Identification of the Porcine Cytomegalovirus Major Capsid Protein Gene
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FULL PAPER Virology Identification of the Porcine Cytomegalovirus Major Capsid Protein Gene Vasantha RUPASINGHE1), Kiyoko IWATSUKI-HORIMOTO2), Shunji SUGII1) and Taisuke HORIMOTO2)* 1)Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Graduate School of Osaka Prefecture University, 1–1 Gakuen, Sakai, Osaka 599–8531 and 2)Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4–6–1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108–8639, Japan (Received 13 November 2000/Accepted 14 February 2001) ABSTRACT. A major capsid protein (MCP) gene homologue of porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV) was identified. Sequence analysis indi- cated that the PCMV MCP gene is 4,026 nucleotides in length encoding a protein of 1,341 amino acid residues. The predicted molecular weight of the PCMV MCP is 151,456 Da, equivalent to those of other herpesvirus MCP counterparts. Phylogenetic analysis using her- pesviral MCP gene sequences confirmed that PCMV is a betaherpesvirus with higher homology with human herpesvirus-6 and -7 than human and mouse cytomegaloviruses. The serum of pig experimentally infected with PCMV did not react with bacterially expressed MCP, suggesting that the PCMV MCP may not be related to the humoral immune response in the course of PCMV infection. Also, we established polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocols using primers corresponding to MCP gene sequences for detection of PCMV infection. The PCR protocol would be effective for the diagnosis of slow-growing PCMV infection, for which traditional methods involving virus-isolation are not useful. KEY WORDS: betaherpesvirus, major capsid protein, polymerase chain reaction, porcine cytomegalovirus. J. Vet. Med. Sci. 63(6): 609–618, 2001 Porcine cyomegalovirus (PCMV), first described in 1955 established a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol for [6], usually induces a silent infection in adult pigs but often specific detection of PCMV infection. a fatal, generalized infection in piglets. In utero infection in sows can cross the placenta and infect the fetuses leading to MATERIALS AND METHODS fetal death or birth of weak piglets [3, 17]. As PCMV exhib- its a relatively protracted replication cycle, a slowly devel- Cells and virus: Pig fallopian tube fibroblast cells (PFT- oping cytopathology characterized by cytomegaly, and a F) [11] were grown in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium restricted host range, it is grouped into the subfamily Beta- (DMEM) supplimented with 5% fetal calf serum at 37°C. herpesvirinae [18]. Recently, we and other research groups The OF-1 strain of PCMV [11] was propagated in the PFT- confirmed that PCMV is a betaherpesvirus based on F cell line and used in this study. The virus was harvested sequence analyses of DNA polymerase gene fragments [19, exclusively from the culture supernatant at 7–10 days after 29]. infection as guided by the appearance of cytopathic effects The major capsid protein (MCP) gene appears to be con- (CPE). Other Japanese PCMV strains, J1, Chiba-2, Chiba- served among the herpesviruses [5, 15], suggesting that 3, Chiba-C, Hiroshima and Kagawa, and a British isolate, MCP should play essential roles in vital processes in the B6, were also used. All Japanese strains except J1 [21] were viral replication cycle such as assembly and maturation. isolated in our laboratory [24]. In addition, pseudorabies Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) has been shown to encode virus (strain Indiana) was propagated in the RK-13 cell line seven capsid proteins. Of these, MCP is the structural sub- and used. RK-13 cells were grown in DMEM with 10% unit of the hexons and pentons, and is the principal struc- fetal calf serum. tural element making up the matrix of the icosahedral capsid Preparation of PCMV DNA: Extrachromosomal DNA [16]. In addition, in some herpesviruses such as HSV-1 and containing viral DNA was extracted from virus-infected varicella-zoster virus (VZV), MCPs serve as an antigen for cells by a modification of Hirt’s method [9]. Briefly, cell the humoral immune response during the course of infec- pellets were suspended gently in 20 mM Tris-HCl buffer, tion, being highly reactive with human antisera as well as pH 7.5, containing 0.6% SDS and 0.01 M EDTA, and incu- being responsible for cell-mediated immunity [7, 20, 27]. bated at room temperature for 20 min. Then, 1/3 volume of The MCPs of many herpesviruses have been shown to 5N NaCl was added and mixed by inverting the tube. The have similar molecular masses, e.g., between 135 kDa and sample was incubated at 4°C for at least 8 hr, and the lysate 160 kDa for human herpesviruses [2, 4, 10, 14, 15]. In this recovered after centrifugation (15,000 rpm, 30 min) was fur- study, we identified the MCP gene of PCMV and expressed ther mixed with the same volume of 2 × lysis buffer (20 mM the protein in a bacterial expression system. In addition, we Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 2 mM EDTA, 0.1% SDS, and 40 µg/ml also analyzed the evolutionary position of PCMV in the her- proteinase K) and incubated at 37°C for 1 hr. Following pesvirus group using MCP sequence information. We also phenol-chloroform extraction, DNA was ethanol-precipi- tated and suspended in deionized water. *CORRESPONDENCE TO: HORIMOTO, T., Division of Virology, Insti- Cloning of PCMV DNA fragments: The Hirt’s DNA from tute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, 4–6–1 Shirokane- dai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108–8639, Japan. virus-infected cells was digested with BamHI endonuclease 610 V. RUPASINGHE ET AL. and the digested fragments were directly ligated with reading frame (ORF) by PCR using a pair of primers, MCP/ BamHI-digested vector (pBluescript SK-; Stratagene, La I/E and MCP/T/X (Table 1). These primers included a Jolla, USA). These constructs were then used for transfor- unique restriction site for EcoRI and XhoI, respectively, to mation of Escherichia coli strain (DH5α). The transfor- facilitate cloning. PCR was performed using the B18 tem- mants were selected on 2YT agar plates with ampicillin. plate DNA with LA Taq DNA polymerase (Takara, Tokyo, DNA sequencing and genetic analyses: Plasmids were Japan); for 35 cycles of denaturation at 94°C for 1 min, isolated from each transformant by mini-preparation and annealing at 50°C for 1 min, and strand-extension at 72°C partially sequenced by the dye-terminator protocol using for 5 min. The amplified product was ligated into the M13 primers. Briefly, the plasmid DNA (0.5 µg) was mixed pCR2.1 vector (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, U.S.A.) and then the with 3.2 nmol of primer, -21M13 or M13 Rev, in a sequenc- construct was used for transformation of E. coli. The plas- ing mixture (BigDye-terminator reagent; Applied Biosys- mid extracted from the transformant was digested with tems Japan, Tokyo, Japan) and reacted in a thermal cycler EcoRI and XhoI, and the fragment containing MCP-ORF (MJ Research Inc., Waltham, U.S.A.) according to the man- was subcloned into EcoRI and XhoI sites of the expression ufacturer’s instructions. The reaction products were etha- vector pGEX 6P-3 (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Little nol-precipitated and suspended in template suppression Chalfont, England) in-frame with the glutathione s-trans- reagent (Applied Biosystems) for sequencing in an autose- ferase (GST) gene, generating pGEX/MCP. A series of quencer (ABI PRISM 310). deletion mutants of the carboxyl (C)-terminal portion of the Sequencing of the MCP gene, which was included in MCP-ORF were prepared by endonuclease digestion using clone B18 (with an insert consisting of a 9 kbp BamHI frag- combinations of XhoI with XbaI, BglII, NdeI or HindIII, ment), was performed by the “primer walking” method with unique recognition sites for which are present in the ORF. primers designed from the known sequence towards the The portion between two enzyme recognition sites was unknown region. The primers are listed in Table 1. The deleted and the resulting plasmid was self-ligated in a blunt- homology search was carried out using the BLAST program ended manner and used for transformation. These plasmids (DNA Data Bank of Japan [DDBJ]). Multiple alignment were used for expression of deletion forms of the fusion pro- with other herpesviral MCPs was performed using the tein, generating GST/MCP∆Xb/Xh, -∆Bg/Xh, -∆Nd/Xh and CLUSTAL W program [25] with bootstrap analysis -∆Hd/Xh. (DDBJ). A phylogenic tree was generated using Tree View Expression of GST/MCP fusion protein or GST/MCP software (ver. 1.5). deletion proteins was examined using anti-GST antibody by Expression of MCP in E. coli.: To generate a vector plas- immunoblotting assay. Briefly, the lysate of the isopropyl- mid for MCP expression, we amplified the MCP gene open β-D-thiogalactosidase (IPTG)-induced cells transformed Table 1. Oligonucleotide primers used in this study Primer Sequence (5’ → 3’)a) Positionb) (Polarity) Purpose B18F(10) TCCAATGCAGTCCGTAGACG PCP:downstream (-) Seq.c) B18F(11) AACTCGCCTTCTCTTCTATG PCP:829–810 (-) Seq. B18F(12) GAGGCAGTACCAGCTCCCAG PCP:388–369 (-) Seq. MCP/T/X AACTCGAGTTAGGCGCTCAGTATGCTGG MCP:4026–4007 (-) PCR cloning B18F(13) AACCTGGTCTCTAATAGAGC MCP:3935–3916 (-) Seq. B18F(14) TCACCGGGGTTATGATCGCC MCP:3463–3444 (-) Seq., PCR B18F(15) AGTGCATGGCCGACAGAGTG MCP:2962–2943 (-) Seq., PCR B18F(16) GTTCTCCGTCATGAAACAG MCP:2588–2569 (-) Seq., Probe B18F(17) GGCATCGTGTGCATGAACGG MCP:2175–2146 (-) Seq. B18R(5) TCGCAGTAGCAAGGCACCG MCP:upstream (+) Seq. MCP/I/E ATGAATTCATGGAAGACTGGAGGGCCACMCP:1–20 (+) PCR cloning B18R(6) AATGACACTCGGGAAAATGC MCP:255–274 (+) Seq. B18R(7) ACCTATAAATCTAGCGATGAG MCP:778–798 (+) Seq. B18R(8) CTTTGCCACCCGGCGGTCAAC MCP:1345–1365 (+) Seq. B18R(9) ATCCTGCTGTTCTGCAATAG MCP:1927–1946 (+) Seq. B18R(C1) GCGTCATACCCGCACTGACG MCP:2351–2370 (+) Seq., PCR B18R(10) TCTCACTCTCATACAGGATG MCP:2493–2512 (+) Seq., PCR B18R(11) ACAGACAATATCCTCTATAC MCP:3055–3074 (+) Seq., PCR MCP(P1) AGCGCGTAAAGACAGACATG MCP:3224–3243 (+) Probe B18R(C2) GATCATAACCCCGGTGACCG MCP:3447–3466 (+) Seq.