A model of functional elements critical for replication and infectivity of the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) was proposed earlier: a thermodynamically metastable structure containing a specific hairpin (HP II) in the (-)-strand replication intermediate is essential for template activity during (+)-strand synthesis. We present here a detailed kinetic analysis on how PSTVd (-)-strands fold during synthesis by sequential folding into a variety of metastable structures that rearrange only slowly into the structure distribution of the thermodynamic equilibrium. Synthesis of PSTVd (-)-strands was performed by T7-RNA-polymerase; the rate of synthesis was varied by altering the concentration of nucleoside triphosphates to mimic the in vivo synthesis rate of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II. With dependence on rate and duration of the synthesis, the structure distributions were analyzed by temperature-gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE). Metastable structures are generated preferentially at low transcription rates-similar to in vivo rates-or at short transcription times at higher rates. Higher transcription rates or longer transcription times lead to metastable structures in low or undetectable amounts. Instead different structures do gradually appear having a more rod-like shape and higher thermodynamic stability, and the thermodynamically optimal rod-like structure dominates finally. It is concluded that viroids are able to use metastable as well as stable structures for their biological functions.

The effects of hypo- and hyper-osmotic shock on endogenous MAP-kinase activities and MKP-1 and c-jun mRNA levels were studied in H4IIE rat hepatoma cells. In presence of vanadate hypo-osmolarity stimulated a rapid and sustained activation of MAP-kinases (Erk-2, JNK-2 and p38). In the absence of vanadate a hypo-osmotic MAP-kinase response was not detectable. Hyper-osmolarity stimulated a delayed and transient MAP-kinase activation and vanadate was not required for its detection. Vanadate, however, amplified the hyper-osmotic MAP-kinase stimulation. c-jun and MKP-1 mRNA levels were maximal after 0.5-1 h of hypo-osmotic exposure and returned towards basal levels within 2 h, whereas the hyper-osmotic induction of c-jun and MKP-1 mRNA was delayed. Vanadate was not required for the aniso-osmotic effects on MKP-1 and c-jun mRNA levels. Whereas the hyper-osmolarity-induced c-jun mRNA accumulation returned towards basal levels within 8 h, MKP-1 mRNA was still highly expressed at this time point. The role of MAP-kinases for the induction of aniso-osmolarity-induced gene expression and the potential importance of MKP-1 for termination of aniso-osmotic MAP-kinase activation are discussed.

The influence of cell hydration on the heat shock response was investigated in H4IIE hepatoma cells at the levels of HSP70 expression, MAP kinase activation, induction of c-jun and the MAP kinase phosphatase MKP-1, heat resistance, and development of tolerance/sensitization to arsenite after a priming heat treatment. Induction of HSP70, MKP-1, and c-jun by heat was delayed, but more pronounced or sustained, under hyperosmotic conditions compared with normo- and hypo-osmotically exposed cells. Anisosmolarity per se was ineffective to induce HSP70; some expression of the mRNAs for MKP-1 and c-jun in response to hyperosmolarity was found, but was small compared with the response to heat. Heat-induced activation of JNK-1 was increased under hyperosmotic conditions and more sustained than the JNK-activity induced by hyperosmolarity at 37 degrees C. A prominent Erk-2 activation was found immediately after heat shock under hypo- and normo-osmotic conditions, but Erk-2 activation was weak in hyperosmolarity-exposed cells. Despite anisosmotic alterations of the heat shock response at the molecular level, the heat resistance of H4IIE cells toward heat shock was not affected by ambient osmolarity. However, an osmolarity-dependent sensitization to arsenite was induced by a priming heat shock. The osmodependence of the H4IIE cell response to heat differs from that recently found in primary rat hepatocytes. The data are discussed in terms of cellular adaption mechanisms and their physiological relevance.