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Journal of Virology, February 2002, p. 2003-2008, Vol. 76, No. 4
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.4.2003-2008.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Nancy Ginzton, and Suzanne M. Matsui*
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, and Gastroenterology Section, Department of Medicine, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California 94304
Received 9 July 2001/ Accepted 13 November 2001
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Little is known about the processing of the astroviral nonstructural proteins nsP1a and nsP1a/1b translated from ORF1a and ORF1b or about the role of the presumed 3C-like serine protease in nsP1a. Gibson et al. reported the in vitro expression of the full-length nsP1a and nsP1a/1b (4) but presented no data on processing. In another study (9), a single autocatalytic processing event was observed in nsP1a in a cell-free expression system. In contrast, Willcocks et al. found multiple nsP1a-derived fragments in infected Caco-2 cells (21) but did not define any cleavage sites. Here we present a map for the processing of nsP1a of HAstV-1 in tissue culture cells as well as evidence for autocatalytic cleavage.
We constructed a series of plasmids containing ORF1a and ORF1b sequences derived from a full-length cDNA clone of HAstV-1 (pAVIC) (2). The initial construct, which contained the complete ORF1a as well as the first 367 nt of ORF1b, was modified in one or more of the following ways: the coding sequence for a 9-amino-acid (aa) Arg-Gly-Ser-His6 epitope (His tag) was fused to the 5" end of the intact ORF1a (His-nsP1a) or the 5" end of a truncated ORF1a lacking the 5" 1,179 nt coding for aa 1 to 393 of nsP1a (His-394-nsP1a), or the protease domain in nsP1a was disrupted by replacing aa 546 to 554 with an unrelated sequence (Tyr-Pro-Tyr-Asp-Val-Pro-Asp-Tyr-Ala), thereby deleting the proposed catalytic serine (Ser551) and two amino acids implicated in substrate binding, Thr546 and Gln547 (nsP1a
, His-nsP1a
, and His-394-nsP1a
). All cloning operations were performed according to standard protocols (19). Deletions, insertions, and mutations were introduced by using a PCR-based strategy (6, 7) and verified by sequencing. The construct coding for 421-nsP1a, which was kindly provided by D. Kiang, contained ORF1a-derived sequences coding for aa 421 through 920 of nsP1a and no ORF1b sequences.
The vaccinia virus-driven infection-transfection system (1) was used to express the series of astrovirus ORF1a- and ORF1b-derived sequences in BHK cells. After metabolic labeling with [35S]methionine-cysteine, 35S-labeled nsP1a-specific products were immunoprecipitated from cell lysates with either a monoclonal antibody against the N-terminal His tag (MAb
His; Qiagen, Valencia, Calif.) or an nsP1a-specific polyclonal antibody (pAb 5-6). The latter was produced by mice immunized with a fragment of nsP1a spanning aa 445 to 688 that was expressed in bacteria as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase (20). Immunoprecipitates were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and detected by autoradiography. Differences in the intensities of the 35S bands among the lanes can be attributed to the levels of expression of the individual ORF1a-derived sequences as well as to the stabilities of the translation products. However, within one lane, the intensities of the bands reflect the relative amounts of cleavage products for a given translation product.
When the full-length nsP1a linked to an N-terminal His tag (His-nsP1a) was expressed in BHK cells as described above, a 20-kDa fragment was immunoprecipitated with MAb
His (Fig. 1A). The 20-kDa fragment has to extend from the N terminus of nsP1a, as it contains the N-terminally linked His tag. Therefore, the 20-kDa band suggests cleavage at approximately aa 180 of His-nsP1a (or at aa 170 of nsP1a) (Fig. 1B). A faint band of about 101 kDa probably represents the unprocessed, full-length His-nsP1a translation product (expected molecular mass, 102 kDa). Disruption of the protease motif in nsP1a (His-nsP1a
) did not diminish immunoprecipitation of the 20-kDa fragment (Fig. 1A), indicating that cleavage at around aa 170 of nsP1a does not depend on an intact ORF1a-encoded protease.
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FIG. 1. Immunoprecipitation of His-tagged nsP1a-derived proteins expressed in BHK cells with MAb His. (A) Confluent BHK cells in six-well plates were infected with a recombinant vaccinia virus (multiplicity of infection, 10) encoding T7 DNA-dependent RNA polymerase. After 45 min, the infected BHK cells were transfected with 2 to 3 µg of plasmid DNA encoding nsP1a/1b-derived sequences under the control of a T7 DNA-dependent RNA polymerase promoter, or a control plasmid, by using Lipofectamine in accordance with the manufacturer's directions (Gibco-BRL, Gaithersburg, Md.). At 4 h posttransfection, the medium was removed, and the cells were starved in Met-Cys-free medium for 30 min and then labeled with 30 to 50 µCi of [35S]Met-Cys (Tran35S-label; ICN Biomedicals, Irvine, Calif.) per well for 15 min. Cell lysates were prepared, and nsP1a-specific products were immunoprecipitated with MAb His (Qiagen) as described previously (5). The immunoprecipitated products were separated on an SDS-10% polyacrylamide gel (11), and the radiolabeled bands were visualized by autoradiography. Prestained molecular mass standards (Rainbow Marker; Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, N.J.) were run in parallel, and their positions on the gel were transferred to the autoradiogram. Mock, mock-infected cells. (B) Interpretation of the bands seen in panel A. Open boxes represent the generic nsP1a and nsP1b encoded by ORF1a and ORF1b, respectively. nsP1b is translated as a fusion protein with nsP1a only after the occurrence of a -1 ribosomal frameshift. Conserved motifs are indicated by horizontal stripes (TM, transmembrane helices), vertical stripes (NLS, nuclear localization signal), diagonal stripes (prot, protease), and cross-hatching ( , 9-aa substitution in protease; see text). nsP1a-derived translation products expressed in BHK cells are depicted as lightly shaded boxes. Processing products identified on the gel are shown as darkly shaded boxes. The N-terminally linked His tag is indicated in black. Suggested cleavage sites are indicated by arrowheads.
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When the protease motif was disrupted in His-394-nsP1a
, immunoprecipitation with MAb
His gave rise to the same 61- and 76-kDa bands (Fig. 1A). A series of much fainter bands with smaller molecular masses was also seen and may represent nonspecific degradation products. However, the specific 30-kDa band seen in the case of His-394-nsP1a was no longer detected, suggesting that cleavage at approximately aa 655 of nsP1a is dependent on the protease in nsP1a.
To confirm the locations of the proposed cleavage sites and to identify others, we examined the processing of nsP1a and His-394-nsP1a by using an antibody that recognizes an internal region of nsP1a (pAb 5-6; epitope contained in aa 445 to 688). Lysates of BHK cells expressing nsP1a or His-394-nsP1a were immunoprecipitated with pAb 5-6, and the immunoprecipitates were separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as described above (Fig. 2A). For nsP1a, two bands, of 26 and 27 kDa, were detected. His-394-nsP1a gave rise to a very strong signal at 27 kDa and a much fainter one at 47 kDa. The presence of the 27-kDa fragment for both nsP1a and His-394-nsP1a indicates that it is derived from a location downstream of aa 393. At the same time, this fragment has to overlap at least part of the region from aa 445 to 688, which contains the pAb 5-6 epitope. Immunoprecipitation of His-394-nsP1a with MAb
His did not yield a 27-kDa band but did yield a slightly larger, 30-kDa fragment, which extends from aa 394 to the proposed cleavage site at about aa 655 and thus spans most of the region containing the pAb 5-6 epitope (Fig. 1A). This finding suggests that the pAb 5-6-precipitable 27-kDa processing product derived from His-394-nsP1a represents an N-terminally truncated version of the MAb
His-precipitable 30-kDa fragment. Cleavage at around aa 410 of nsP1a would lead to the removal of a 3-kDa sequence, including the His tag, from the N terminus of the 30-kDa fragment to yield the 27-kDa fragment. To test this hypothesis, we examined the processing of an nsP1a-derived construct lacking the N-terminal 420 aa (421-nsP1a), which we expected to yield an N-terminally truncated pAb 5-6-precipitable processing product about 1 kDa smaller than 27 kDa. As predicted, a 25.5-kDa band and a much fainter 45.5-kDa band (Fig. 2A) were detected, confirming the location of the N terminus of the 27-kDa fragment (and the 47-kDa fragment) at approximately aa 410 of nsP1a (Fig. 2B). At the same time, the length of the 25.5-kDa fragment extending from aa 421 of nsP1a is consistent with the proposed cleavage site at aa 655 of nsP1a. The 45.5- and 47-kDa bands seen in Fig. 2A are likely to have resulted from aberrant processing, since they are detected only for the N-terminally truncated 421-nsP1a and His-394-nsP1a constructs, respectively, and not for the full-length nsP1a.
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FIG. 2. Immunoprecipitation of nsP1a-derived proteins expressed in BHK cells with pAb 5-6. (A) nsP1a/1b-derived sequences were expressed in BHK cells, and processing products were analyzed as described in the legend to Fig. 1A, except that labeling was done for 90 min and pAb 5-6 was used for immunoprecipitation. (B) Interpretation of the bands seen in panel A. Representation is as described in the legend to Fig. 1B. The epitope for pAb 5-6 is indicated by a thick black line.
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or His-394-nsP1a
(Fig. 2A), the 27-kDa fragment could no longer be detected after immunoprecipitation with pAb 5-6. This finding indicates that cleavage at approximately aa 410 and 655 is dependent on an intact protease motif in nsP1a. In the case of His-394-nsP1a
, the same pattern of bands representing the full-length translation product and the frameshifted His-394-nsP1a
/1b fusion protein could be seen after immunoprecipitation with pAb 5-6 (Fig. 2A, 60 and 72 kDa) as had been observed with MAb
His (Fig. 1A, 61 and 76 kDa). For nsP1a
, a specific band of about 76 kDa was detected (Fig. 2A). This likely reflects the C-terminal cleavage product obtained after processing at approximately aa 170 (expected molecular mass, 82 kDa), which was shown to be independent of the protease contained in nsP1a. It is noteworthy that in the case of nsP1a
, much of the radioactivity remains at the top of the gel. To a lesser degree, this is also true for the other full-length constructs, nsP1a (Fig. 2A), His-nsP1a, and His-nsP1a
(Fig. 1A). In contrast, for the N-terminally truncated constructs, His-394-nsP1a, His-394-nsP1a
, and 421-nsP1a (Fig. 2A), none of the radioactivity can be found at the top of the gel. This observation suggests that sequences between aa 394 and the proposed cleavage site at approximately aa 170 promote the formation of large complexes. While the expression of ORF1a in BHK cells through a vaccinia virus-driven infection-transfection sytem allows us to study the processing of deleted and mutated forms of nsP1a, the astrovirus replication-independent expression in vaccinia virus-infected cells and the secondary conformational effects of the deletions and mutations may also lead to artificial processing events. We therefore used immunoprecipitation with pAb 5-6 to detect nsP1a processing products present in Caco-2 cells that had been infected with wild-type HAstV-1 and compared them with those found in BHK cells expressing ORF1a by means of the vaccinia virus-based expression system. The results are shown in Fig. 3. The same specific band (28 kDa) can be detected in both astrovirus-infected cells and BHK cells expressing ORF1a through the vaccinia virus-based expression system. This result clearly validates the findings on nsP1a processing in BHK cells. In particular, it demonstrates the presence of the 27- to 28-kDa nsP1a fragment believed to result from cleavage at approximately aa 410 and 655 of nsP1a in infected Caco-2 cells, where nsP1a is expressed and processed in the natural context of astroviral replication.
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FIG. 3. pAb 5-6-precipitable processing products derived from nsP1a expressed in BHK cells or Caco-2 cells. nsP1a was expressed in BHK cells as described in the legend to Fig. 1A, except that labeling was followed by an 85-min cold chase. Caco-2 cells in six-well plates were infected with astrovirus at a multiplicity of infection of 4 or were mock infected. At 4 h postinfection, the cells were starved for 30 min in medium without Cys or Met and then metabolically labeled with 50 µCi of [35S]Met-Cys for 30 min. Medium containing 35S label was replaced with cold medium, and cell lysates were prepared after either a 40- or a 90-min chase. nsP1a-specific products were immunoprecipitated with pAb 5-6 and analyzed as described in the legend to Fig. 1A.
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Cleavage at approximately aa 410 and 655 appears to depend on the 3C-like serine protease in nsP1a. 3C-like proteases generally require a glutamine, a glutamic acid, or occasionally a valine in the -1 position (10). The +1 position is usually occupied by glycine, alanine, serine, threonine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, or methionine. If we assume the involvement of the ORF1a-encoded 3C-like serine protease, the likely cleavage sites in nsP1a are between Val409 and Ala410 and between Glu654 and Ile655. Since the nsP1a sequence is largely conserved among the known human astrovirus sequences, sequence conservation cannot be used to confirm the proposed cleavage sites. In addition, the possibility has not been excluded that the 9-aa substitution in the protease motif affects the processing of nsP1a
indirectly, by distorting the substrate, rather than directly, by disabling the protease. To study the involvement of the protease contained in nsP1a in autocatalytic cleavage in more detail, site-directed mutagenesis of the presumed catalytic triad will have to be performed. The exact definitions of the cleavage sites proposed here will ultimately require N-terminal sequencing of the processing products.
This work was supported by grants from the NIH (1 R21 AI43513) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA Merit Review) to S.M.M.
Present address: University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, Calif. ![]()
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