Polyomaviruses

Walter J Atwood, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Keerti V Shah, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Published online: July 2003

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001082

Polyomaviruses are small DNA-containing viruses that infect a wide variety of species in nature. The human polyomavirus known as JC virus causes a fatal central nervous system demyelinating disease known as progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy.

Keywords: BK virus; JC virus; Simian virus 40; progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy; immunosuppression

Figure 1. (a) Computer-generated image of a polyomavirus virion. (b) Location of VP2 within each VP1 pentamer (only two of the five VP1 molecules are shown).
Figure 2. Comparison of (a) archetypal and (b) progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML)-type regulatory regions of JC virus. Note the duplication of domain A and the deletion of domain B in the PML-type compared to the archetype.
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 References
    Agostini HT, Yanagihara R, Davis V, Ryschkewitsch CF and Stoner GL (1997) Asian genotypes of JC virus in Native Americans and in a Pacific Island population: markers of viral evolution and human migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 94: 14542–14546.
    Binet I, Nickeleit V, Hirsh HH et al. (1999) Polyomavirus disease under new immunosuppressive drugs: a cause of renal graft dysfunction and graft loss. Transplantation 67: 918–922.
    Chen XS, Stehle T and Harrison SC (1998) Interaction of polyomavirus internal protein VP2 with the major capsid protein VP1 and implications for participation of VP2 in viral entry. EMBO Journal 17: 3233–3240.
    Holman RC, Torok RJ, Belay ED, Janssen RS and Schonberger LB (1998) Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in the United States, 1979–1994: increased mortality associated with HIV infection. Neuroepidemiology: 17: 303–309.
    Houff SA, Major EO, Katz DA et al. (1988) Involvement of JC virus-infected mononuclear cells from the bone marrow and spleen in the pathogenesis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. New England Journal of Medicine 318: 301–305.
    Iida T, Kitamura T, Guo J et al. (1993) Origin of JC polyomavirus variants associated with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 90: 5062–5065.
    Kitamura T, Aso Y, Kuniyoshi N, Hara K and Yogo Y (1990) High incidence of urinary JC virus excretion in nonimmunosuppressed older patients. Journal of Infectious Diseases 161: 1128–1133.
    Liu CK, Wei G and Atwood WJ (1998) Infection of glial cells by the human polyomavirus JC is mediated by an N-linked glycoprotein containing terminal alpha 2–6 linked sialic acids. Journal of Virology 72: 4623–4649.
    Monaco MCG, Jensen PN, Hou J, Durham LC and Major EO (1998) Detection of JC virus DNA in human tonsil tissue: evidence for site of initial viral infection. Journal of Virology 72: 9918–9923.
    Riley MI, Yoo W, Mda MY and Folk WR (1997) Tiny T antigen: an autonomous polyomavirus T antigen amino-terminal domain. Journal of Virology 71: 6068–6074.
    Salunke DM, Caspar DLD and Garcea RL (1986) Self assembly of purified polyomavirus capsid protein VP1. Cell 46: 895–904.
    Stehle T, Yan Y, Benjamin TL and Harrison SC (1994) Structure of murine polyomavirus complexed with an oligosaccharide receptor fragment. Nature 369: 160–163.
 Further Reading
    Arthur RR, Shah KV, Baust SJ, Santos GW and Saral R (1986) Association of BK viruria with hemorrhagic cystitis in recipients of bone marrow transplants. New England Journal of Medicine 315: 230–234.
    Atwood WJ and Norkin LC (1989) Class I major histocompatibility proteins as cell surface receptors for simian virus 40. Journal of Virology 63: 4474–4477.
    Brodsky JL and Pipas JM (1998) Polyomavirus T antigens: molecular chaperones for multiprotein complexes. Journal of Virology 72: 5329–5334.
    book Brown F and Lewis AM Jr (eds) (1998) "Simian virus 40 (SV40): a possible human polyomavirus". Developments in Biological Standardization 94. [whole issue]
    Freund R, Garcea RL, Sahli R and Benjamin TL (1991) A single amino acid substitution in polyomavirus VP1 correlates with plaque size and hemagglutination behavior. Journal of Virology 65: 350–355.
    Greenlee JE (1998) Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: progress made and lessons relearned. New England Journal of Medicine 338: 1378–1380.
    Moens U, Seternes OM, Johansen B and Rekvig OP (1997) Mechanisms of transcriptional regulation of cellular genes by SV40 large T- and small T-antigens. Virus Genes 15: 135–154.
    Richardson E (1961) Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. New England Journal of Medicine 265: 815–823.
    book Sever JL and Madden DL (eds) (1983) Polyomaviruses and Human Neurological Disease. New York: Liss.
    book Shah KV (1996) "Polyomaviruses". In: Fields BN, Knipe DM, Howley PM et al. (eds) Fields Virology, 3rd edn, pp. 2027–2043. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven.
    Weber T and Major EO (1997) Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: molecular biology, pathogenesis and clinical impact. Intervirology 40: 98–111.

Related Sub-Topics:

Neurobiology of Disease | DNA Viruses | Viruses Infecting Humans | Viruses Infecting Animals
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Article Title: Polyomaviruses
 
How to Cite close
Atwood, Walter J, and Shah, Keerti V(Jul 2003) Polyomaviruses. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001082]