Domestic infection of hepatitis E in Japan.

In most cases of hepatitis E in Japan, patients acquire the viral infection abroad in countries where hepatitis E is endemic. However, in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, we encountered a patient with hepatitis E who had never been abroad. The diagnosis was made on finding hepatitis E viral RNA and antibodies against the virus in the serum. Prompt normalization of liver function test occurred without medication. The nucleotide sequence of the virus isolated from this patient was closely related to the sequence of previously isolated viruses of genotype III. The source of infection could not be identified.

Functional analysis of rat acidic calponin.

Recombinant acidic calponin, a member of the calponin family, interacted with F-actin, but not with microtubules, desmin filaments, tropomyosin, calmodulin, S100 and phosphatidylserine (PS) vesicles with significant affinity. The bindings of acidic calponin to F-actin occurred in a concentration-dependent manner and were saturated at a molar ratio of about 1 acidic calponin to 1-2 actin molecules. The apparent Kd value of acidic calponin to F-actin was calculated to be 1.6 x 10(5) M(-1). Chemical cross-linking experiments indicated that a 1:1 molar covalent complex of acidic calponin and actin monomer was produced as in the case of basic calponinactin binding. No significant morphologic change of F-actin was observed by the addition of acidic calponin. Acidic calponin had little effect on actomyosin Mg2+-ATPase activity unlike basic calponin. Basic calponin partially competed with acidic calponin for binding to F-actin. Domain mapping with V8 protease revealed that acidic calponin binding site resided within the C-terminal 16 kDa fragment of actin, where the binding of basic calponin also occurs. However, both calponins showed reversal effects on fluorescence intensity of pyrene-labeled F-actin. Fragments of acidic calponin with 30 and 22 kDa, lacking the C-terminal acidic tail, were bound to F-actin. Interestingly, both the fragments became bound to PS vesicles, but not to other components. Circular dichroism studies showed that limited digestion of acidic calponin resulted in about 30% decrease of alpha-helix and beta contents. The present results suggest that acidic calponin is functionally distinct from basic calponin and expresses a novel characteristic after removal of the acidic tail region.