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Surveys of the antigenic properties of a wide range of variants of the H3N2 (Hong Kong) influenza virus subtype have revealed complex patterns of variants cocirculating during each of the main epidemic eras of the subtype. We determined hemagglutinin (HA) gene sequences for 14 isolates chosen to give the wildest possible spread of variant types. The addition of these data to existing HA gene sequence information for other variants provides a comprehensive picture of HA gene evolution during antigenic drift among H3N2 subtype viruses. The data reveal the existence of multiple evolutionary pathways during at least one period of development of the subtype and strikingly demonstrate that amino acid changes are limited to a small number of locations on the HA molecule during antigenic drift. The occurrence of sequential amino acid changes at key positions within these variable regions suggests that the HA structure has remained constant during subtype evolution so that only limited possibilities remain for further antigenic drift among H3N2 viruses.

Phleomycin induces DNA breakage in vitro in the presence of the sulphydryl compound dithiothreitol. The reaction appears to be free radical-mediated, and requires oxygen and metal ions. Reaction rate is limited by the concentration of oxygen, which is converted to hydrogen peroxide during DNA breakage. However there is no net change in the sulphydryl compound. The proposed reaction mechanism involves metal ion/oxygen-catalysed oxidation of dithiothreitol to its free radical form, which reacts with phleomycin, leading to formation of activated phleomycin and regeneration of free sulphydryl. Free phleomycin is converted to an inactive form, but activation of phleomycin bound to DNA leads to DNA breakage.

We have isolated two genomic clones containing three B2 high-sulphur keratin genes from a sheep genomic library constructed in Charon 4A. These genes do not contain intervening sequences. Two genes, encoding the B2A and B2D proteins are closely linked in the genome, being separated by 1.9 kb, and are transcribed in the same direction. Although there is extensive sequence conservation in the 5' non-coding and coding regions, the 3' non-coding regions diverge both in length and sequence. Within the 5' non-coding region adjacent to the initiating AUG there is a highly conserved 18 bp sequence which is also present in another gene coding for a member of a different, unrelated high-sulphur keratin family. In the B2A-B2D intergene region, tightly linked to the B2D gene, there is a putative, divergently transcribed gene.