title: Clustered charge-to-alanine mutagenesis of the vaccinia virus A20 gene: temperature-sensitive mutants have a DNA-minus phenotype and are defective in the production of processive DNA polymerase activity.
abstract: Although the vaccinia virus DNA polymerase is inherently distributive, a highly processive form of the enzyme exists within the cytoplasm of infected cells (W. F. McDonald, N. Klemperer, and P. Traktman, Virology 234:168-175, 1997). In the accompanying report we outline the purification of the 49-kDa A20 protein as a stoichiometric component of the processive polymerase complex (N. Klemperer, W. McDonald, K. Boyle, B. Unger, and P. Traktman, J. Virol. 75:12298-12307, 2001). To complement this biochemical analysis, we undertook a genetic approach to the analysis of the structure and function of the A20 protein. Here we report the application of clustered charge-to-alanine mutagenesis of the A20 gene. Eight mutant viruses containing altered A20 alleles were isolated using this approach; two of these, tsA20-6 and tsA20-ER5, have tight temperature-sensitive phenotypes. At the nonpermissive temperature, neither virus forms macroscopic plaques and the yield of infectious virus is <1% of that obtained at the permissive temperature. Both viruses show a profound defect in the accumulation of viral DNA at the nonpermissive temperature, although both the A20 protein and DNA polymerase accumulate to wild-type levels. Cytoplasmic extracts prepared from cells infected with the tsA20 viruses show a defect in processive polymerase activity; they are unable to direct the formation of RFII product using a singly primed M13 template. In sum, these data indicate that the A20 protein plays an essential role in the viral life cycle and that viruses with A20 lesions exhibit a DNA(-) phenotype that is correlated with a loss in processive polymerase activity as assayed in vitro. The vaccinia virus A20 protein can, therefore, be considered a new member of the family of proteins (E9, B1, D4, and D5) with essential roles in vaccinia virus DNA replication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Punjabi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DeMasi
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Grubisha
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khanna
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Traktman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004261:DNA Replication; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000502:physiology*; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010641:Phenotype; D013696:Temperature; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000235:genetics*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C422803:A20R protein, vaccinia virus; D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase