Jesse Summers

Replication of the genome of a hepatitis B-like virus by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate

Duck hepatitis B virus, a DNA virus closely related to human hepatitis B virus, was studied in infected duck liver. Subviral particles resembling the viral nucleocapsid cores were isolated from persistently infected liver and shown to have a DNA polymerase activity that utilizes an endogenous template and synthesizes both plus- and minus-strand viral DNA. Synthesis of the viral minus-strand DNA utilized an RNA template that was degraded as it was copied. Viral plus-strand synthesis occurred on the completed minus-strand DNA. A pathway for the replication of the DNA genome of hepatitis B-like viruses by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate is proposed.

Formation of the pool of covalently closed circular viral DNA in hepadnavirus-infected cells

Covalently closed circular (CCC) double-stranded DNA believed to be the transcriptional template for duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) is amplified in aging primary cultures of hepatocytes from congenitally infected ducklings. Analysis of 5-bromodeoxyuridine-labeled heavy/light CCC DNA shows that the relaxed circular DNA synthesized in the cytoplasm by reverse transcription is the predominant precursor to the amplified pool of nuclear viral CCC DNA. In vitro infection of uninfected hepatocyte cultures with DHBV demonstrates that a similar 50-fold amplification of CCC DNA occurs during an early stage in the infection before virus production. This amplification allows the establishment of a pool of transcriptional templates in the cell without the need for semiconservative replication or multiple rounds of infection. This process may account for the ability of hepadnavirus-infected cells persistently to produce virus particles in the absence of stable integration of viral DNA.

Efficient transcription of RNA into DNA by avian sarcoma virus polymerase

The DNAase digestion end-product of calf thymus DNA contains oligonucleotides that will function as primers for the efficient transcription into DNA of many naturally-occurring RNAs by purified avian sarcoma virus RNA-directed DNA polymerase. The labeled DNA transcripts so obtained are valuable as probes for molecular hybridization studies. Typical applications of the method include the efficient transcription into DNA of 18 and 28 S rRNA as well as the RNAs of avian sarcoma virus, polio virus, influenza virus, satellite tobacco necrosis virus and tobacco mosaic virus. In addition, when these primers are added to avian sarcoma virus particles that have been partially-disrupted with non-ionic detergent there is 6-fold stimulation of the endogenous RNA-directed DNA synthesis.

Hepatocyte turnover during resolution of a transient hepadnaviral infection

We estimated the amount of hepatocyte turnover in the livers of three woodchucks undergoing clearance of a transient woodchuck hepatitis infection by determining the fate of integrated viral DNA as a genetic marker of the infected cell population. Integrated viral DNA was found to persist in liver tissue from recovered animals at essentially undiminished levels of 1 viral genome per 1,000–3,000 liver cells, suggesting that the hepatocytes in the recovered liver were derived primarily from the infected cell population. We determined the single and multicopy distribution of distinct viral cell junctions isolated from small pieces of liver after clearance of the infection to determine the cumulative amount of hepatocyte proliferation that had occurred during recovery. We estimated that proliferation was equivalent to a minimum of 0.7–1 complete random turnovers of the hepatocyte population of the liver. Our results indicated that during resolution of the transient infections a large fraction of the infected hepatocyte population was killed and replaced by hepatocyte cell division.

Experimental transmission of duck hepatitis B virus

Susceptibility to experimental infection with duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) was explored, with the objective of defining procedures that were both rapid and reproducible. For the purpose of these experiments, a small flock of DHBV-free breeders was established as a source of susceptible eggs and ducklings, since ca. 10% of the ducks (all ages) from commercial flocks were DHBV infected. Intravenous inoculation of DHBV into 15-day duck embryos from the DHBV-free flock produced a persistent infection, with a high-titer viremia, in at least 80% of the injected animals. The tissue tropism of DHBV in these experimentally infected animals was similar to that associated with natural, congenital infections from viremic ducks to their progeny. Virus antigen was found not only in hepatocytes and bile duct epithelium of liver, but also in cells associated with exocrine and endocrine pancreas, and in proximal convoluted tubular epithelium of kidney. Infection of embryonic liver was rapid, as evidenced by active synthesis of DHBV-DNA by reverse-transcription of RNA by 24 hr postinjection. During this latter analysis, formation of supercoiled viral DNA appeared to precede the reverse-transcription phase of viral DNA synthesis, suggesting that this species may be important in initiation of infection.

Cloning and structural analysis of integrated woodchuck hepatitis virus sequences from hepatocellular carcinomas of woodchucks

Woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV), like the related hepatitis B virus, induces in its natural host hepatocellular carcinomas that contain integrated viral sequences. As a first step in determining whether and how the integrated sequences contribute to formation of the tumors in which they are found, we have cloned two such integrations of WHV and have determined their structure by restriction mapping and heteroduplex electron microscopy. The identity of the cloned sequences was confirmed by comparison of restriction sites in the clones with those located by Southern blot analysis of tumor DNA. Viral sequences in both integrations are extensively rearranged, and in neither were all parts of the viral genome represented. In this respect, the behavior of WHV in vivo is similar to that of other DNA tumor viruses that have been studied in vitro. We discuss the implications of these results in relation to possible mechanisms for tumor induction by WHV.

Infection and uptake of duck hepatitis B virus by duck hepatocytes maintained in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide

Primary duck hepatocytes maintained in serum-free culture medium containing dimethyl sulfoxide support efficient replication of duck hepatitis B virus following infection in vitro. Cells remain susceptible to infection for at least 2 weeks after plating, allowing spread of virus via repeat cycles of infection. Up to 100% of cultured hepatocytes can be infected by prolonged exposure to high titer virus inoculum at 37 degrees. We have identified a fraction of infecting virus which binds tightly to cells at 4 degrees, presumably due to association with high affinity receptors on the hepatocyte membrane. The rate at which tightly bound virus is internalized at 37 degrees appears slow, with uptake occurring over a period of at least 16 hr.

Low Dynamic State of Viral Competition in a Chronic Avian Hepadnavirus Infection

ABSTRACT The dynamic state of infection of 11 ducks with the duck hepatitis B virus was investigated. Chronic infections were established in newly hatched ducklings by inoculation with a mixture of wild-type virus and a mutant virus with a partial replication defect. As expected, the wild-type virus was rapidly enriched in the virus population during the spread of infection. Enrichment thereafter was correlated with normal growth of the liver, with the average mutant-to-wild-type ratio stabilizing for at least 2 months beyond the time at which the liver mass stabilized. Using experimentally determined growth rates for the mutant and wild-type viruses, we estimated that after the spread of infection, competition between the two virus strains was limited by the amount of replication required to infect new hepatocytes in the growing livers. The results suggest that, in a chronically infected liver, the selection of variants with a replication rate advantage is inefficient and that the emergence of such variants would depend on induced liver cell turnover, such as that occurring during chronic hepatitis.

Examining the theory of error catastrophe.

This discussion attempts to present a simple explanation of the current theory of error catastrophe and why it does not herald a paradigm shift in antiviral strategy. In the main text of the paper, the workings of a simple model of error catastrophe are examined to demonstrate what actually causes error catastrophe. The Appendix contains a more detailed discussion of the original error threshold model of Eigen and Schuster and how it applies to a viral quasispecies. RNA viruses are said to replicate at the edge of “error catastrophe” (18). Error catastrophe is a term coined to describe the supposed inability of a genetic element to be maintained in a population as the fidelity of its replication machinery decreases beyond a certain threshold value. Error catastrophe has been invoked as a theoretical basis for treatment of viral infection with drugs that would push the error rate for copying of the viral genome beyond this threshold (1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 40). Numerous publications aimed at the detection of virus extinction by error catastrophe induced by viral mutagens have appeared in recent years (8, 11, 12, 13, 24, 27, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 46, 47). The catastrophic effect of high error rates was originally predicted in a mathematical model by Eigen and Schuster (20), in which a master genetic sequence replicated in competition with a collection of variants generated by errors in replication of the master sequence. In the simplest versions of the model (41), the variants all typically have a lower replication rate than the master sequence, and the effect of their replication errors is to convert one variant into another. When the distribution of genomes in such a replicating system was calculated to steady state, it was found that beyond a threshold error rate the master sequence effectively disappeared, becoming no more frequent than any single variant sequence. Eigen and Schuster referred to this hypothetical redistribution of the genetic information of the system as an error catastrophe (not to be confused with the theory of ageing that is also called error catastrophe [30, 31, 32]). Various treatments of the basic model have appeared in the literature since publication of Eigen and Schusters original paper (2, 3, 21, 42, 42, 44, 45). We present here an examination of the theoretical basis for error catastrophe as predicted by the accepted mathematical simulations. For this purpose, we have constructed our own relatively simple model, based on ordinary differential equations, that reproduces error catastrophe. Using this model, we show that an error threshold is predicted to occur solely because of the implausible proposition that all progeny genomes that are not the master sequence continue to replicate at a finite rate no matter how many replication errors they contain, whereas replication of the master sequence is disqualified by a single error in the progeny genome. The disappearance of the master sequence at the error threshold is predicated on competition between the progeny and the master sequence to infinite time. We will show that, without the assumption that all mutants, no matter what their sequences, continue to replicate, mathematical models do not predict error catastrophe.

In Vitro infection of woodchuck hepatocytes with woodchuck hepatitis virus and ground squirrel hepatitis virus

Primary cultures of woodchuck hepatocytes were demonstrated to be susceptible to in vitro infection by both woodchuck hepatitis virus and ground squirrel hepatitis virus, as evidenced by the appearance of DNA species characteristic of hepadnavirus replication. Initiation of infection by woodchuck hepatitis virus was blocked by the presence of suramin, polybrene, or dideoxycytidine. Viral CCC DNA, the putative template for viral RNA transcription, was detected at 2 days postinfection. Accumulation of intracellular intermediates in virion DNA synthesis was negligible until 7-10 days postinfection, but these DNA intermediates then increased dramatically in amount over the next few weeks. Results were obtained which suggested that the prolonged accumulation of intermediates in virion DNA synthesis was an intrinsic property of the infection of individual cells, and not the result of a slow spread of virus through the cultures.