Differences in the effects of mutations in GP131, a guinea pig cytomegalovirus homologue of pentameric complex component UL130, on macrophage and epithelial cell infection.

As congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the major cause of developmental abnormalities in children, the development of effective vaccines is critical to public health. Recent studies have demonstrated that the pentameric complex (Pentamer) of glycoproteins, which is required for human CMV infection of endothelial and epithelial cells, could be a potent vaccine antigen. As guinea pig CMV (GPCMV) infects congenitally and encodes homologues of all Pentamer components, GPCMV models are considered to be useful for the development of vaccine strategies. Here, to clarify the precise requirement of GP131, one of the GPCMV Pentamer components, for the infection of epithelial cells and macrophages, we prepared several mutants with a charged amino acid-to-alanine alteration in GP131 and found some differences in the effects of the mutations on the infection of the two cell types, suggesting the existence of cell type-dependent recognition or function of Pentamer in GPCMV infection.

(1-nosyl-5-nitroindol-3-yl)methyl ester: a novel protective group for carboxylic acids.

The usefulness of (1-nosyl-5-nitroindol-3-yl)methyl esters as a novel protective group for carboxylic acid is fully demonstrated. The novel protective group is stable under a broad range of conditions and can easily be deprotected under the mild conditions used for removal of the nosyl (Ns) group. It is orthogonal to the existing protective groups for carboxylic acids such as t-butyl and allyl esters.