Proteins encoded in the 81.2- to 85.0-map-unit fragment of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus DNA can be translated in vitro and in Spodoptera frugiperda cells.

We have previously demonstrated that five open reading frames exist in the nucleotide sequence of the 81.2- to 85.0-map-unit (m.u.) segment of plaque isolate E of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) DNA. The corresponding polypeptides are 9.8, 12.1, 36.6, 25.0, and 48.2 kDa in size (C. Oellig, B. Happ, T. Müller, and W. Doerfler, J. Virol. 63:1494, 1989), and we have investigated whether these proteins can be translated in infected cells. On subfragments of this viral DNA segment, mRNAs were selected from AcNPV-infected Spodoptera frugiperda insect cells at different times postinfection (p.i.). The in vitro translation of these RNAs in a rabbit reticulocyte-derived cell-free translation system yielded polypeptides of approximately 10 to 11, 12 to 14, 28, 36 to 38, and 48 to 50-kDa which were commensurate in size with the theoretically expected values. mRNAs for the 28- and 48- to 50-kDa proteins were identified by their translation products at 6 h p.i., and mRNAs for the 10- to 11-, 12- to 14-, and 36- to 38-kDa proteins were identified by their translation products at 12 h p.i. We constructed an AcNPV recombinant which carried in its polyhedrin gene the 3.9-kbp EcoRI-HindIII (81.8 to 84.8 m.u.) subfragment of the EcoRI J segment. Nucleotide sequence determinations revealed that the intact polyhedrin promoter lay adjacent to the additional 81.8- to 84.8-m.u. fragment in this recombinant. In S. frugiperda cells, which were infected with the recombinant AcNPV, a protein of 36 to 38 kDa was detected at 44 h p.i. in larger amounts than after infection with the nonrecombinant virus. However, there was no evidence for larger amounts of RNA derived from the 81.8- to 84.8-m.u. fragment in recombinant-infected cells. Recombinant-infected cells lacked the polyhedrin polypeptide. The synthesis of the 36- to 38-kDa polypeptide in recombinant- or AcNPV-E-infected S. frugiperda cells could be demonstrated by immunoprecipitation experiments. Peculiarly, this polypeptide was present in the cytoplasm as a 64-kDa glycoprotein. These data corroborate the notion that at least some of the open reading frames encoded in the 81.2- to 85.0-m.u. segment of AcNPV can be expressed in S. frugiperda cells.