Senescent cell antigen (SCA), an aging antigen, is a protein that appears on old cells and marks them for removal by the immune system in mammals. It is derived from band 3, a ubiquitous membrane transport protein found in diverse cell types and tissues. We have used synthetic peptides to identify aging antigenic sites on band 3, using a competitive inhibition assay and immunoblotting with IgG directed against the aging antigen on old cells. Results indicate that: (i) the active antigenic sites of the aging antigen reside on membrane protein band 3 residues that are extracellular regions implicated in anion transport (residues 538-554 and 788-827); (ii) a putative ankyrin-bindn -region peptide is not involved in SCA activity; and (iii) carbohydrate moieties are not required for the antigenicity or recognition of SCA because synthetic peptides alone abolish binding ofsenescent cell IgG to erythrocytes.

We report the presence of band 3 protein(s) in mammalian brain that performs the same functions as those of erythroid band 3. These functions are anion transport, ankyrin binding, and generation of senescent cell antigen, an aging antigen that terminates the life of cells. Structural similarity of brain and erythroid band 3 is suggested by the reaction of antibodies to synthetic peptides of erythroid band 3 with brain band 3, the inhibition ofanion transport by the same inhibitors, and an equal degree of inhibition of brain and erythrocyte anion transport by synthetic peptides of erythroid band 3 (pep-ANION 2, residues 588-602; pep-COOH, residues 812-827; pep-COOH-N6, residues 813-818). One ofthese segments, pep-COOH, contains antigenic determinants of senescent cell antigen. These findings suggest that the transport domains of erythroid and neural band 3 are similar functionally and structurally and support the hypothesis that the immunological mechanism of maintaining homeostasis is a general physiologic process for removing senescent and damaged cells in mammals and other vertebrates.

Maize (Zea mays) and itch grass (Rottboellia cochinchinensis) plants exhibiting a mild mosaic or mottle were collected from a farmer's field near Mokwa, Nigeria, in 1993. Icosahedral virions (approximately 28 to 30 nm) were purified from symptomatic tissue by differential centrifugation in 0.1 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. The virions are composed of one single-stranded positive-sense RNA of approximately 4,000 nucleotides and, as estimated by 12.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), a capsid protein of approximately 28 kDa. The virus was readily detected in infected plants by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblot assays with a polyclonal rabbit antibody derived from purified virions. A partial cDNA library was generated with random primers. Sequence analyses of a cDNA clone representing a portion of the putative replicase gene aligned most closely with related sequences of viruses within the Tombusviridae. In particular, a region of 78 predicted amino acids surrounding the “GDD” replicase motif shares 73% identity with panicum mosaic virus and 61% identity with maize chlorotic mottle virus. The virus is readily transmitted by mechanical inoculation to sweet and dent corn, millet, and wheat. Currently it is not considered of economic importance in Nigeria. The data suggest that “maize mild mottle virus” is a newly identified virus infecting maize.