Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1989 Nov;86(22):8964–8967. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.22.8964

Human immunodeficiency virus-like particles produced by a vaccinia virus expression vector.

V Karacostas 1, K Nagashima 1, M A Gonda 1, B Moss 1
PMCID: PMC298411  PMID: 2479031

Abstract

Infectious retrovirus particles consist of a core structure containing RNA and gag-pol polypeptides surrounded by a lipid membrane studded with env proteins. A recombinant vaccinia virus was designed to express the entire gag-pol precursor protein of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Synthesis and processing of gag proteins occurred in mammalian cells infected with this live recombinant virus, and reverse transcriptase was detected largely in the medium. Electron micrographs revealed immature retrovirus-like particles budding from the plasma membrane and extracellular particles with morphological characteristics of immature and mature human immunodeficiency virus. The latter contained functional reverse transcriptase as well as processed p24 and p17 gag polypeptides. Thus, assembly and maturation of human immunodeficiency virus-like particles can occur in the absence of either infectious RNA molecules or env proteins. The production of noninfectious virus-like particles by expression vectors should be useful for biochemical studies and could provide a safe source of material for the development of vaccines.

Full text

PDF
8964

Images in this article

8965Image
on p.8965
8966Image
on p.8966
8966Image
on p.8966
8966Image
on p.8966
8966Image
on p.8966

Selected References

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

  1. Chakrabarti S., Brechling K., Moss B. Vaccinia virus expression vector: coexpression of beta-galactosidase provides visual screening of recombinant virus plaques. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Dec;5(12):3403–3409. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.12.3403. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Debouck C., Gorniak J. G., Strickler J. E., Meek T. D., Metcalf B. W., Rosenberg M. Human immunodeficiency virus protease expressed in Escherichia coli exhibits autoprocessing and specific maturation of the gag precursor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Dec;84(24):8903–8906. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.24.8903. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Farmerie W. G., Loeb D. D., Casavant N. C., Hutchison C. A., 3rd, Edgell M. H., Swanstrom R. Expression and processing of the AIDS virus reverse transcriptase in Escherichia coli. Science. 1987 Apr 17;236(4799):305–308. doi: 10.1126/science.2436298. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Flexner C., Broyles S. S., Earl P., Chakrabarti S., Moss B. Characterization of human immunodeficiency virus gag/pol gene products expressed by recombinant vaccinia viruses. Virology. 1988 Oct;166(2):339–349. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(88)90504-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gelderblom H. R., Hausmann E. H., Ozel M., Pauli G., Koch M. A. Fine structure of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and immunolocalization of structural proteins. Virology. 1987 Jan;156(1):171–176. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(87)90449-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Goff S. P. The genetics of murine leukemia viruses. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 1984;112:45–71. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-69677-0_3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gonda M. A., Wong-Staal F., Gallo R. C., Clements J. E., Narayan O., Gilden R. V. Sequence homology and morphologic similarity of HTLV-III and visna virus, a pathogenic lentivirus. Science. 1985 Jan 11;227(4683):173–177. doi: 10.1126/science.2981428. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gowda S. D., Stein B. S., Steimer K. S., Engleman E. G. Expression and processing of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gag and pol genes by cells infected with a recombinant vaccinia virus. J Virol. 1989 Mar;63(3):1451–1454. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.3.1451-1454.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Jacks T., Power M. D., Masiarz F. R., Luciw P. A., Barr P. J., Varmus H. E. Characterization of ribosomal frameshifting in HIV-1 gag-pol expression. Nature. 1988 Jan 21;331(6153):280–283. doi: 10.1038/331280a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kawai S., Hanafusa H. Isolation of defective mutant of avian sarcoma virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1973 Dec;70(12):3493–3497. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.12.3493. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kozak M. Point mutations define a sequence flanking the AUG initiator codon that modulates translation by eukaryotic ribosomes. Cell. 1986 Jan 31;44(2):283–292. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90762-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kramer R. A., Schaber M. D., Skalka A. M., Ganguly K., Wong-Staal F., Reddy E. P. HTLV-III gag protein is processed in yeast cells by the virus pol-protease. Science. 1986 Mar 28;231(4745):1580–1584. doi: 10.1126/science.2420008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Levin J. G., Grimley P. M., Ramseur J. M., Berezesky I. K. Deficiency of 60 to 70S RNA in murine leukemia virus particles assembled in cells treated with actinomycin D. J Virol. 1974 Jul;14(1):152–161. doi: 10.1128/jvi.14.1.152-161.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lightfoote M. M., Coligan J. E., Folks T. M., Fauci A. S., Martin M. A., Venkatesan S. Structural characterization of reverse transcriptase and endonuclease polypeptides of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome retrovirus. J Virol. 1986 Nov;60(2):771–775. doi: 10.1128/jvi.60.2.771-775.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lillehoj E. P., Salazar F. H., Mervis R. J., Raum M. G., Chan H. W., Ahmad N., Venkatesan S. Purification and structural characterization of the putative gag-pol protease of human immunodeficiency virus. J Virol. 1988 Aug;62(8):3053–3058. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.8.3053-3058.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Marx J. L. New hope on the AIDS vaccine front. Science. 1989 Jun 16;244(4910):1254–1256. doi: 10.1126/science.2734608. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Mervis R. J., Ahmad N., Lillehoj E. P., Raum M. G., Salazar F. H., Chan H. W., Venkatesan S. The gag gene products of human immunodeficiency virus type 1: alignment within the gag open reading frame, identification of posttranslational modifications, and evidence for alternative gag precursors. J Virol. 1988 Nov;62(11):3993–4002. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.11.3993-4002.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Moss B., Rosenblum E. N., Katz E., Grimley P. M. Rifampicin: a specific inhibitor of vaccinia virus assembly. Nature. 1969 Dec 27;224(5226):1280–1284. doi: 10.1038/2241280a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Muesing M. A., Smith D. H., Cabradilla C. D., Benton C. V., Lasky L. A., Capon D. J. Nucleic acid structure and expression of the human AIDS/lymphadenopathy retrovirus. Nature. 1985 Feb 7;313(6002):450–458. doi: 10.1038/313450a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Overton H. A., Fujii Y., Price I. R., Jones I. M. The protease and gag gene products of the human immunodeficiency virus: authentic cleavage and post-translational modification in an insect cell expression system. Virology. 1989 May;170(1):107–116. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(89)90357-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Ratner L., Fisher A., Jagodzinski L. L., Mitsuya H., Liou R. S., Gallo R. C., Wong-Staal F. Complete nucleotide sequences of functional clones of the AIDS virus. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1987 Spring;3(1):57–69. doi: 10.1089/aid.1987.3.57. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Ratner L., Haseltine W., Patarca R., Livak K. J., Starcich B., Josephs S. F., Doran E. R., Rafalski J. A., Whitehorn E. A., Baumeister K. Complete nucleotide sequence of the AIDS virus, HTLV-III. Nature. 1985 Jan 24;313(6000):277–284. doi: 10.1038/313277a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Rein A., McClure M. R., Rice N. R., Luftig R. B., Schultz A. M. Myristylation site in Pr65gag is essential for virus particle formation by Moloney murine leukemia virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Oct;83(19):7246–7250. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.19.7246. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sanchez-Pescador R., Power M. D., Barr P. J., Steimer K. S., Stempien M. M., Brown-Shimer S. L., Gee W. W., Renard A., Randolph A., Levy J. A. Nucleotide sequence and expression of an AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV-2). Science. 1985 Feb 1;227(4686):484–492. doi: 10.1126/science.2578227. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Shields A., Witte W. N., Rothenberg E., Baltimore D. High frequency of aberrant expression of Moloney murine leukemia virus in clonal infections. Cell. 1978 Jul;14(3):601–609. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90245-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Steimer K. S., Higgins K. W., Powers M. A., Stephans J. C., Gyenes A., George-Nascimento C., Luciw P. A., Barr P. J., Hallewell R. A., Sanchez-Pescador R. Recombinant polypeptide from the endonuclease region of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome retrovirus polymerase (pol) gene detects serum antibodies in most infected individuals. J Virol. 1986 Apr;58(1):9–16. doi: 10.1128/jvi.58.1.9-16.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Tsuchie H., Katsumoto T., Hattori N., Kawatani T., Kurimura T., Hinuma Y. Budding process and fine structure of lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). Microbiol Immunol. 1986;30(6):545–552. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1986.tb02980.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Veronese F. D., Copeland T. D., Oroszlan S., Gallo R. C., Sarngadharan M. G. Biochemical and immunological analysis of human immunodeficiency virus gag gene products p17 and p24. J Virol. 1988 Mar;62(3):795–801. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.3.795-801.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Wain-Hobson S., Sonigo P., Danos O., Cole S., Alizon M. Nucleotide sequence of the AIDS virus, LAV. Cell. 1985 Jan;40(1):9–17. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90303-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Willey R. L., Smith D. H., Lasky L. A., Theodore T. S., Earl P. L., Moss B., Capon D. J., Martin M. A. In vitro mutagenesis identifies a region within the envelope gene of the human immunodeficiency virus that is critical for infectivity. J Virol. 1988 Jan;62(1):139–147. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.1.139-147.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. di Marzo Veronese F., Copeland T. D., DeVico A. L., Rahman R., Oroszlan S., Gallo R. C., Sarngadharan M. G. Characterization of highly immunogenic p66/p51 as the reverse transcriptase of HTLV-III/LAV. Science. 1986 Mar 14;231(4743):1289–1291. doi: 10.1126/science.2418504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES