Disease relevance of ORF150

• A Lymantria dispar nuclear polyhedrosis virus (LdMNPV) gene has been identified that encodes a homolog to the granulovirus (GV) enhancin proteins that are capable of enhancing the infection of other baculoviruses [1].
• Molecular analysis of an enhancin gene in the Lymantria dispar nuclear polyhedrosis virus [1].
• Northern and primer extension analyses of viral RNAs indicate that the enhancin gene transcripts are expressed at late times postinfection from a consensus baculovirus late promoter [1].

High impact information on ORF150

• A recombinant virus (enhancin::cat) was constructed in which the LdMNPV enhancin gene was inactivated by insertion mutagenesis in order to ascertain the effect of the enhancin protein on viral potency [1].
• The effect of a T. ni granulovirus enhancin on virus binding and membrane fusion was examined, and no increase in activity was observed [2].
• In contrast, a comparison of the predicted amino acid sequences of TnGV enhancin (901 amino acids) and HearGV enhancin (902 amino acids) revealed an overall identity of only 80%, with greater conservation (88%) from amino acids 1-550 [3].
• Since a partial open reading frame (ORF) was identified immediately downstream of the 3' end of the enhancin ORF, these data suggested that a sizeable fraction of the enhancin mRNAs may be bi-cistronic and share a common 3' end with a downstream transcription unit [3].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of ORF150

• The bioassay results indicate that disruption of the enhancin gene in the LdMNPV results in a reduction in viral potency [1].
• Gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography and immobilized alpha-macroglobulin were used to purify this protein and the removal of the contaminating proteases did not diminish the in vivo or in vitro activity of enhancin [4].

References