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J Virol, May 1998, p. 3571-3577, Vol. 72, No. 5
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Coding Sequences Enhance Internal Initiation of
Translation by Hepatitis A Virus RNA In Vitro
Judith
Graff* and
Ellie
Ehrenfeld
Department of Molecular Biology and
Biochemistry, University of California
Irvine, Irvine, California
92697
Received 6 October 1997/Accepted 3 February 1998
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ABSTRACT |
Hepatitis A virus (HAV), unlike other picornaviruses, has a
slow-growth phenotype in permissive cell lines and in general does not
induce host cell cytopathology. Although there are no published reports
of productive infection of HeLa cells by HAV, HAV RNA appears to be
readily translated in HeLa cells when transcribed by T7 RNA polymerase
provided by a recombinant vaccinia virus. The 5' noncoding region of
HAV was fused to poliovirus (PV) coding sequences to determine the
effect on translation efficiency in HeLa cell extracts in vitro.
Conditions were optimized for utilization of the HAV internal ribosome
entry segment (IRES). Transcripts from chimeric constructs fused
precisely at the initiation codon were translated very poorly. However,
chimeric RNAs which included 114 or more nucleotides from the HAV
capsid coding sequences downstream of the initiation codon were
translated much more efficiently than those lacking these sequences,
making HAV-directed translation efficiency similar to that directed by
the PV IRES. Sixty-six nucleotides were insufficient to confer
increased translation efficiency. The most 5'-terminal HAV 138 nucleotides, previously determined to be upstream of the IRES, had an
inhibitory effect on translation efficiency. Constructs lacking these
terminal sequences, or those in which the PV 5'-terminal sequences
replaced those from HAV, translated three- to fourfold better than
those with the intact HAV 5'-terminal end.
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INTRODUCTION |
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) belongs to
the Picornaviridae family and is the sole member of the
Hepatovirus genus. The viral genome is a positive-strand RNA
of about 7.5 kb which functions in infected cells directly as mRNA. It
contains an extremely long, highly structured, uncapped 5' noncoding
region (5'NCR), which constitutes approximately 10% of the viral
genome and includes 10 or more AUG codons that are not used to initiate
translation. The 5'NCR contains an internal ribosome entry segment
(IRES), reported to include sequences from nucleotides (nt) 152 to 735 (8, 15). The IRES is required for cap-independent, internal
ribosome binding and translation. The HAV genome has a single long open
reading frame which encodes a polyprotein that is proteolytically
processed by a virus-encoded proteinase into various structural and
nonstructural proteins. A short (63-nt) 3' noncoding region follows the
coding sequence and precedes a poly(A) tail.
Translation of picornavirus RNAs takes place by a mechanism of internal
ribosome entry utilizing the IRES element (for a review, see reference
11), in contrast to the mechanism of ribosome scanning from the capped 5' end of the mRNA as occurs for the majority
of cellular mRNAs (29). On the basis of primary sequence homology, biochemical probing, and computer-assisted folding
predictions, the IRES elements of members of the picornavirus family
are divided into two groups: type I, present in entero- and
rhinoviruses; and type II, present in cardio- and aphthoviruses
(44). Although the HAV IRES may resemble the type II IRES
(8), it may represent a third type (23). Despite
little similarity in the primary nucleotide sequence of the 5'NCR, and
marked variations in the predicted secondary structures of the IRES
elements among the different genera of picornaviruses, it has been
shown that the intact IRES domains can be readily exchanged en bloc
among different viruses and maintain functional translation properties
(1, 25, 26, 36).
HAV is known to have an extremely slow replication cycle in cultured
cells, often yielding low amounts of virus. It does not induce
detectable cytopathology and does not show any apparent effect on
cellular growth or metabolism, in contrast to other picornaviruses like
poliovirus (PV), in most susceptible cell cultures (for a review, see
reference 42). It has been reported that the HAV
IRES is much less efficient than other picornaviral IRESes for
translation in rabbit reticulocyte lysates in vitro (6, 8,
24) and also in BT7-H cells in vivo (43). These data
led to the suggestion that the relatively poor growth of HAV may be
attributable to the inherently low translation efficiency of its RNA
(31, 43), although there have been some conflicting reports
on the activity of the HAV IRES depending on the reporter gene used to
assess its function (25). In studies reported here, we
determined the efficiency of HAV IRES utilization in a series of
chimeric RNAs between HAV and PV sequences, translated in HeLa cell
extracts. The data show that sequences downstream of the HAV 5'NCR
extending into the capsid coding sequence of HAV have a significant
impact on translation efficiency directed by the HAV IRES in vitro.
Although a requirement for coding sequences for efficient translation
of other picornaviral RNAs has not been described to date, precedence
for coding sequences downstream of the initiation codon contributing to
IRES function was established recently for hepatitis C virus (HCV)
(21, 32, 34) and hepatitis G virus (isolates GBV-A and
GBV-C) (41). Both viruses are members of the
Flaviviridae and possess an IRES element. At least 12 to 30 nt immediately downstream of the HCV translation initiation site were
necessary for efficient IRES activity in a bicistronic construct (34); if the HCV IRES was used to replace the PV IRES in a
full-length construct, inclusion of 369 nt of HCV coding sequence
extending the HCV IRES generated viable virus, in contrast to a
chimeric construct harboring only the HCV IRES sequences in the 5'NCR
(32). The observations presented in this report and the data
from investigations of the translation of HCV RNA and hepatitis G virus
RNA suggest that in some types of IRES elements, coding sequences
downstream of the initiation codon contribute to or are part of the
IRES activity.
Additional findings from these studies extent previous observations of
an effect on IRES activity of sequences upstream of the apparent 5'
boundary of the IRES. Removal of these sequences from the HAV 5'NCR or
replacement with PV 5'-terminal sequences enhanced translational
efficiency in vitro severalfold.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
Plasmid constructs.
All HAV/PV chimeras constructed in this
study were derived from plasmid pT7PV1 (17) and plasmid
pT7-HAV1 (19), containing the full-length copy of infectious
PV cDNA (type 1, Mahoney strain) and the cell culture-adapted HAV cDNA
(HM175p35), respectively, under control of the T7 promoter. The
nucleotide numbering used to describe HAV cDNA below corresponds to the
wild-type HAV strain HM175 (9). Fragments generated from
parental plasmids by restriction digestion used to construct chimeric
plasmids were gel purified by using a QIAquick gel purification kit
(Qiagen Inc.) according to the manufacturer's instructions. All
plasmids were propagated by standard methods in Escherichia
coli DH5
or C600, using ampicillin selection. The nucleotide
sequences of any PCR-generated inserts were determined by using a
Sequenase reagent kit (United States Biochemical Corp.) to verify that
no unwanted mutations had been introduced during PCR.
pPsPV1 contains a unique SalI site at nt 109. The
SalI site was introduced into plasmid pT7PV1 by
site-directed mutagenesis using overlap extension PCR as previously
described (20). This introduced restriction site generated
the three nucleotide substitutions A110T, C113A, and A114C. No change
of the phenotype of the virus resulting from the mutated plasmid was
observed (data not shown).
Plasmids pPsH
91-740P, pPsH
139-740P, and
pPsH
139-806P were constructed by inserting a cDNA fragment
generated by PCR from pT7-HAV1
between the
SalI (nt 109)
site and the
HgiAI (nt 747) site of
pPsPV1, replacing the PV
IRES with the HAV IRES and maintaining
the 5'-terminal 109 nt of the PV
5'NCR. For plasmid pPsH
91-740P,
the HAV cDNA corresponding
to nt 91 to 740 was amplified by PCR
creating a
SalI site at
the 5' end and PV sequences from nt 746
to 760 including an
HgiAI site at the 3' end. The PCR fragment
for plasmid
pPsH
139-740P comprised nt 139 to 740 of the HAV 5'NCR,
and
the PCR fragment for the chimeric plasmid pPsH
139-806P
comprised
nt 139 to 806 of the HAV genome, each harboring a
SalI site and
an
HgiAI site at the 5' and 3'
ends, respectively.
In the control construct pPsHAV, the first 5'-proximal sequences of the
HAV 5'NCR (nt 1 to 139) were replaced with the first
109 nt of PV. The
EcoRI-
HpaI fragment of the chimeric plasmid
pPsH
139-740P, representing the vector including the first
321
nt, was ligated with the
HpaI-
XhoI fragment
(nt 354 to 7002) and
the
XhoI-
EcoRI fragment (nt
7002 to 7533) of pT7-HAV1.
To construct the following HAV/PV chimeric plasmids containing the
truncated PV P1 capsid coding region fused in frame to
different
lengths of HAV coding sequences downstream of the HAV
5'NCR, a PV
subclone, designated pPsP*, was generated first to
facilitate cloning.
This subclone contains the 5'NCR of PV followed
by the PV P1 capsid
coding region until nt 2954. pPsH
1194/1172P*,
the chimeric
plasmid comprising the HAV sequences from nt 139
to 1194 fused in frame
to nt 1172 of the PV sequence, was constructed
by cloning the
SalI-
BstEII fragment (nt 109 to 1194; end filled
with the Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I at the
BstEII
3'
end) of pPsHAV into pPsP* that had been digested with
NruI (nt
1172) and
SalI (nt 109). To construct
the truncated chimera pPsH
139-854P*,
HAV cDNA from nt 139 to 854 was amplified by PCR from pT7-HAV1,
creating a
SalI
site at the 5' end and PV sequences from nt 746
to 760 at the 3' end.
The amplified fragment was ligated with
the
HgiAI-
NheI (nt 747 to 2470) fragment and the
NheI-
SalI vector
fragment of pPsP*.
pPsH
139-1191P*, the construct harboring 451
nt of the HAV
coding sequence downstream of the HAV 5'NCR, was
generated by PCR to
amplify a fragment from nt 577 to 1191 of
HAV connected via two T
residues in frame to nt 746 to 760 of
PV. The
BamHI-
HgiAI fragment (nt 633, HAV; nt 747, PV) of
the
PCR product was ligated with the
HgiAI-
NheI
(nt 747 to 2470) fragment
of pPsP* and with the
NheI-
BamHI vector fragment of
pPsH
1194/1172P*.
To analyze the influence of the 5'-proximal sequences of the 5'NCR on
the HAV IRES, we constructed a truncated HAV plasmid
with a deleted
5'NCR of HAV starting at nt 139. To generate this
plasmid, a subclone,
pH
139P
B*, was constructed by using a
gel-purified
HAV template without a T7 promoter sequence (pT7-HAV1;
NcoI [45]-
NcoI
[2814]) for PCR with a sense
primer designed to introduce the
T7 promoter sequence directly linked
to nt 139 of the HAV 5'NCR
and an antisense primer complementary to nt
786 to 808 of HAV.
The amplified fragment was digested with
StuI (upstream of the
T7 promoter) and
BamHI (nt
633) and ligated with the
BamHI-
StuI
fragment of
the truncated PV clone pPsP* (nt 2129 to 5349). The
subclone,
pH
139P
B*, was then digested with
EcoRI and
HpaI and
used for ligation with the
HpaI-
EcoRI fragment of pT7-HAV1 (nt
354 to 4977)
to generate pH
139-4977.
The different generated HAV/PV chimeric constructs are depicted in Fig.
1.

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FIG. 1.
Schematic representation of the chimeric HAV/PV
constructs used to examine the efficiency of HAV IRES-driven
translation. All constructs contain the promoter for T7 RNA polymerase.
The striped lines represent the HAV 5'NCR starting at the indicated
position, nt 1, 91, or 139; solid lines show the PV 5'-terminal
cloverleaf structure from nt 1 to 109. Striped boxes represent HAV
coding sequences until nt 806, 854, 1191, 1194, or 4977 or until the 3'
end of the HAV genome if not indicated; shaded boxes represent PV
coding sequences starting at nt 743, 746, or 1172 fused in frame to HAV
sequences. Nucleotide numbering of the HAV genome corresponds to the
wild-type HAV strain HM175 (9). The 5'NCR and the coding
region are not in actual proportion to each other.
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Transient expression assay.
HeLa cell monolayers grown to
confluency in six-well plates were simultaneously infected with
recombinant vaccinia virus vTF7-3 (14) and transfected with
plasmid DNA. The HeLa cells were washed twice with minimal essential
medium (MEM). Lipofectin-mediated transfection-infection with the
recombinant vaccinia virus was accomplished by adding 500 µl of MEM
mixed with 3 to 9 µg of plasmid DNA, 10 µl of Lipofectin reagent
(Gibco, BRL), and vTF7-3 (approximately 10 PFU per cell) to each well
of the six-well plate. Cells were incubated at 37°C. After 4 h,
2 ml of MEM supplemented with 3% fetal bovine serum was added, and
incubation was continued at 37°C. At 24 h posttransfection, the
cells were washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline, lysed with 200 µl of lysis buffer (0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer [pH 7.8], 1%
Triton X-100, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 2 mM EDTA) for 15 min, and scraped
from the plates. Nuclei were removed by centrifugation, and samples
were processed for Western blot analysis.
Western blot analysis.
The samples were boiled in Laemmli
sample buffer, separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide
gel electrophoresis (PAGE) on an SDS-11% polyacrylamide gel, and
transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane (Schleicher & Schuell). The
blot was first incubated for 1 h at room temperature with a rabbit
anti-HAV VP1 serum (18) or with a rabbit anti-PV VP2 serum
(kindly provided by Bert Semler) to detect the production of HAV or PV
antigen, respectively. Alkaline phosphatase-conjugated anti-rabbit
antibodies (Promega) were used in a second incubation step for 30 min
at room temperature followed by color detection as recommended by the
supplier.
Transcription reactions and translation assays.
All plasmids
were linearized by digestion with the appropriate restriction enzyme,
either EcoRI, SnaBI, or BstZ17I, prior to in vitro transcription. Since all constructs are made in the same
background vector as the parent pT7PV1 or pT7-HAV1, RNA transcripts were produced from 2 µg of linear cDNA with T7 RNA polymerase in the
presence of [3H]UTP, using a MAXIscript in vitro
transcription kit (Ambion Inc.) according to the supplier's
instructions. After DNase I treatment and phenol-chloroform extraction,
the transcripts were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis for
integrity and quantified by measuring the incorporated tritium.
Micrococcal nuclease-treated HeLa cell extracts were prepared from HeLa
S3 cells and programmed with 250 ng to 1 µg of transcripts
in a
reaction volume of 12.5 µl under the conditions described
previously
(
33) except that the added potassium acetate concentration
was reduced to 80 mM, bringing the total potassium concentration
to
~115 mM. These conditions were determined to be optimal in
our
cell-free translation system for the HAV IRES, as opposed
to ~150 mM
potassium used for the PV IRES. The reaction was stopped
with 1 volume
of 2× gel sample buffer (
30) after 90 min of incubation
at
30°C. A 10-µl aliquot was subjected to SDS-PAGE (11% gel) to
analyze the
[
35S]methionine-[
35S]cysteine-labeled
translation products. Coomassie blue-stained,
dried gels were typically
exposed for 16 h to Kodak BioMax film
(Kodak Corp.).
To evaluate the efficiency of translation in vitro, the autoradiographs
were analyzed by densitometry using a Scan Jet IIcx/T
(Hewlett Packard)
and the public domain analysis software package
developed by Wayne
Rasband, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,
Md. Data were
corrected according to the numbers of methionine
and cysteine residues
in the different translation products.
 |
RESULTS |
Translation of HAV RNA in HeLa cells.
Translation of HAV RNA
in rabbit reticulocyte lysates has been shown to be both inefficient
and inaccurate (24, 27). In the case of PV RNA, which is
also translated poorly by rabbit reticulocyte lysate, supplementation
with factors from HeLa cells was shown to improve both the fidelity and
the efficiency of translation (7, 10), and translation
directly in HeLa cell extract generates high yields of accurately
translated and processed viral protein (4, 5, 33). In an
effort to identify a convenient system that would better support
translation of HAV RNA in vitro, we wanted to explore the possible
utilization of HeLa cell extracts. However, since there are no
published reports of replication of HAV in HeLa cells, and we have
failed repeatedly to propagate HAV in HeLa cells (unpublished
observations), it was necessary to determine whether translation of HAV
RNA occurred in HeLa cells in vivo. To this end, HeLa cells were
transfected with supercoiled plasmid pT7-HAV1, encoding the complete
HAV cDNA under control of the T7 promoter. Simultaneous infection with
recombinant vaccinia virus vTF7-3 generated T7 RNA polymerase to
transcribe HAV RNA. Synthesis of viral capsid proteins was detected by
Western immunoblotting with antiserum against HAV VP1. Figure
2A, lanes 1 to 6, shows that the
transfected HeLa cells produce readily detectable VP1 proteins. The
predominant product detected by anti-HAV VP1 was VP1-2A (PX
[2]) at ~40 kDa; in addition, a cleavage product of
~34 kDa representing VP1 or an intermediate in VP1 processing accumulated, similar to that seen after transfection of FRhK-4 cells
that are permissive for growth of HAV (25). The transfection conditions included saturating amounts of plasmid DNA, and so the
production of viral protein was not enhanced by increasing the DNA
concentration (Fig. 2A, lanes 4 to 6). Another plasmid, pPsHAV, in
which the 5'-terminal 138 nt of HAV were replaced with the first 109 nt
of PV sequence (Fig. 1), gave a similar result (Fig. 2A, lanes 1 to 3),
as expected, since the 5' boundary of the HAV IRES has been reported to
be downstream of nt 139.

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FIG. 2.
Western immunoblot analysis of HAV and PV proteins
expressed in HeLa cells. Proteins generated from plasmids pPsHAV (A,
lanes 1 to 3), pT7-HAV1 (A, lanes 4 to 6), pPsPV1 (B, lanes 1 to 3),
and pT7PV1 (B, lanes 4 to 6) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE 24 h
posttransfection in the presence of recombinant vaccinia virus vTF7-3,
carrying the gene for T7 RNA polymerase. The proteins were transferred
to a nitrocellulose membrane and detected by HAV VP1 or PV VP2
antiserum. Each plasmid DNA was used at 3, 6, and 9 µg for
transfection. Extract from mock-transfected HeLa cells as negative
control (lane 7) and prestained molecular weight markers (M, lane 8)
were analyzed on the same gel. Sizes of marker proteins are indicated
on the right in kilodaltons.
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For comparison, pT7PV1, encoding the full-length PV genome and pPsPV1,
containing an introduced
SalI site at nt 109 to 114
of the
PV 5'NCR, were used for transfection of HeLa cells. The
production of
PV antigens was determined by immunoblotting with
anti-PV VP2 serum
(Fig.
2B). As expected, PV capsid protein VP2
and several precursor
proteins were detected. The presence of
the engineered
SalI
site had no effect on translation (Fig.
2B;
compare lanes 1 to 3 with
lanes 4 to 6). The utilization of different
antisera for detection of
the two viral capsid proteins precludes
a direct quantitative
comparison; however, the data demonstrate
that HAV RNA can be
translated in HeLa cells, if recombinant vaccinia
virus provides T7 RNA
polymerase for viral RNA synthesis.
Translation in vitro of HAV RNA in HeLa cell extract.
The
demonstration that HAV RNA was readily translated in intact HeLa cells
prompted us to examine the translation of RNAs that contained the HAV
IRES in HeLa cell extract in vitro. The cell-free translation system
developed for PV RNA (33) was optimized with respect to
mono- and divalent cation concentrations for translation of HAV RNA
(see Materials and Methods). The RNAs used to program the HeLa cell
translation extract were derived from plasmid DNAs cut so as to encode
only capsid protein sequences to simplify the pattern of translation
products.
Figure
3, lanes 3 to 5, shows the
translation products from HeLa cell extract programmed with decreasing
amounts of RNA derived
from pT7-HAV1, linearized with
BstZ17I at nt 2024 within the HAV
VP3 gene. The predicted
size of the truncated HAV capsid protein
is ~47 kDa, which is clearly
detectable on the autoradiograph
and distinguishable from the weak
background translation seen
in the negative control without any added
RNA (lane 2). Products
derived from aberrant internal initiations were
not apparent.
HeLa cell extract programmed with 250 or 500 ng of
transcripts
produced slightly more product than extract programmed with
1
µg of RNA. This poisoning effect of high RNA concentrations in
cell-free translation systems has also been noticed with PV RNA.

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FIG. 3.
Translation in vitro of truncated HAV RNAs with
different 5'-terminal sequences. Decreasing RNA amounts (1, 0.5, and
0.25 µg) of transcripts derived from pT7-HAV1,
pH139-4977, and pPsHAV, linearized with BstZ17I
(nt 2024), were used to program HeLa cell translation extracts in the
presence of a mixture of [35S]methionine and
[35S]cysteine. The translation products were analyzed by
SDS-PAGE and subjected to autoradiography. The predicted size of each
product was calculated to be ~47 kDa as indicated. PV-encoded
polypeptides obtained from PV-infected HeLa cells labeled with
[35S]methionine served as protein marker (M, lane 1) and
are identified on the left. Lane 2 shows background translation
products from the HeLa cell extracts with no added RNA.
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The 5' boundary of the HAV IRES has been reported to be at nt 152 (
8), although others have concluded that the 5'-proximal
pyrimidine-rich tract (from nt 99 to 138) of HAV is involved in
internal initiation of translation (
16,
39). To address the
role of the 5'-terminal sequences of the HAV 5'NCR, we compared
the
translation in HeLa cell extract of RNA containing the complete
5'NCR
of HAV with that of HAV RNA lacking the first 138 nt derived
from
pH
139-4977 and with that of RNA derived from pPsHAV, in
which
the first 138 nt of HAV are replaced by the 5'-terminal
cloverleaf
structure of PV (Fig.
1). Each plasmid was linearized with
BstZ17I
at nt 2024 prior to in vitro transcription to
generate the same
translation product of ~47 kDa. The results of this
comparison
are shown in Fig.
3. HeLa cell extract was programmed over a
range
of RNA concentrations for each transcript. Translation directed
by transcripts derived from pH
139-4977, lacking the first
138
nt including the pyrimidine-rich (pY1 [
37]) tract
located between
nt 99 and 138, translated with two- to
threefold-greater efficiency
than RNA containing the complete 5'NCR of
HAV (Fig.
3; compare
lanes 3 to 5 with lanes 6 to 8). Thus, the
presence of the 5'-proximal
sequences of the HAV 5'NCR appeared to
inhibit translation in
vitro. When translation was directed by RNA
derived from pPsHAV,
in which the first 138 nt of HAV were replaced by
the PV 5'-terminal
cloverleaf structure (PV nt 1 to 109), translation
was even three-
to fourfold more efficient than with RNA containing the
complete
HAV 5'NCR (Fig.
3; compare lanes 9 to 11 to lanes 6 to 8 and
to
lanes 3 to 5). This difference in translation efficiency of HAV1*
and PsHAV* was not evident in HeLa cells in vivo (Fig.
2A) when
saturating amounts of plasmid DNA were used. It is not known why
the
HAV 5'-terminal sequences appear to inhibit translation in
vitro.
However, since the IRES of HAV is reported to lie between
nt 152 and
735 and the first 138 nt of the HAV 5'NCR upstream
of the HAV IRES
appeared to specifically reduce translational
efficiency, we
constructed all subsequent HAV/PV chimeras with
the 5' PV cloverleaf
structure, indicated by "Ps" in the plasmid
name.
HAV IRES utilization in HAV/PV chimeras.
To determine the
contribution of the HAV IRES to the translation efficiency of the PV
coding sequences, we constructed a series of HAV/PV chimeras (Fig. 1).
In the first set, the HAV IRES sequences were fused to PV coding
sequences directly at the initiation codon (HAV nt 741; PV nt 743)
to generate pPsH91-740P and pPsH139-740P. Plasmid pPsH91-740P includes the pY1 tract from the HAV
5'NCR, whereas in plasmid pPsH139-740P, the HAV sequences
start downstream of pY1, at nt 139. Both chimeric plasmids were
linearized with SnaBI at nt 2954 prior to preparation of
transcripts for translation. The predicted size of the translation
product is ~81 kDa. Figure 4 shows the
results of the translation assays in HeLa cell extracts. PV RNA (lane
2), isolated from purified PV virions, was translated for comparison of
translation efficiency. The PV polyprotein is mainly uncleaved, since
translation was performed for only 90 min, and protein processing
requires more extended incubation times. Lanes 4 and 5 (HAV1* and
PsHAV*) confirm the three- to fourfold increased translation efficiency
conferred by replacement of the HAV 5'-terminal sequences with those
from PV. The two HAV/PV chimeric transcripts, PsH91-740P*
and PsH139-740P* (Fig. 4, lanes 6 and 7), translated quite
poorly compared to transcripts from pPsHAV, which contained the natural
HAV coding sequences following the initiation codon (Fig. 4; compare
lanes 6 and 7 to lane 5). When corrected for the number of methionine
and cysteine residues in the two proteins, the longer chimeric proteins
were produced at only 7% (fusion at HAV nt 91) or 16% (fusion at HAV
nt 139) of the amount of the smaller HAV protein. All subsequent
constructs were therefore generated with the PV cloverleaf structure
fused to the HAV IRES at nt 139, lacking pY1 of HAV.

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FIG. 4.
Translation of truncated HAV and HAV/PV chimeric RNAs in
HeLa cell extracts. Translation products from 500 ng of the indicated
RNA per 12.5-µl reaction mixture were resolved by SDS-PAGE and
subjected to autoradiography. Lane 1 (M) represents PV-encoded
polypeptides obtained from PV-infected HeLa cells labeled with
[35S]methionine, identified on the left. PV RNA (100 ng),
isolated from purified PV virions (lane 2), was used as an internal
translation control. The predicted molecular masses of the translation
products derived from transcripts HAV1* and PsHAV*, linearized at nt
2024 (47 kDa), and from transcripts PsH91-740P*,
PsH139-740P*, and PsH1194/1172P*, linearized at
nt 2954 (81 kDa), are indicated.
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Extension of the 3' border of the HAV sequences from nt 740 to 1194 before in-frame fusion to the PV capsid coding sequences
starting at nt
1172 generated pPsH
1194/1172P* (Fig.
1). Linearization
of
this plasmid with
EcoRI produced a transcript which encoded
a protein of ~82 kDa, composed of 151 amino acids of HAV fused
to
sequences within VP2 of the PV capsid protein. When these transcripts
were used to program the HeLa cell translation extract, the translation
efficiency was fivefold greater than for transcripts that did
not
contain HAV coding sequences (Fig.
4; compare lanes 7 and
8). The
translation efficiency of this chimeric transcript was
comparable to
that from transcripts of pPsHAV, which contained
all HAV coding
sequences (~90% translation efficiency of PsHAV*).
These data
suggested that HAV coding sequences downstream of the
initiation codon
at nt 741 had a positive impact on the initiation
of translation at
that site.
Effect of HAV sequences downstream of the translation initiation
site.
To test the possibility that HAV sequences downstream of the
translation initiation site comprise part of the HAV IRES or affect the
efficiency of IRES utilization, we made additional chimeric constructs
that extended downstream of the HAV 5'NCR (Fig. 1). Plasmid
pPsH139-806P contained 66 nt extended into the coding
region of HAV, coding for VP4; pPsH139-854P* included 114 nt of the HAV coding region, translated into the first 38 amino acids
of HAV sequence; and pPsH139-1191P* had 450 nt downstream of the start codon fused to the amino terminus of the PV capsid coding
sequences. All of these constructs contain an artificial cleavage site
for PV 3C proteinase (AXXQG) between the HAV and PV coding sequences
(3). A comparison of translation obtained with transcripts
from pPsH1194/1172P*, in which the HAV and PV coding
sequences are fused without the introduction of the PV 3C cleavage
site, or transcripts from pPsH139-1191P*, containing the
cleavage site, showed no significant difference in translation efficiency between these two constructs (data not shown). Transcripts of the constructs pPsH139-740P,
pPsH139-806P, pPsH139-854P*, and pPsH139-1191P*, linearized at nt 2954 of the PV
coding sequence, were translated over a range of RNA concentrations in
HeLa cell extract, and the efficiency of translation was determined by
gel electrophoresis and autoradiography of the dried gel. The results of the translation assays are shown in Fig.
5. The predominant product of each
transcript migrated according to its predicted size as indicated in
Fig. 5 except for the product from pPsH139-854P*, which
migrated slightly faster than expected from its predicted mass of ~85
kDa (Fig. 5, lanes 8 and 9).

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|
FIG. 5.
Translation of HAV/PV RNAs with extended HAV capsid
coding sequences downstream of the HAV 5'NCR. HeLa cell extract was
programmed with 500 and 250 ng of transcript derived from pPsHAV,
truncated at nt 2024, or pPsH139-740P,
pPsH139-806P, pPsH139-854P*, and
pPsH139-1191P*, truncated at nt 2954, in the presence of
[35S]methionine and [35S]cysteine.
Translation products were resolved by SDS-PAGE and subjected to
autoradiography. Lane 1 (M) represents PV-encoded polypeptides obtained
from PV-infected HeLa cells labeled with [35S]methionine.
The PV proteins used as marker are identified on the left. Lane 12 represents the negative control without addition of RNA, and lane 13 represents the internal translation control prepared by using PV RNA
isolated from purified PV virions.
|
|
Extension of the HAV 5'NCR with 66 nt of HAV coding sequence
(PsH
139-806P*) was not sufficient to affect the efficiency
of
HAV IRES utilization (Fig.
5, lanes 6 and 7). However, if 114
nt of
the HAV coding sequence downstream of the HAV 5'NCR were
present
(PsH
139-854P*), the efficiency of translation in HeLa
cell
extract was fourfold greater than that of PsH
139-740P*
(Fig.
5; compare lanes 8 and 9 to lanes 4 and 5). Further extension
of
the HAV coding sequence downstream of the HAV 5'NCR up to a
total of
450 additional nt of HAV coding sequence (PsH
139-1191P*
[lanes 10 and 11]) did not further increase translation efficiency.
These results show that HAV coding sequences downstream of the
initiating AUG significantly affect HAV IRES-driven translation,
and
that more than 66 nt are required for this effect to be manifest
in a
construct with PV coding sequences as reporter gene.
 |
DISCUSSION |
The structure of mRNA is an important element in regulation of
protein synthesis. Previous studies of translational control of HAV
effected by RNA sequences and structure have been focused within the
borders of the 5'NCR. The present study of a series of constructs
retaining the HAV 5'NCR extending into various lengths of HAV coding
sequences, using PV coding sequences as reporter, demonstrates that
sequences downstream of the translation initiation AUG codon of the HAV
IRES provided a fourfold increase of HAV IRES-driven translation in
vitro over a construct without HAV downstream capsid coding sequences.
More than 66 nt of the HAV capsid coding sequence are necessary to
support this stimulation. This effect has not been described for any
other picornavirus. The report of a specific search for effects of
downstream coding sequences on IRES activity in EMCV RNA showed only
that insertion of additional guanosine residues located immediately
after the AUG initiation codon exerted an inhibitory influence on
translation initiation (22). However, the requirement for
sequences extending into the coding region for optimal IRES function
has been reported for both HCV RNA (21, 34) and hepatitis G
virus RNA (41).
HAV shows many features different from the other members of the
picornavirus family, including an extremely slow replication cycle in
cultured cells. It was suggested that the slow growth of HAV was
attributable to inefficient IRES-mediated translation of HAV RNA
(31, 43). However, all constructs used for previous investigations of HAV IRES-driven translation efficiency used fusions
between the HAV 5'NCR and reporter genes directly at the translation
initiation codon of the HAV 5'NCR. In contrast, the present study shows
that inclusion of HAV capsid coding sequences with the HAV 5'NCR
stimulated efficient utilization of the HAV IRES.
The coding sequences of HAV may assist in formation of RNA structures
required for trans-acting factors to bind within the IRES,
or they may cause the ribosome complex to pause at the initiating AUG
codon to allow a functional translation initiation complex to form.
Studies using Sindbis virus mRNA have demonstrated that structures
downstream of the translation initiation codon enhance translation
efficiency (12, 13). In any event, translation is but one of
many processes in virus replication, and the efficiency of IRES
utilization may not be the sole or major determinant of virus growth
rate. Indeed, replacement of the HAV IRES by the encephalomyocarditis
virus IRES in the context of the HAV genome did not contribute to
improved growth properties of the chimeric virus in cultured cells
(25).
Analysis of the 5'-terminal end of the HAV 5'NCR showed that sequences
upstream of the predicted 5' border of the HAV IRES are inhibitory for
translation of HAV RNA in vitro. Transcripts of HAV RNA from which the
first 138 nt of the HAV 5'NCR were deleted showed greater translation
efficiency than constructs containing the entire 5'NCR of HAV. This
effect has been described in translation assays before, using a
construct containing the HAV 5'NCR fused to the chloramphenicol
acetyltransferase coding region (43). Deletions of the first
161 or 354 nt showed increased translation efficiency in BT7-H cells.
In the study presented here, replacement of the 5'-terminal 138 nt of
the HAV 5'NCR by the 5'-terminal cloverleaf structure of PV eliminated
the inhibitory effect of the 5'-proximal HAV sequences on translation
in vitro as well. The deletion of pY1 in the region between nt 99 and
138 from HAV RNA also showed no apparent effect on virus replication in
vivo (38). A similar inhibitory effect of 5'-terminal
sequences in the 5'NCR has been reported to occur with HCV (21,
28, 35, 45). For HAV, and likely for HCV as well, the 5'-terminal
sequences are essential for RNA replication (25). Thus, a
balance between RNA replication and translation activity may be
necessary to support the optimal growth pattern during virus infection.
The stimulatory effect seen by replacing the 5'-proximal 138 nt of the
HAV 5'NCR with the PV 5'-terminal cloverleaf structure could be due to
a functional impact of the PV cloverleaf structure on translation, as
suggested for the PV 5'NCR (40). It is more likely, however, that the PV sequences provide stabilization of an important secondary structure of the HAV IRES.
It is noteworthy that relative IRES activity may vary in different cell
extracts in vitro and in different cell types used for RNA transfection
assays or laboratory infection. Different cell types may vary in the
composition of factors that mediate IRES utilization. This effect was
seen clearly for the various strains of HCV, where IRESes were utilized
with different relative efficiencies in different cells
(28), and is well documented for Sabin strains of PV, where
translation is restricted in neuronal cells. Our purpose in using HeLa
cell extracts for translation of HAV RNA in vitro was to find a
convenient system that would support translation of HAV RNA.
In the translation assays described here, HAV RNA was translated
efficiently in HeLa cell extracts, derived from cells in our laboratory
which are not permissive for growth of HAV. Translation of HAV RNA
occurred readily in HeLa cells in vivo as well. Transient transfection
of HeLa cells with DNA containing the HAV genome under control of the
T7 promoter and coinfection with recombinant vaccinia virus providing
T7 RNA polymerase provided ample HAV RNA for efficient translation.
These experiments demonstrated that the block for viral growth in HeLa
cells is not due to restriction of translation but might be due to
failure to support receptor-mediated virus adsorption or failure to
support HAV RNA replication.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We thank B. L. Semler for providing the anti-PV VP2
antibody, and we are grateful to Oliver Richards, Xi-Yu Jia, and Larry Blyn for helpful discussions.
This work was supported by Public Health Service grants AI26350 and
AI12387 from the National Institutes of Health.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
*
Corresponding author. Present address: National
Institutes of Health, NIAID, LID, Hepatitis Virus Section, Building 7, Room 200, 7 Center Dr., MSC 0740, Bethesda, MD 20892-0740. Phone: (301) 496-6227. Fax: (301) 402-0524. E-mail:
jgraff{at}atlas.niaid.nih.gov.
Present address: Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes
of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
 |
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