Interferon gene synthesis

Contributions to the biotechnology industry Commercialization of human insulin Interferon isolation Gene synthesis Protein analysis Peptide isolation Peptide mapping Amino-acid sequencing Total amino-acid composition Summary of LC benefits to biotechnology Contributions to environment research. / Air quality v Water quality... 

Another group of cytokines produced by many cell types, including macrophages, in response to viral challenge is the interferons (IFN). In mammalian cells, IFN induces the synthesis of Mx proteins that can inhibit the translation of viral mRNA. Induction of Mx proteins has been used as an indirect measure of IFN activity in fish40,68. Recently, Altmann et aV cloned, sequenced and characterized the first teleost interferon gene from the zebrafish, Danio rerio, so it should soon become feasible to quantify IFN production directly as a measure of anti-viral response. 

The development of the chemistry outlined in this manuscript was supported by NIH (GM21120 and GM25680) in the author s laboratory. This research was completed by a group of extremely capable and imaginative colleagues whose names appear on the cited references. The synthesis of the immune interferon gene was completed in the laboratories of AMGen Development Inc., Boulder, Colorado, and will be published in detail elsewhere. 

The molecular basis by which interferons promote their characteristic effects, in particular antiviral activity, is understood at least in part. Interferon stimulation of the JAK-STAT pathway induces synthesis of at least 30 different gene products, many of which cooperate to inhibit viral replication. These antiviral gene products are generally enzymes, the most important of which are 2 -5 oligoadenylate synthetase (2,5-A synthetase) and the eIF-2a protein kinase. 

Interferon-a2 concentrated solution is a solution of a protein that is produced according to the information coded by the o2 sub-species of interferon-a gene and that exerts non-specific antiviral activity, at least in homologous cells, through cellular metabolic processes involving synthesis of both ribonucleic acid and protein. Interferon-a2 concentrated solution also exerts antiproliferative activity. Different types of interferon a2, varying in the amino acid residue at position 23, are designated by a letter in lower case. 

Interferon. Any of a family of glycoproteins that exert virus-nonspecific but host-specific antiviral activity by inducing the transcription of cellular genes coding for antiviral proteins that selectively inhibit the synthesis of viral RNA and proteins. Interferons have immunoregulatory functions and can inhibit the growth of nonviral intracellular parasites. 

The binding of interferons to their receptors induces a rapid increase in the transcription of particular genes and synthesis of corresponding proteins.196 202 One of the proteins induced is a double-stranded RNA-activated 2 -5 A synthase, which polymerizes ATP to a series of 2 -5 linked oligonucleotides containing triphosphates at the 5 termini.202-204 Double-stranded RNA is uncommon except in replicating viruses, and it is thought that the activation by dsRNA is related to establishment of an antiviral state. Another interferon-induced enzyme is the small subunit of eukaryotic protein synthesis initiation factor eIF-2. 

Although it is not possible to delineate the mechanisms by which interferon beta-lb exerts its activity in MS. it is known that the interferon binds to specific receptors on cell surfaces and induces the expression of a number of interferon-induced gene products, such as 2. 5 -oligoadenylate synthetase and protein kinase. Additionally, interferon beta-lb blocks the synthesis of INF-y. which is believed to be involved in MS attacks. 

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