Summary
Intraperitoneal administration of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) was found to protect mice against subsequent lethal infection by encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus without induction of detectable amounts of circulating interferon. The nature of this effect was examined in terms of the types of natural polyribonucleotides which could afford such protection. rRNA prepared fromE. coli was slightly more effective than chicken liver rRNA which was, in turn, more effective than yeast rRNA. 5S ribosomal RNA was not effective, whereas the slightly smaller 4S transfer RNA was as good asE. coli rRNA, suggesting that molecular size is not the sole criterion for the protective effect. The separated 16S and 23SE. coli rRNAs where each as effective as the unfractionated RNA. Antiviral activity was lost after complete hydrolysis with alkali and nucleoside monophosphates were also inactive. Digestion of rRNA with pancreatic ribonuclease greatly decreased its antiviral activity whereas digestion with T1 ribonuclease had no effect indicating that fairly short oligonucleotides, but not of random nucleotide sequence, are active components in the protection of mice against infection by EMC virus.In vitro, no antiviral effect against EMC virus infection was observed in treatment of L cells under various conditions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Attardi, G., Amaldi, F.: Structure and synthesis of ribosomal RNA. Ann. Rev. Biochem.39, 183–226 (1970).
Billiau, A., Muyembe, J. J., de Somer, P.: Mechanism of antiviral activityin vivo of polycarboxylates which induce interferon production. Nature (New Biol.)232, 183–186 (1971).
Fukada, T., Kawade, Y., Ujihara, M., Shin, C., Shima, T.: Interference with virus infection induced by RNA in chick embryo cells. Jap. J. Microbiol.12, 329–341 (1968).
Hagenbuchle, O., Sauter, M., Argetsinger-Steitz, J., Maus, R. J.: Conservation of the primary structure at the 3′ end of 18S rRNA from eukaryotic cells. Cell13, 551–563 (1978).
Loening, U. E.: The determination of the molecular weight of ribonucleic acid by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Biochem. J.113, 131–138 (1969).
Murakami, W. T.: Fractionation of RNAs on MAK columns. Methods in Enzymology12 A, 634–637 (1967).
Palmiter, R. D.: Ovalbumin messenger ribonucleic acid translation. J. biol. Chem.248, 2095–2106 (1973).
Peto, R., Pike, M. C.: Conservatism of the approximation ∑ (0-E)2/E in the logrank test for survival data or tumour incidence data. Biometrics29, 579–584 (1973).
Rushizky, G. W., Bartos, E. M., Sober, H. A.: Chromotography of mixed oligonucleotides on DEAE-Sephadex. Biochem.3, 626–629 (1964).
Samols, D. R., Hagenbuchle, O., Gage, L. P.: Homology of the 3′ terminal sequences of the 18S rRNA ofBombyx mori and the 16S rRNA ofEscherichia coli. Nucleic Acid Res.7, 1109–1119 (1979).
Shine, J., Dalgarno, L.: The 3′-terminal sequence ofEscherichia coli 16S ribosomal RNA: complementarity to nonsense triplets and ribosome binding sites. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.71, 1342–1346 (1974).
Stebbing, N.: Protection of mice against infection with wild-type Mengo virus and an interferon sensitive mutant (IS-1) by polynucleotides and interferons. J. gen. Virol.44, 255–260 (1979).
Stebbing, N., Grantham, C. A., Carey, N.: Antiviral activity of single stranded homopolynucleotides against Encephalomyocarditis virus and Semliki Forest virus in adult mice without interferon induction. J. gen. Virol.30, 21–39 (1976).
Stebbing, N., Grantham, C. A., Kaminski, F., Lindley, I. J. D.: Protection of mice against Encephalomyocarditis virus infection by preparations of transfer RNA. J. gen. Virol.34, 73–85 (1977).
Stebbing, N., Grantham, C. A., Lindley, I. J. D., Eaton, M. A. W., Carey, N. H.:In vivo antiviral activity of polynucleotide mimics of strategic regions in viral RNA. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.284, 682–696 (1977).
Stebbing, N., Lindley, I. J. D., Eaton, M. A. W.: The direct antiviral activity of single-stranded polyribonucleotides. II. The effect of molecular size and the involvement of cellular receptors. Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Ser. B198, 429–437 (1977).
Steitz, J. A., Jakes, K.: How ribosomes select initiator regions in mRNA: Base pair formation between with 3′ terminus of 16S rRNA and the mRNA during initiation of protein synthesis inEscherichia coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.72, 4734–4738 (1975).
Takano, K., Warren, J., Jensen, K. E., Neal, A. L.: Nucleic acid-induced resistance to viral infection. J. Bacteriol.90, 1542–1547 (1965).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
With 1 Figure
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stewart, A.G., Grantham, C.A., Dawson, K.M. et al. The antiviral activity of ribosomal polynucleotides against encephalomyocarditis virus infection of mice. Archives of Virology 66, 283–291 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01320624
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01320624