin, incubation in ferritin-Fab ferritin, and a brief fixation with 2% glutaraldehyde. The sections were stained with uranyl acetate and examined in a Siemens IA electron microscope at an accelerating voltage of 60 KV.


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