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Journal of Virology, August 2002, p. 8460-8467, Vol. 76, No. 16
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.16.8460-8467.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
and W. Ian Lipkin*
Emerging Diseases Laboratory, Departments of Neurology, Anatomy, and Neurobiology and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of CaliforniaIrvine, Irvine, California 92697-4292
Received 21 December 2001/ Accepted 30 April 2002
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Active transport requires soluble cytoplasmic receptors called karyopherins (in yeast cells) or importins (in mammalian cells), energy in the form of GTP (in many but not all cases), and a specific nuclear localization signal(s) (NLS[s]) within the primary amino acid sequence of the karyophilic protein (6). At least four active transport pathways have been described previously (1). Each requires that importins recognize and interact directly with the NLS of the protein to be imported. The importin-NLS protein complex then docks at fibrils extending from the nuclear pore complex and is imported into the nucleus through a series of interactions that utilize energy in the form of GTP. Cotransport occurs when a protein that lacks an NLS and is too large for passive diffusion interacts with a protein that contains a functional NLS (1). The proteins are subsequently cotransported into the nucleus via active transport due to the presence of the NLS.
Functional NLSs have been mapped within the BDV nucleoprotein (N) (8, 10), phosphoprotein (P) (12, 13), and X protein (X) (17). The N-NLS is similar in sequence and amino-terminal position to the NLSs of the VP1 proteins of simian virus 40 (SV40) and polyomavirus (10). In contrast, P contains two NLSs (12, 13). The first is located near the amino-terminal portion of P and is bipartite, similar to the nucleoplasmin NLS (12). The second is located at the carboxyl-terminal portion of P (12, 13); both P-NLSs are unique in that proline residues play a central role in their activity (13). X import is mediated by interaction of a nonconventional karyophilic signal at its amino terminus with importin-
(17).
We demonstrated previously (15) that BDV P and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (L) interact. This interaction alone could lead to nuclear localization of L due to the P-NLS; however, immunohistochemical studies with anti-L1 antisera and BSR-T7 cells (Huh-7 cells stably transfected to express T7 RNA polymerase) transiently transfected with an L-expression plasmid revealed the presence of L protein in the nucleus (15). This finding suggested the presence of an NLS(s) in L. To characterize the putative L-NLS, immunofluorescence analyses of BSR-T7 cells transfected with wild-type or mutant forms of L fused to a flag epitope tag or ß-galactosidase were performed. Analysis of amino- and carboxyl-truncation mutants fused to the flag epitope tag indicated that the central residues of L (amino acids 824 to 1062) were sufficient for nuclear localization. These results were confirmed and expanded by analysis of L-ß-galactosidase fusion constructs. A strong NLS at residues 844 to 852 was identified. Mutation of 844R (arginine) and 847K (lysine) to A (alanine) led to cytoplasmic accumulation of L, confirming that these residues within the sequence 844RVVKLRIAP852 are necessary and sufficient for nuclear localization of L.
Subcellular distribution of L-flag epitope tag fusions.
The subcellular distribution of L-flag epitope tag fusion proteins was determined immunohistochemically with anti-flag M2 murine antibody (Sigma) and goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG) fluorescein isothiocyanate (Caltag) in BSR-T7 cells transiently transfected with expression plasmids encoding the flag epitope tag fused to amino- or carboxyl-deletion mutants of BDV L. Both full-length L fused to the flag epitope tag (pTM-TL) and the 394-amino-acid (aa) amino-terminal deletion mutant (pTM-T
N394) fused to the flag epitope tag localized to the nucleus of transfected BSR-T7 cells (Fig. 1A, B, and F). In contrast, the 953-aa carboxyl-terminal deletion mutant fused to the flag epitope tag (pTM-T
C759) (Fig. 1A and C) and the 1,062-aa amino-terminal deletion mutant fused to the flag epitope tag (pTM-T
N1062) (Fig. 1A and E) localized to the cytoplasm. Deletion of 1,532 aa from the carboxyl region of L (pTM-Z
C180) resulted in predominantly cytoplasmic fusion protein (Fig. 1A and D). No fluorescence was observed in cells transfected with vector (pTM1) alone (Fig. 1G).
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FIG. 1. Subcellular localization of L-flag epitope tag fusion proteins. (A) Description of expression plasmids and summary of results. Amino acid sequence of L, with a diagram of full-length and deletion mutant L-flag epitope tag fusion expression plasmids. Plasmid names and subcellular localization of fusion proteins are listed. (B through G) Subcellular localization of full-length or deletion mutants of L-flag epitope tag by indirect immunofluorescence in BSR-T7 cells transfected with expression plasmids. (B) pTM-TL; (C) pTM-T C759; (D) pTM-T C180; (E) pTM-T N1062; (F) pTM-T N394; (G) pTM1. Cells were stained with anti-flag M2 murine antibody (Sigma) and goat anti-mouse IgG fluorescein isothiocyanate (Caltag).
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C824) (Fig. 2B, panel b), 953 (pTM-Z
C759) (Fig. 2B, panel c), or 1,532 (pTM-Z
C180) (Fig. 22B, panel d) aa from the carboxyl region of L led to cytoplasmic staining. In contrast, deletion of 561 (pTM-Z
N561) (Fig. 2B, panel h) or 824 (pTM-Z
N824) (Fig. 2B, panel g) aa from the amino region of L retained the nuclear staining pattern. Further deletion from the amino region of L again led to cytoplasmic localization of the fusion proteins, as observed upon deletion of 1,062 (pTM-Z
N1062) (Fig. 2B, panel f) or 1,439 (pTM-Z
N1439) (Fig. 2B, panel e) amino residues. Fusion of L aa 824 to 1062 (pTM-Z
N824C1062) (Fig. 3C, panel a), 824 to 941 (pTM-Z
N824C941) (Fig. 3C, panel e) or 824 to 853 (pTM-Z
N824C853) (Fig. 3C, panel f) led to nuclear localization of ß-galactosidase. In contrast, all ß-galactosidase-L fusions that contained L sequence carboxyl to aa 854 localized to the cytoplasm: aa 921 to 1062 (pTM-Z
N921C1062) (Fig. 3C, panel b), 921 to 1015 (pTM-Z
N921C1015) (Fig. 3C, panel c), or 854 to 1,015 (pTM-Z
N854C1015) (Fig. 3C, panel d). No fluorescence was observed in cells transfected with empty vector (pTM1) (Fig. 2B, panel j and 3C, panel g).
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FIG. 2. LacZ-L fusion plasmid description and subcellular distribution of full-length or deletion mutants of ß-galactosidase-L by indirect immunofluorescence in BSR-T7 cells transfected with expression plasmids. (A) Amino acid sequence of L, with full-length and deletion mutant LacZ-L fusion constructs. Plasmid names and subcellular localization of fusion proteins are listed. (B) Cells were stained with murine anti-ß-galactosidase antibody (Sigma) and anti-mouse IgG fluorescein isothiocyanate (secondary antibody) (Caltag). (a) pTM-ZL; (b) pTM-Z C824; (c) pTM-Z C759; (d) pTM-Z C180; (e) pTM-Z N1439; (f) pTM-Z N1062; (g) pTM-Z N824; (h) pTM-Z N561; (i) pTM-LacZ; (j) pTM1 (empty vector, negative control).
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FIG. 3. B-galactosidase-L fusion constructs and subcellular distribution of deletion mutants of ß-galactosidase-L by indirect immunofluorescence in BSR-T7 cells transiently transfected with expression plasmids. (A) Map of the L open reading frame (ORF) (nucleotides 2472 to 3269), indicating restriction endonuclease sites, PCR primers, and subcellular localization. (B) Primer names, sequences, and nucleotide positions within the L ORF. (C) Subcellular distribution of deletion mutants of ß-galactosidase-L by indirect immunofluorescence in BSR-T7 cells transiently transfected with expression plasmids. Cells were stained with anti-ß-galactosidase murine antibody (Sigma) and anti-mouse IgG fluorescein isothiocyanate (secondary antibody) (Caltag). (a) pTM-Z N824C1062; (b) pTM-Z N921C1062; (c) pTM-Z N921C1015; (d) pTM-Z N854C1015; (e) pTM-Z N824C941; (f) pTM-Z N824C853 (g) pTM1 (empty vector, negative control).
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FIG. 4. Subcellular localization of wild-type L and L-NLS mutant by indirect immunofluorescence in BSR-T7 cells transfected with expression plasmids. Cells were stained with murine anti-L1 antibody and anti-mouse IgG fluorescein isothiocyanate (secondary antibody) (Caltag). (a) pTM-L-AVVA; (b) pTM-L1; (c) pTM1 (empty vector, negative control).
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C180, 20 kDa (Fig. 5A, lane 1); pTM-T
N1062, 85 kDa (Fig. 5B, lane 1); pTM-T
C759, 95 kDa (Fig. 5B, lane 2); pTM-T
N394, 150 kDa (Fig. 5B, lane 3);and pTM-TL, 190 kDa (Fig. 5C, lane 2). Fusions of ß-galactosidase-L expressed from plasmids were also consistent as far as their predicted sizes: pTM-ZL, 310 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 2); pTM-Z
C824, 200 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 3); pTM-Z
C759, 200 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 4); pTM-T
C180, 140 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 5); pTM-Z
N1439, 150 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 6); pTM-Z
N1062, 190 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 7); pTM-Z
N824, 220 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 8); pTM-Z
N561, 240 kDa (Fig. 6A, lane 9); pTM-Z
N824C1062, 146 kDa (Fig. 6B, lane 2); pTM-Z
N921C1062, 135 kDa (Fig. 6B, lane 3); pTM-Z
N921C1015, 130 kDa (Fig. 6B, lane 4); pTM-Z
N854C1015, 140 kDa (Fig. 6B, lane 5); pTM-Z
N824C941, 133 kDa (Fig. 6B, lane 6); and pTM-Z
N824C853, 123 kDa (Fig. 6B, lane 7). L-NLS mutant protein of the predicted size (190 kDa) was expressed from pTM-L-AVVA (Fig. 7, lane 2). Proteins consistent with the size of those expressed from expression plasmids were not detected upon transfection with empty vector (pTM-1) (Fig. 5A, lane 2; Fig. 5B, lane 4; Fig. 5C, lane 1; Fig. 6, lanes 1; and Fig. 7, lane 1).
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FIG. 5. Western immunoblot analysis of L-flag epitope tag fusions. Lysates were obtained from BSR-T7 cells transfected with pTM-T C180 (lane 1) (A) or pTM-1 (empty vector) (lane 2); pTM-T N1062 (lane 1) (B), pTM-T C759 (lane 2), pTM-T N394 (lane 3), or pTM-1 (empty vector) (lane 4); or pTM-1 (empty vector) (lane 1) (C) or pTM-TL (lane 2). Blots were probed with anti-flag M2 murine primary antibody (Sigma) and goat anti-mouse IgG secondary antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (Sigma). Arrows indicate protein from: pTM-T C180 (a), pTM-T N394 (b), pTM-T C759 (c), pTM-T N1062 (d), or pTM-TL (e).
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FIG. 6. Western immunoblot analysis of ß-galactosidase-L fusion proteins. Lysates were obtained from BSR-T7 cells transfected with: (A) pTM-1 (empty vector) (lane 1), pTM-ZL (lane 2), pTM-Z C824 (lane 3), pTM-Z C759 (lane 4), pTM-T C180 (lane 5), pTM-Z N1439 (lane 6), pTM-Z N1062 (lane 7), pTM-ZDN824 (lane 8), pTM-Z N561 (lane 9); (B) pTM-1 (empty vector) (lane 1), pTM-Z N824C1062 (lane 2), pTM-Z N921C1062 (lane 3), pTM-Z N921C1015 (lane 4), pTM-Z N854C1015 (lane 5), pTM-Z N824C941 (lane 6), pTM-Z N824C853 (lane 7). Blots were probed with anti-ß-galactosidase murine primary antibody (Sigma) and goat anti-mouse IgG secondary antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (Sigma).
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FIG. 7. Western immunoblot analysis of L-NLS mutant. Lysates were obtained from BSR-T7 cells transfected with pTM-1 (empty vector) (lane 1) or pTM-L-AVVA (lane 2) and probed using murine anti-L1 antisera with goat anti-mouse IgG secondary antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (Sigma).
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To identify the NLS of BDV L, a flag epitope tag was fused with the wild type and with amino and carboxyl deletions of L (Fig. 1A). Indirect immunofluorescence with murine anti-flag M2 antibody (Sigma) on BSR-T7 cells transfected with expression plasmids showed clear nuclear staining when residues 759 to 1062 were present (Fig. 1B to F). Amino- and carboxyl-deletion mutants of L fused to ß-galactosidase confirmed the result observed with L-flag epitope tag fusions and were used to further narrow the sequence to residues 824 to 1062 (Fig. 2B, panels a to i).
Fine mapping of the L-NLS was performed by fusion of L to ß-galactosidase in order to ensure that fusion proteins were more than 60 kDa, the threshold for passive diffusion into the nucleus (14). Ultimately, residues 824 to 853 were identified as sufficient to drive nuclear localization of the ß-galactosidase fusion protein (Fig. 3C, panels a to f).
Analysis of this sequence indicated a strong NLS at residues 844 to 854. The activity of the NLS was confirmed by mutating the sequence within L (R844A/K847A). This L-NLS mutant localized to the cytoplasm of BSR-T7 cells (Fig. 4a). This region contained a stretch of basic residues similar to the SV40 class of NLSs (844RVVKLR849) (9). It is likely that these residues represent the core L-NLS. Core NLSs are usually defined by a hexapeptide, with K and R residues and either V, P, or A residues interspersed (9). P, G, or acidic residues flank the SV40 type of core NLS (2). Proline residues are present flanking the L-NLS; 852P but not 854P seems to play a role in the nuclear localization of L (pTM-Z
N824C853; Fig. 3C, panel f).
The results presented here with respect to L and elsewhere with respect to N, P, and X, confirm the intimate association between BDV and the host cell nucleus predicted by Sasaki and Ludwig (11) and Gosztonyi and Ludwig (7).
This work was supported by grant NS29425 from the National Institutes of Health.
Drug Discovery, Ribapharm, Inc., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. ![]()
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