Propriedades biológicos y moleculares del virus Papiloma / Biologic and molecular characteristics of Papilloma virus

RESUMO

Warts or papillomas are caused by papillomavirus, a member of the Papovaviridae family. the virus is 55 nm in diameter, consisting of a protein capsid with 72 capsomers arranged in a icosaedral form. The genome is a double standed circular DNA molecule containing approximately 8.000 base pairs. The papillomavirus does not multiply in any culture system tested so far and this hampered the molecular studies of this virus. However, the development of recombinant DNA techniques makes it possible to clone papillomavirus genomes in bacterial vectors and hence to produce viral DNA in sufficient quantities to be used for structural studies and for biological experiments. The genome of papillomavirus replicates extrachromosomally in mouse cells and can therefore be used as a cloning vector in mammalian cells. Moreover, the virus or its genome can efficiently transform mouse cells in vitro and therfore has been a useful model to study papillomavirus transformation, oncogenicity as well as gene expression. The present work summarizes the results obtained un our laboratory concerning the biological and molecular characterizarion of some papillomavirus isolated in Sweden (Bovine papillomavirus type 1, FPV and the Reindeer papillomavirus RPV)