斎藤 哲一郎

We have established Escherichia coli strains that overproduce two regions of the large non-structural proteins of tobacco mosaic virus, the 126K and 183K proteins, as fusion proteins with β-galactosidase. The two fusion proteins included respectively 514 amino acids common to both the 126K and 183K proteins, and 432 amino acids specific to the 183K protein. The synthesis of the fusion proteins in E. coli was controlled by the lipoprotein promoter and lac promoter-operator systems. After induction, the fusion proteins that were synthesized aggregated and formed inclusion bodies. Antisera raised against the purified fusion proteins reacted specifically with both the 126K and 183K proteins or with only the 183K protein in TMV-infected tobacco protoplasts. The 54K protein corresponding to the C-terminus of the 183K protein, which has been suggested to be synthesized from a third subgenomic mRNA, could not be detected by this method. © 1986 Springer-Verlag.