Yoshioka K, Fujita A, Kondo S, Miyake T, Sakaki Y, Shiba T
Research Laboratory for Genetic Information, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
FEBS Lett. 1992 May 4;302(1):5-7. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(92)80270-q.
Drosophila retrotransposon copia produces virus-like particles (VLPs) in the nuclei of cultured Drosophila cells. The VLPs contain copia RNA and reverse transcriptase activity, and thus, play a major role in copia replication. Here we have expressed the copia gag polyprotein precursor in yeast. The precursor, which includes copia protease itself, showed correct autoprocessing to produce a unique multi-lamella structure in the nuclei of the yeast cells. This expression system should be useful for the analysis of nuclear localization of the major copia VLP protein, and furthermore, would provide important information concerning the mechanism of copia VLPs formation.
果蝇逆转录转座子copia在培养的果蝇细胞核中产生病毒样颗粒（VLP）。这些VLP含有copia RNA和逆转录酶活性，因此在copia复制中起主要作用。在此，我们在酵母中表达了copia gag多蛋白前体。该前体包括copia蛋白酶本身，显示出正确的自加工，在酵母细胞核中产生独特的多层结构。这种表达系统对于分析主要copia VLP蛋白的核定位应该是有用的，此外，还将提供有关copia VLP形成机制的重要信息。
