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J Virol, July 1998, p. 6233-6236, Vol. 72, No. 7
Department of Virology, Institute of Medical
Biology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
Received 15 December 1997/Accepted 13 April 1998
Primate polyomavirus genomes all contain an open reading frame at
the 5' end of the late coding region called the agnogene. A simian
virus 40 agnoprotein with unknown functions has previously been
demonstrated. We now show that a BK virus agnoprotein appears in the
perinuclear area and cytoplasm late in the infectious cycle. It is
phosphorylated in vivo and coimmunoprecipitates with a subset of host
cell proteins.
The primate polyomaviruses
constitute a group of three small DNA viruses which naturally infect
monkeys (simian virus 40 [SV40]) or humans (BK virus [BKV] and JC
virus). Their circular genomes are remarkably similar in both
organization and sequence (8, 19). The early region of the
genome encodes the large and small T antigens, while the late region,
which is transcribed in the opposite direction, encodes the viral
structural proteins. In addition, each of the three viruses contains an
open reading frame (ORF) at the 5' end of the late region, potentially
coding for a polypeptide of 62 amino acids in SV40, 66 amino acids in
BKV, or 71 amino acids in JC virus (8). This ORF is known as
the agnogene (9).
An SV40 agnogene product was described in 1981 (21, 22) and
called the agnoprotein, although some researchers prefer to call it
LP-1 (24). The SV40 agnoprotein is produced late in the
infectious cycle (21, 22) and is largely confined to the cytoplasm (26). However, unlike other proteins produced from the SV40 late region, no agnoprotein is detected in virions
(21). Mutation of the agnogene ORF did not arrest viral
reproduction in vitro, although virus yield was considerably reduced or
delayed (2, 24, 25, 33). Published results indicate an
agnoprotein-mediated effect(s) at the level of viral assembly (4,
23-25), maturation (18), or release of mature virus
(30). However, possible effects on transcription,
processing, and translation of late viral proteins have also been
suggested (1, 14, 16, 29), and the exact role of the
agnoprotein in the SV40 life cycle remains controversial.
Although the agnogene is conserved among the primate polyomaviruses
(32, 36), agnoprotein expression has not previously been
demonstrated for the two human polyomaviruses. Here we show that the
BKV agnoprotein is expressed in BKV-infected cell cultures and that it
specifically interacts with a subset of human cellular proteins.
The agnoprotein is expressed in BKV-infected cells.
We
examined agnoprotein expression in the highly permissive
(30b) human endothelial cell line HUV-EC-C (ATCC CRL 1730).
HUV-EC-C cells were cultured in MCDB 105 medium (M-6395; Sigma)
supplemented with 30 µg of endothelial cell growth supplement (ECGS;
Sigma) per ml, 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Gibco BRL), and 10 IU of heparin (Nova) per ml. BKV infection was performed with a
gradient-purified batch of the naturally occurring virus strain BKV(TU)
(34) at a multiplicity of infection of 0.1 to 1.0 as
previously described (12). Aliquots were removed at
different time points, and the total protein was isolated with TRIzol
(Gibco BRL), separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) on a 4 to 20% minigel (Bio-Rad), and
analyzed by Western blotting. The blots were incubated at 4°C
overnight with purified rabbit antiagnoprotein antibodies (A81038P) in
phosphate-buffered saline with 3% bovine serum albumin (Sigma). These
antibodies were raised against the expression product of a cloned BKV
agnogene as described previously (17) and purified by
affinity chromatography. Incubation with alkaline
phosphatase-conjugated swine anti-rabbit immunoglobins (DAKO A/S,
Glostrup, Denmark), diluted 1:500 in phosphate-buffered saline with 3%
bovine serum albumin, took place for 2 h at room temperature.
Color was developed by using nitroblue
tetrazolium-5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylphosphate toluidinium (NBT/BCIP;
DAKO A/S).
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
The Agnogene of the Human Polyomavirus BK Is
Expressed
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FIG. 1.
Western blot analysis of BKV agnoprotein (Agno)
synthesis in HUV-EC-C. (A) Time course of agnoprotein synthesis,
detected by using purified agnoprotein antibodies. (B) Extracts from
cells transfected with an agnoprotein expression plasmid (lane 2),
compared with mock-transfected (lane 1) and 48-h-p.i. BKV-infected
(lane 3) cells. The positions of molecular mass markers are
indicated.
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The BKV agnoprotein is phosphorylated in vivo. An unconfirmed report has suggested that phosphorylation of the SV40 agnoprotein occurs in vivo (21). There are several potential phosphorylation sites in the BKV agnoprotein sequence, including two consensus protein kinase C phosphorylation sites (28) that are conserved among all three primate polyomavirus agnoprotein sequences, one protein kinase C phosphorylation site unique to BKV, and one casein kinase II phosphorylation site.
BKV-infected HUV-EC-C cell phosphorylated proteins were metabolically labelled by replacing the growth medium with 1 ml of 32P labelling medium per 9.5-cm2 well at 46 h p.i. Mock-infected cells were used as a control. The 32P-labelling medium consisted of 100 µCi of inorganic 32P (PBS-11; Amersham Corp.) per ml in phosphate-free Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) (D3656; Sigma) with 10% FBS. Sodium bicarbonate and sodium phosphate were added at the concentrations recommended by the manufacturer. HUV-EC-C cells grow normally in this phosphate-deprived medium for at least a week if ECGS is added. After 2 h of labelling, cell lysates were made and agnoprotein was immunoprecipitated with purified antiagnoprotein antibodies bound to protein A beads from a Hi-Trap protein A column (Pharmacia). This was followed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting as outlined above. Phosphorylated proteins were detected by using a PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics). Western blotting of immunoprecipitates from mock-infected cells (Fig. 3A, lane 1) showed a single band at about 50 kDa. This was due to the binding of secondary (anti-rabbit immunoglobulin) antibodies to antiagnoprotein antibodies which were stripped off the beads used for immunoprecipitation along with the agnoprotein. The same band was seen in BKV-infected cell lysates (Fig. 3A, lane 2), along with a band at approximately 8 kDa corresponding to the agnoprotein.
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A subset of cellular proteins coimmunoprecipitate with the BKV agnoprotein. Genetic evidence of interactions between the SV40 agnoprotein and the viral VP1 protein has been reported (3, 23). This, and the results described in the previous paragraph, prompted us to investigate whether the coimmunoprecipitated proteins were of cellular or viral origin. BKV- or mock-infected HUV-EC-C cells were washed with leucine-free DMEM (Sigma no. D4655) (with L-lysine-HCl, L-methionine, L-glutamine, and sodium bicarbonate added at the concentrations recommended by the manufacturer) at 24 h p.i. Further incubation was carried out for 24 h in [3H]leucine labelling medium (50 µCi of [3H]leucine [NET-135H; Amersham Corp.] per ml in leucine-free DMEM containing 10% FBS and supplemented with 30 µg of ECGS per ml (1 ml/9.5 cm2 well]). Cell lysates were then subjected to immunoprecipitation with purified antiagnoprotein antibodies or unrelated antibodies. The immunoprecipitates were separated by SDS-PAGE. The gels were stained with Coomassie blue R250 (31) and subjected to fluorography (Amplify; Amersham).
Several radioactive bands were seen after immunoprecipitation of BKV-infected cell lysates with purified antiagnoprotein antibodies (Fig. 4, lane 2). The lowest band could be readily identified as the BKV agnoprotein from its apparent molecular mass (8 kDa). The other bands represented much larger proteins, with apparent molecular masses of approximately 50, 75, and 100 kDa. Appropriate controls demonstrated that these results were specific for BKV-infected cells and antiagnoprotein antibodies (Fig. 4, lanes 1 and 3). No labelled proteins were immunoprecipitated from radiolabelled, mock-infected cell lysate (Fig. 4, lane 4), but when lysate from these cells was mixed with lysate from unlabelled 48-h-p.i. cells, the pattern of bands was identical to that seen for labelled BKV-infected cells, except for the absence of the agnoprotein band (Fig. 4, lane 5). These results show that the coimmunoprecipitated proteins are of cellular, not viral, origin. The possibility that the protein interactions took place during extraction cannot be formally eliminated, but since the agnoprotein appears to be distributed throughout the cytoplasm, the interacting proteins must be well hidden to prevent in vivo encounters.
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Discussion. We have demonstrated the expression of a BKV agnogene product in virus-infected cells. The expression pattern, including subcellular localization and time of appearance, is similar to that of the SV40 agnoprotein (21, 22, 26).
The SV40 agnoprotein is apparently translated from the same mRNA as that encoding the major virion protein VP1 (3, 24, 30). There is no reason to assume that the situation for BKV is different, since the mRNA species of the two viruses are very similar (19). One might expect the agnoprotein to be expressed at the same time, or even before, VP1, since the agnogene is 5' of the VP1 ORF. However, in SV40-infected cells, the agnoprotein appears several hours after VP1 (22, 26). At present we are investigating the situation in BKV-infected cells. If the agnoprotein is expressed later than VP1, the discrepancy between the time of appearance of the agnoprotein and its position on the mRNA implies that there exists a special control mechanism, which suggests that the agnoprotein plays an important role in the primate polyomavirus life cycle in vivo. It has previously been stated that the SV40 agnoprotein is phosphorylated (21), although to our knowledge the evidence for this has not been published. We have now shown that the BKV agnoprotein is phosphorylated. Phosphorylation appears to be a common mechanism for regulation of biologically active proteins (10, 11), so it may be interesting to examine whether the phosphorylation state of the BKV agnoprotein affects its binding to cellular proteins, for example. A number of putative roles for the SV40 agnoprotein (and, by implication, the BKV agnoprotein) have been suggested. We are, however, of the opinion that most of these roles fail to comprise the subcellular location of the protein and its late appearance. For example, roles in the control of VP1 transcription (1, 14, 15) or virus assembly (4, 23-25) would seem to require nuclear localization. Our own results and those of others (5, 24, 26) clearly show the dominant fraction of the protein to be cytoplasmic, which suggests that neither of these functions represents the main purpose of the agnoprotein. A role for the SV40 agnoprotein in nuclear localization of VP1, either directly (4, 30) or by prevention of aggregation into virus-like particles (3), has also been suggested. However, VP1 from primate polyomaviruses contains an efficient nuclear localization signal which has proven functional in SV40 in the absence of agnoprotein (20, 35). Nomura et al. (26) also clearly found SV40 VP1 in the nucleus 24 h after infection, before agnoprotein was detected. Nonenveloped viruses were thought to leave host cells by cytolysis (13). However, the exodus of SV40 can take place without cell lysis, perhaps via a vesicular transport process (6, 27). Since SV40 virions (and, by inference, BK virions) are strongly karyophilic (7), the role of the agnoprotein may be the promotion of virion release from the cell. This hypothesis, proposed by Resnick and Shenk (30), accounts for all published data, including the very late appearance of the agnoprotein in the virus life cycle. The use of genetic techniques to investigate the role of the agnoprotein in the primate polyomavirus life cycle is complicated by the fact that this protein is nonessential during infection of cell cultures and that it is produced from an ORF situated 5' in the mRNA of an essential protein. The subtle effects produced by mutations in the agnoprotein ORF, and the danger of inducing unintended effects on VP1 by altering its upstream mRNA sequences, have probably contributed to the multiplicity of roles attributed to the agnoprotein. Direct investigation of proteins such as those we have detected, which interact with agnoprotein in vivo, may provide more reliable clues as to the role of this protein in primate polyomavirus infection.| |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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This work was supported by grants from The Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Cancer Society, and the Olav and Erna Aakres Foundation for Fighting Cancer.
We thank Ole Morten Seternes for the BKV agnoprotein expression plasmid and Inger Danielsen for technical assistance.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Virology, Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway. Phone: 47 77 64 46 21. Fax: 47 77 64 53 50. E-mail: terjet{at}fagmed.uit.no.
Present address: BresaGen Limited, Adelaide 5000, South Australia,
Australia.
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