Identification of an Epstein-Barr virus-coded thymidine kinase.
Littler, Edward Zeuthen, J McBride, A Trøst Sørensen, E Powell, K Walsh-Arrand, Jane E Arrand, John R
Littler, Edward
Zeuthen, J
McBride, A
Trøst Sørensen, E
Powell, K
Walsh-Arrand, Jane E
Arrand, John R
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Abstract
We have demonstrated the presence of an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-coded thymidine kinase (TK) by producing biochemically transformed, TK-positive mammalian cell lines using either microinjection of whole EBV virions or calcium phosphate-mediated transfection of the SalI-B restriction endonuclease fragment of EBV DNA. Analysis of these cell lines showed that: (i) EBV DNA was present in the cell lines, (ii) sequences from the SalI-B restriction endonuclease fragment of EBV were expressed, (iii) a TK activity was present and (iv) a protein with antigenic cross-reactivity with the herpes simplex virus (HSV) TK was produced. The identity of the EBV TK gene was determined by demonstrating that a recombinant plasmid, which expressed the protein product of the BXLF1 open reading frame as a fusion protein, could complement TK- strains of E. coli. A comparison of the predicted amino acid sequences of the TK proteins of EBV and HSV-1 revealed significant regions of homology.
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Date
1986-08
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Article
Citation
Identification of an Epstein-Barr virus-coded thymidine kinase. 1986, 5 (8):1959-66 EMBO J