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. 1992 May;11(5):1973–1980. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05251.x

Steroid hormone synthesis by a vaccinia enzyme: a new type of virus virulence factor.

J B Moore 1, G L Smith 1
PMCID: PMC556657  PMID: 1582424

Abstract

Vaccinia virus open reading frame (ORF) SalF7L has 31% amino acid identity to human 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/delta 5-delta 4 isomerase (3 beta-HSD). Here we show that SalF7L encodes an active 3 beta-HSD, by the conversion of pregnenolone to the steroid hormone progesterone. The gene is transcribed early during infection into a 1.4 kb mRNA from an initiation site 12 bp upstream of the ORF. An antiserum raised against bacterially expressed SalF7L immunoprecipitated a 38 kDa polypeptide from infected cells, but not from mock infected cells or from cells infected with a mutant virus from which the SalF7L ORF had been removed. Deletion of the gene had no effect on virus replication in CV-1 cells in culture, yet the deletion mutant was attenuated when intranasally inoculated into mice. This steroid hormone synthesizing enzyme is a novel type of virus virulence factor.

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Selected References

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