Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1985 Mar;53(3):908–919. doi: 10.1128/jvi.53.3.908-919.1985

Measles virus P gene codes for two proteins.

W J Bellini, G Englund, S Rozenblatt, H Arnheiter, C D Richardson
PMCID: PMC254726  PMID: 3882996

Abstract

The entirety of the phosphoprotein gene of measles virus has been sequenced. The gene is composed of 1,657 nucleotides and specifies a 507-amino-acid protein (P). A second overlapping reading frame was predicted from the sequence and specifies a 186-amino-acid protein (C). Through the use of antisynthetic peptide antibodies, we show that both proteins are expressed in virally infected cells. Both proteins are expressed from a functionally bicistronic mRNA through independent initiation of ribosomes at the respective AUG codons. Using immunofluorescent microscopy, we localized the C protein in the nucleus and in cytoplasmic inclusions within the infected cells.

Full text

PDF
912

Images in this article

912Image
on p.912
913Image
on p.913
914Image
on p.914
915Image
on p.915
916Image
on p.916

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Akashi H., Bishop D. H. Comparison of the sequences and coding of La Crosse and snowshoe hare bunyavirus S RNA species. J Virol. 1983 Mar;45(3):1155–1158. doi: 10.1128/jvi.45.3.1155-1158.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baltimore D. Expression of animal virus genomes. Bacteriol Rev. 1971 Sep;35(3):235–241. doi: 10.1128/br.35.3.235-241.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bellini W. J., Englund G., Richardson C. D., Rozenblatt S. Positive identification of a measles virus cDNA clone encoding a region of the phosphoprotein. J Virol. 1984 Jun;50(3):939–942. doi: 10.1128/jvi.50.3.939-942.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bos J. L., Polder L. J., Bernards R., Schrier P. I., van den Elsen P. J., van der Eb A. J., van Ormondt H. The 2.2 kb E1b mRNA of human Ad12 and Ad5 codes for two tumor antigens starting at different AUG triplets. Cell. 1981 Nov;27(1 Pt 2):121–131. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90366-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Butler E. T., Chamberlin M. J. Bacteriophage SP6-specific RNA polymerase. I. Isolation and characterization of the enzyme. J Biol Chem. 1982 May 25;257(10):5772–5778. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cabradilla C. D., Jr, Holloway B. P., Obijeski J. F. Molecular cloning and sequencing of the La Crosse virus S RNA. Virology. 1983 Jul 30;128(2):463–468. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(83)90271-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chinchar V. G., Portner A. Functions of Sendai virus nucleocapsid polypeptides: enzymatic activities in nucleocapsids following cleavage of polypeptide P by Staphylococcus aureus protease V8. Virology. 1981 Feb;109(1):59–71. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(81)90471-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Collins P. L., Wertz G. W., Ball L. A., Hightower L. E. Coding assignments of the five smaller mRNAs of Newcastle disease virus. J Virol. 1982 Sep;43(3):1024–1031. doi: 10.1128/jvi.43.3.1024-1031.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Derman E., Krauter K., Walling L., Weinberger C., Ray M., Darnell J. E., Jr Transcriptional control in the production of liver-specific mRNAs. Cell. 1981 Mar;23(3):731–739. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90436-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Dowling P. C., Giorgi C., Roux L., Dethlefsen L. A., Galantowicz M. E., Blumberg B. M., Kolakofsky D. Molecular cloning of the 3'-proximal third of Sendai virus genome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Sep;80(17):5213–5216. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.17.5213. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dubois-Dalcq M., Reese T. S., Murphy M., Fuccillo D. Defective bud formation in human cells chronically infected with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus. J Virol. 1976 Aug;19(2):579–593. doi: 10.1128/jvi.19.2.579-593.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Etkind P. R., Cross R. K., Lamb R. A., Merz D. C., Choppin P. W. In vitro synthesis of structural and nonstructural proteins of Sendai and SV5 viruses. Virology. 1980 Jan 15;100(1):22–33. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(80)90548-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Gallione C. J., Greene J. R., Iverson L. E., Rose J. K. Nucleotide sequences of the mRNA's encoding the vesicular stomatitis virus N and NS proteins. J Virol. 1981 Aug;39(2):529–535. doi: 10.1128/jvi.39.2.529-535.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Giorgi C., Blumberg B. M., Kolakofsky D. Sendai virus contains overlapping genes expressed from a single mRNA. Cell. 1983 Dec;35(3 Pt 2):829–836. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90115-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Gorecki M., Rozenblatt S. Cloning of DNA complementary to the measles virus mRNA encoding nucleocapsid protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jun;77(6):3686–3690. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.6.3686. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hall W. W., Lamb R. A., Choppin P. W. The polypeptides of canine distemper virus: synthesis in infected cells and relatedness to the polypeptides of other morbilliviruses. Virology. 1980 Jan 30;100(2):433–449. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(80)90534-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Herman R. C., Schubert M., Keene J. D., Lazzarini R. A. Polycistronic vesicular stomatitis virus RNA transcripts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Aug;77(8):4662–4665. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.8.4662. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Herrler G., Compans R. W. Synthesis of mumps virus polypeptides in infected Vero cells. Virology. 1982 Jun;119(2):430–438. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(82)90102-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Inglis S. C., Brown C. M. Spliced and unspliced RNAs encoded by virion RNA segment 7 of influenza virus. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Jun 25;9(12):2727–2740. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.12.2727. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Kassavetis G. A., Butler E. T., Roulland D., Chamberlin M. J. Bacteriophage SP6-specific RNA polymerase. II. Mapping of SP6 DNA and selective in vitro transcription. J Biol Chem. 1982 May 25;257(10):5779–5788. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Kozak M. Comparison of initiation of protein synthesis in procaryotes, eucaryotes, and organelles. Microbiol Rev. 1983 Mar;47(1):1–45. doi: 10.1128/mr.47.1.1-45.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Lamb R. A., Lai C. J., Choppin P. W. Sequences of mRNAs derived from genome RNA segment 7 of influenza virus: colinear and interrupted mRNAs code for overlapping proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jul;78(7):4170–4174. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.7.4170. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Lamb R. A., Lai C. J. Sequence of interrupted and uninterrupted mRNAs and cloned DNA coding for the two overlapping nonstructural proteins of influenza virus. Cell. 1980 Sep;21(2):475–485. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90484-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Lazzarini R. A., Keene J. D., Schubert M. The origins of defective interfering particles of the negative-strand RNA viruses. Cell. 1981 Oct;26(2 Pt 2):145–154. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90298-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Melton D. A., Krieg P. A., Rebagliati M. R., Maniatis T., Zinn K., Green M. R. Efficient in vitro synthesis of biologically active RNA and RNA hybridization probes from plasmids containing a bacteriophage SP6 promoter. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Sep 25;12(18):7035–7056. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.18.7035. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Miller C. A. Intranuclear polypeptides of measles and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus-infected cultures. Virology. 1980 Feb;101(1):272–276. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(80)90502-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Mountcastle W. E., Choppin P. W. A comparison of the polypeptides of four measles virus strains. Virology. 1977 May 15;78(2):463–474. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(77)90123-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Nakai T., Shand F. L., Howatson A. F. Development of measles virus in vitro. Virology. 1969 May;38(1):50–67. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(69)90127-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Orvell C., Norrby E. Immunological relationships between homologous structural polypeptides of measles and canine distemper virus. J Gen Virol. 1980 Oct;50(2):231–245. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-50-2-231. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Peluso R. W., Lamb R. A., Choppin P. W. Polypeptide synthesis in simian virus 5-infected cells. J Virol. 1977 Jul;23(1):177–187. doi: 10.1128/jvi.23.1.177-187.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Rice C. M., Strauss J. H. Synthesis, cleavage and sequence analysis of DNA complementary to the 26 S messenger RNA of Sindbis virus. J Mol Biol. 1981 Aug 15;150(3):315–340. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90550-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Rima B. K., Martin S. J. Effect of undiluted passage on the polypeptides of measles virus. J Gen Virol. 1979 Jul;44(1):135–144. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-44-1-135. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Rima B. K., Roberts M. W., McAdam W. D., Martin S. J. Polypeptide synthesis i mumps virus-infected cells. J Gen Virol. 1980 Feb;46(2):501–505. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-46-2-501. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Rima B. K. The proteins of morbilliviruses. J Gen Virol. 1983 Jun;64(Pt 6):1205–1219. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-64-6-1205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Rozenblatt S., Gesang C., Lavie V., Neumann F. S. Cloning and characterization of DNA complementary to the measles virus mRNA encoding hemagglutinin and matrix protein. J Virol. 1982 Jun;42(3):790–797. doi: 10.1128/jvi.42.3.790-797.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Samson A. C., Chambers P., Lee C. M., Simon E. Temperature-sensitive mutant of Newcastle disease virus which has an altered nucleocapsid-associated protein. J Gen Virol. 1981 May;54(Pt 1):197–201. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-54-1-197. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Shaw M. W., Choppin P. W., Lamb R. A. A previously unrecognized influenza B virus glycoprotein from a bicistronic mRNA that also encodes the viral neuraminidase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Aug;80(16):4879–4883. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.16.4879. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Stephenson J. R., Siddell S. G., Meulen V. T. Persistent and lytic infections with SSPE virus: a comparison of the synthesis of virus-specific polypeptides. J Gen Virol. 1981 Nov;57(Pt 1):191–197. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-57-1-191. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Vainionpä R., Joronen I., Hyypiä T. The measles virus-specific protein synthesis of persistently and lytically infected cells studied in vivo and in vitro. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand B. 1981 Dec;89(6):371–378. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1981.tb00203_89b.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Vainionpä R. Measles virus-specified polypeptides in infected cells. Arch Virol. 1979;60(3-4):239–248. doi: 10.1007/BF01317495. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Venkatesan S., Elango N., Chanock R. M. Construction and characterization of cDNA clones for four respiratory syncytial viral genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Mar;80(5):1280–1284. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.5.1280. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Wechsler S. L., Fields B. N. Intracellular synthesis of measles virus-specified polypeptides. J Virol. 1978 Jan;25(1):285–297. doi: 10.1128/jvi.25.1.285-297.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Wilde A., Morrison T. Structural and functional characterization of Newcastle disease virus polycistronic RNA species. J Virol. 1984 Jul;51(1):71–76. doi: 10.1128/jvi.51.1.71-76.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES