A Potassium Channel Protein Encoded by Chlorella Virus PBCV-1

Authors

• B. Plugge, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Universität Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
• S. Gazzarrini, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
• M. Nelson, Megabase Research Products, Lincoln, NE
• R. Cerana, DISAT, Università di Milano Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
• James L. Van Etten, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• C. Derst, Institut für Physiologie, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 35033 Marburg, Germany
• D. DiFrancesco, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
• A. Moroni, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
• G. Thiel, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Universität Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, GermanyFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

3-3-2000

Comments

Published in Science 287 (March 3, 2000), pp. 1641–1644; doi 10.1126/science.287.5458.1641 Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Used by permission. http://www.sciencemag.org

Abstract

The large chlorella virus PBCV-1, which contains double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), en¬codes a 94-codon open reading frame (ORF) that contains a motif resembling the signature se¬quence of the pore domain of potassium channel proteins. Phylogenetic analyses of the encoded protein, Kcv, indicate a previously unidentified type of potassium channel. The messenger RNA encoded by the ORF leads to functional expression of a potassium-selective conductance in Xen¬opus laevis oocytes. The channel blockers amantadine and barium, but not cesium, inhibit this conductance, in addition to virus plaque formation. Thus, PBCV-1 encodes the first known viral protein that functions as a potassium-selective channel and is essential in the virus life cycle.