# CARDIOVIRAL PROTEASES AND COMPARATIVE GENOME STRUCTURE

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 1990 · $155,822

## Abstract

The goals are: (1) to explore and define the relationship of the
cardiovirus genus to other members of the picornavirus family, and (2) to
exploit unique features of the cardioviruses to examine fundamental
questions about picornaviral translation, proteolytic processing and
morphogenesis.

One specific aim is to complete the identification of all enzymes involved
in sequential proteolytic processing of the encephalomyocarditis (EMC)
polyprotein.  Cell-free synthesis, genetic engineering and site-specific
mutagenesis techniques will be used to characterize viral protease 3C, a
"second" viral protease (peptide 2A or 2B), and the maturation processing
of capsid precursor peptide VPO.  Enzyme specificities and cleavage site
requirements will also be determined.

The 5'on-coding region of EMC will be examined with the aim of
characterizing the sequences and possible secondary structures which are
necessary for efficient translation of polyprotein in cell-free systems.
If possible, a full-length, infectious clone of EMC will be derived, and
used to help define the biological role of the cardioviral poly C tract,
and other 5' non-coding features.

A third aim is derivation of the complete nucleotide sequences of two
important cardiovirus strains: (1) mengovirus and (2) the diabetogenic
varient of EMC, designated EMC-D.  The EMC-D virus produces a pronounced
diabetes-like syndrome in mice by infecting and destroying pancreatic beta
cells.  It has been exceptionally well characterized in vivo, and may serve
as an animal virus model for insulin-dependent diabetes in man.

A fourth aim is to compare and contrast available picornaviral sequence
data (including those of the cardioviruses) by computer analysis to
determine how and where the different viruses are analogous.  The
information will clarify interviral relationships in terms of genome
organization, base compositions, codon frequencies, sequence-predicted
antigenic differences, capsid structure (amino acid sequences vs. published
crystallographic data) and possible phlogeny.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3127158
- **Project number:** 5R01AI017331-10
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **SAM.gov UEI:** LCLSJAGTNZQ7
- **Principal Investigator:** ANN C. PALMENBERG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1990
- **Award amount:** $155,822
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1980-12-01 → 1991-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3127158

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3127158, CARDIOVIRAL PROTEASES AND COMPARATIVE GENOME STRUCTURE (5R01AI017331-10). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3127158. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*