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Journal of Virology, April 2002, p. 3292-3300, Vol. 76, No. 7
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.7.3292-3300.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Nuclear Interactions Are Necessary for Translational Enhancement by Spleen Necrosis Virus RU5
Andrew W. Dangel,1,2 Stacey Hull,1,3 Tiffiney M. Roberts,1,3 and Kathleen Boris-Lawrie1,2,3,4,5*
Center for Retrovirus Research,1
Departments of Veterinary Biosciences,2
Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics,4
Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program,3
Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-10935
Received 17 September 2001/
Accepted 4 January 2002

ABSTRACT
The 5' long terminal repeat of spleen necrosis virus (SNV) facilitates
Rev/Rev-responsive element (RRE)-independent expression of intron-containing
human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)
gag. The SNV RU5
region, which corresponds to the 165-nucleotide 5' RNA terminus,
functions in a position- and orientation-dependent manner to
enhance polysome association of intron-containing HIV-1
gag RNA and also nonviral
luc RNA. Evidence is mounting that association
with nuclear factors during intron removal licenses mRNAs for
nuclear export, efficient translation, and nonsense-mediated
decay. This project addressed the relationship between the nuclear
export pathway of SNV RU5-reporter RNA and translational enhancement.
Results of RNA transfection experiments suggest that cytoplasmic
proteins are insufficient for SNV RU5 translational enhancement
of
gag or
luc RNA. Reporter gene assays, leptomycin B (LMB)
sensitivity experiments, and RNase protection assays indicate
that RU5
gag RNA accesses a nuclear export pathway that is distinct
from the LMB-inhibited leucine-rich nuclear export sequence-dependent
CRM1 pathway, which is used by the HIV-1 RRE. As a unique tool
with which to investigate the relationship between different
RNA trafficking routes and translational enhancement, SNV RU5
and Rev/RRE were combined on a single
gag RNA. We observed a
less-than-synergistic effect on cytoplasmic mRNA utilization.
Instead, Rev/RRE diverts RU5
gag RNA to the CRM1-dependent,
LMB-inhibited pathway and abrogates translational enhancement
by SNV RU5. Our study is the first to show that a nuclear factor(s)
directs SNV RU5-containing RNAs to a distinct export pathway
that is not inhibited by LMB and programs the intron-containing
transcript for translational enhancement.

INTRODUCTION
Retroviruses contain structured RNA elements that interact with
viral and cellular proteins and modulate nuclear export and
efficient translation of intron-containing transcripts (reviewed
in references
3,
5, and
11). The long terminal repeat (LTR)
of spleen necrosis virus (SNV) facilitates Rev/Rev-responsive
element (RRE)-independent expression of unspliced human immunodeficiency
virus type 1 (HIV-1)
gag reporter RNA (
7). Quantitative RNA
and protein analysis identified a minor 2-fold increase in cytoplasmic
accumulation of
gag RNA but a greater-than-100-fold increase
in Gag protein production in response to the SNV LTR. The 165-nucleotide
5' RNA terminus encoded by the RU5 region of the LTR functions
in a position- and orientation-dependent manner to direct polysome
association and detectable Gag protein synthesis. SNV RU5 functions
in a cap-dependent manner (M. Butsch and K. Boris-Lawrie, unpublished
data) and is not an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) (
35).
The SNV U5 region also augments translation of nonviral luciferase
(
luc) RNA by increasing polysome loading (
35). Recently, the
R region of human foamy virus (HFV) and RU5 of Mason-Pfizer
monkey virus (MPMV) were also shown to program unspliced
gag RNA templates for Gag protein synthesis (
37; S. Hull and K.
Boris-Lawrie, submitted for publication). 5'-terminal translational
enhancers appear to be a mechanism shared among divergent retroviruses
to achieve efficient expression of viral structural protein.
The relationship between nuclear export and productive cytoplasmic
utilization directed by these 5'-terminal RNA elements remains
an important open question.
Evidence is mounting that nuclear association between nascent RNAs and viral and cellular nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling proteins choreographs steps of posttranscriptional gene expression (reviewed in references 10, 28, and 38). The HIV-1 Rev protein is an essential activator of nuclear export and cytoplasmic expression of intron-containing viral RNAs (14, 15, 20, 27). Rev interacts with newly synthesized RNA (23) by binding to the RRE, which is within the terminal intron of unspliced and singly spliced viral RNAs (9, 19, 21, 27, 36, 46). Using a leucine-rich nuclear export sequence (NES), Rev acts as an adapter protein that connects RRE-containing RNA to the CRM1/exportin 1 nuclear export receptor (17, 30). CRM1 interacts with FG repeats of nucleoporins and exports RRE-containing RNA by a leptomycin B (LMB)-inhibited pathway that is typically reserved for 5S rRNA and cellular proteins that contain leucine-rich NESs (16, 17). In the cytoplasm, Rev/RRE augments RNA translational efficiency by directing polysome association (1, 7, 12, 26). Results of in situ hybridization assays have shown that Rev transactivation correlates with colocalization of RRE-containing RNAs with the cytoskeleton, which is a supportive framework for interaction of polysomes and mRNA (24, 25). It is not known whether nuclear export by the CRM1-dependent pathway is necessary to program the RRE-containing RNA for subcellular localization with cytoskeletal polysomes and efficient translation.
This project addressed the relationship between the nuclear export pathway and translational enhancement by SNV RU5. Results of RNA transfection and in vitro translation assays indicate that cytoplasmic factors are insufficient for SNV RU5 translational enhancement and suggest that nuclear interactions are necessary. The nuclear export pathway of SNV RU5-containing RNAs is not known. LMB sensitivity assays and RNA analysis show that the nuclear export pathway of SNV RU5 is distinct from the CRM1-dependent pathway accessed by Rev/RRE. Upon combination of SNV RU5 and Rev/RRE on a single gag RNA, we observe that Rev/RRE sequesters the transcript to the leucine-rich CRM1-dependent nuclear export pathway and that this nuclear export pathway abrogates translational enhancement by SNV RU5. Our results are consistent with the model in which 5'-terminal SNV RU5 sequences and nuclear factors direct access to a particular nuclear export pathway that programs intron-containing RNA for efficient translation in the cytoplasm.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Plasmids.
The previously described plasmids used in this study are pYW99,
pYW208, pYW207, pYW205, pYW100, pGem (140-440), pMSBSVT7, pGAPDH
(
7), pTR103, and pTR105 (
35). Plasmids pYW100RRE, pYW205RRE,
and pTR155 were constructed from pYW100, pYW205, and pTR147,
respectively, by introduction of RRE into a
SalI site in the
3' untranslated region (UTR). Plasmid pTR147 was constructed
from pYW100 by exchange of the unique
BamHI/
ApaI fragment from
pYW207 that contains antisense RU5 and HIV 5' UTR sequences.
The RRE was amplified by PCR from HIV-1
BRU (coordinates 7217
to 7689). pYW233 contains nine point mutations in RU5 that were
introduced into pYW100 by PCR-based site-directed mutagenesis
(T. M. Roberts and K. Boris-Lawrie, unpublished data). Plasmids
pSVgagpolrre and pRev were kindly provided by David Rekosh,
University of Virginia (
41).
In vitro transcriptions and RNase protection assays (RPAs).
In the RNA transfection and in vitro translation experiments, DNA templates for in vitro transcription were prepared by PCR with primers that contain the T7 promoter sequence incorporated at the 5' terminus of the 5' oligonucleotide. 5'-capped transcripts were synthesized by T7 polymerase with mMessage mMachine (Ambion). The 3' RNA terminus was polyadenylated in duplicate reactions with poly(A) polymerase and either ATP or [
-32P]ATP. The concentrations of the in vitro transcripts were determined by spectrophotometry, and the quality was verified by denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the 32P-labeled aliquot and PhosphorImager analysis with ImageQuant version 4.2 software (Molecular Dynamics). RU5 gag and RU5 luc transcripts are 1,970 bases and 1,840 nucleotides in length, respectively.
For RPAs, antisense
-32P-labeled runoff transcripts were synthesized by MAXIscript T7 RNA polymerase (Ambion) in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. A probe complementary to HIVBRU sequences in the 5' UTR common to each of the reporter RNAs was in vitro transcribed from template pGEM(140-440) that had been linearized with NotI (7). A probe complementary to cellular glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) RNA was transcribed from template pGAPDH, which had been linearized with NcoI. The in vitro-transcribed RNAs were isolated by gel elution, and the RPAs were performed with RPAIII (Ambion) with some modifications. Briefly, 30 µg of cytoplasmic RNA or 15 µg of nuclear RNA was precipitated with 3 x 105 cpm of reporter probe and 2 x 104 cpm of the GAPDH probe. Samples were hybridized at 42°C for 16 h. Samples were digested with an RNase mixture at 37°C for 30 min and then extracted with phenol-chloroform and chloroform and precipitated with ethanol. Pellets were dissolved in loading buffer, heated at 90°C for 3 min, and subjected to denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on 5% gels. RNase protection products were visualized by PhosphorImager analysis.
In vitro translations.
RRLs (35 µl; Promega) were programmed with up to 400 ng of capped and polyadenylated transcript in a total volume of 50 µl and incubated at 30°C for 1 h. Translation-competent 293 cell lysates were prepared as described by Carroll and Lucas-Lenard without micrococcal nuclease treatment (8) and were programmed with capped and polyadenylated transcript in a total volume of 25 µl and incubated at 30°C for up to 1 h. Programmed lysates were directly assayed for Gag protein content or Luc activity.
Cells, transfections, and reporter assays.
293 cells are a human embryonic kidney cell line. RNA transfections were performed on 293 cells with dilutions of capped and polyadenylated transcript and 12 µl of Lipofectin (Gibco-BRL) in 1 ml of serum-free Dulbecco modified Eagle medium. The luc and gag RNAs were cotransfected and used reciprocally to normalize transfection efficiency. All transfection assays were performed in triplicate and for at least three replicate experiments. The Lipofectin-RNA mixtures were incubated with 293 cells (8 x 105) in 60-mm-diameter plates for 2 h and then replaced with Dulbecco modified Eagle medium containing 10% fetal calf serum. Cells were harvested in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at serial time points between 6 and 36 h posttransfection and resuspended in 55 µl of ice-cold lysis buffer (10 mM HEPES, 10 mM NaCl, 3 mM CaCl2, 7 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 0.5% NP-40). Cytoplasmic lysates were harvested by centrifugation at 9,300 x g for 2 min and subjected to a Gag enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or a luciferase assay. For reporter gene assays and LMB sensitivity experiments, 293 cells (3 x 105) in 60-mm-diameter plates were transfected with 1 µg of a reporter plasmid using a CaPO4 protocol (7). LMB was added 24 h posttransfection, and cells were harvested 24 h later.
HIV-1 Gag levels were quantified by Gag ELISA (Coulter Corp.) and normalized to firefly Luc activity expressed from cotransfected pGL3 (Promega). In DNA transfections that used firefly luc as the reporter gene, pRL-CMV (Promega) was cotransfected and Renilla luciferase activity was used to standardize transfection efficiency. Luc or Renilla luciferase assays were performed with 10 µl of lysate and 100 µl of substrate (Promega), and enzyme activity was quantified in a Lumicount luminometer (Packard).
RNA preparation.
Transfected 293 cells from three 10-cm-diameter plates that were treated with LMB at 0 or 2.5 ng/ml were harvested in PBS and lysed on ice for 15 min in a solution containing 10 mM Tris (pH 8.3), 150 mM NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, and -0.5% NP-40, and nuclei were removed by centrifugation at 10,000 x g for 10 min. The cytoplasmic supernatant was recentrifuged at 10,000 x g for 10 min, and the clarified extract was mixed with Tri-Reagent LS (Molecular Research). The nuclear pellets were washed twice in PBS and mixed with Tri-Reagent (Molecular Research). The RNAs were extracted in accordance with the manufacturer's protocol and treated with DNase I.

RESULTS
Cytoplasmic factors are insufficient for SNV RU5 translational enhancement.
We compared reporter gene activity from 293 cells transfected
either with reporter plasmid or liposomes containing in vitro-transcribed
capped and polyadenylated reporter RNA. The RNA transfection
assay has been used to assess reporter protein synthesis independently
of de novo transcription, RNA processing, and nuclear export
and provides an in vivo approach by which to determine whether
cytoplasmic factors are sufficient for translational enhancement
by SNV RU5 (
43).
Consistent with our published data, results of DNA transfection assays in 293 cells indicate that SNV RU5 in the sense orientation confers Rev/RRE-independent expression of intron-containing gag RNA (Table 1, pYW100 and pYW208) (7). Furthermore, SNV RU5 augments expression of nonviral luc reporter RNA (compare pTR103 and pTR105) (35). Efficient Gag production is not observed from Gag reporter plasmids that lack SNV RU5 (pYW205, pYW99, and pSVgagpolrre) or contain antisense SNV RU5 (pTR147 and pYW207) or substitution mutant SNV RU5 (pYW233). As expected, cotransfected pRev activates expression from the RRE-containing plasmids (pSVgagpolrre and pTR155).
Results obtained with the synthetic capped and polyadenylated
gag reporter RNAs indicate that SNV RU5
gag RNA is efficiently
utilized as template mRNA for Gag protein synthesis (Fig.
1,
19 ± 0.1 ng/ml, normalized to 1). However, unlike results
obtained with the reporter plasmids, similar levels of Gag are
synthesized from
gag reporter RNAs that contain deleted, antisense,
or substitution mutant SNV RU5. Luc activity also remained similar
upon transfection with
luc RNA that contained sense, antisense,
or deleted SNV RU5 (44,000 ± 13,000 relative light units
[RLU], normalized to 1). The lack of SNV RU5 stimulation was
sustained when dilutions of the reporter RNAs were transfected
and when shorter incubation periods were evaluated, indicating
that the RNAs were not used at saturating levels and were able
to titrate SNV RU5-interactive proteins (data not shown). The
results indicate that SNV RU5 does not confer a positive effect
on the translation of either
gag or
luc reporter transcripts
that are introduced directly into the cytoplasm. The data imply
that interaction between SNV RU5 RNA and a nuclear factor(s)
is necessary for the positive effect of SNV RU5. An alternative
explanation is that the structural conformation of SNV RU5 is
not recapitulated in liposomes. However, Stoneley et al. observed
that the human rhinovirus type 2 IRES remains functional in
the liposome-mediated RNA transfection assay (
43).
Because a cell-free assay would be a useful tool with which
to investigate SNV RU5-interactive proteins, we also investigated
the utility of in vitro translation assays. RRL programmed with
sense SNV RU5
gag transcripts produced significant Gag protein
(Fig.
1, 100 ± 8.7 ng/ml, normalized to 1). Gag production
was sustained or increased fourfold in RRL programmed with an
antisense SNV RU5
gag or deletion-containing SNV RU5
gag transcript,
respectively. Analysis of
luc transcripts identified that RRL
programmed with sense SNV RU5
luc exhibited Luc activity (8,300
± 1,700 RLU, normalized to 1), while antisense SNV RU5
luc transcripts increased Luc activity 2-fold and deletion of
SNV RU5 increased Luc activity 11-fold. The inhibitory effect
of SNV RU5 on protein synthesis in RRL is likely attributable
to structural barriers in SNV RU5 RNA. Structural barriers in
HIV-1 RU5 and other 5' UTRs have been previously shown to inhibit
protein synthesis in RRL (
18,
22,
29). We also performed in
vitro translation assays with 293 cell cytoplasmic lysates because
293 cells had been used to characterize SNV RU5 in the DNA transfection
assays. The extracts were verified to be translationally competent
by [
35S]methionine incorporation into nascent polypeptide chains
(data not shown) and by programming with reporter transcripts
and confirmation of reporter protein synthesis (Fig.
1). Gag
production in response to a sense SNV RU5
gag or a mutant SNV
RU5
gag transcript was the same (50 ± 7 ng/ml, normalized
to 1). The lack of SNV RU5 stimulation in vitro was sustained
in the RRL or 293 cell extracts when dilutions of reporter RNA
were tested and when shorter incubation periods were evaluated,
indicating that the RNAs were not used at saturating levels.
The data from these in vitro translation systems are consistent
with the RNA transfection results and indicate that the positive
effect of SNV RU5 is not recapitulated in these cytoplasmic
extracts. The data imply that nuclear interactions are necessary
for translational enhancement by SNV RU5. An alternative explanation
is that these conventional in vitro translation extracts are
deficient in faithful regulation of translation initiation.
LMB does not inhibit cytoplasmic accumulation of SNV RU5 gag RNA.
LMB inhibits activation of nuclear export by Rev/RRE by alkylation of CRM1 at Cys-529 and prevention of leucine-rich NES-mediated nuclear export (17, 33, 44). DNA transfection assays were used to investigate whether or not nuclear export of SNV RU5 gag reporter RNA is sensitive to LMB. Triplicate cultures of transfected 293 cells were treated with various concentrations of LMB for 24 h posttransfection, and cell-associated reporter proteins were quantified. Consistent with previous reports, LMB severely reduced Gag production in cells cotransfected with pRev and RRE-containing plasmid pSVgagpolrre (lacks SNV RU5) or pTR155 (contains antisense SNV RU5) (Fig. 2). By contrast, Gag production from pYW100 (contains SNV RU5) was not inhibited by LMB and is reproducibly enhanced in response to LMB. Similar responses were observed when SNV RU5 was positioned downstream of the SNV U3 promoter (pYW100) or the cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate-early promoter (pYW208) (Fig. 3). Deletion of SNV RU5 (pYW205), which reduces Gag production to low but detectable levels, eliminated the LMB enhancement of Gag production. The data indicate that SNV RU5 confers LMB-enhanced expression in a promoter-independent manner.
The lack of LMB inhibition of Gag production from SNV RU5
gag reporter RNA suggests that the RNA accesses a nuclear export
pathway that is distinct from the leucine-rich NES/CRM1-mediated
pathway utilized by Rev/RRE. To evaluate the effect of LMB on
cytoplasmic accumulation of SNV RU5
gag RNA, RPAs were performed
on nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA from transfected 293 cells treated
with LMB at 0 or 2.5 ng/ml. The uniformly labeled HIV antisense
RNA probe is complementary to the 5' UTR and distinguishes unspliced
gag mRNA and spliced versions of the primary transcript (Fig.
4A) (
7). LMB treatment of cells transfected with pYW100 increased
the cytoplasmic accumulation of SNV RU5
gag threefold (Fig.
4B and
C). The increase in cytoplasmic SNV RU5
gag RNA is proportional
to the fourfold increase in Gag protein observed in response
to LMB (Table
2). Cytoplasmic accumulation of spliced SNV RU5
transcripts displayed a similar 2.6-fold increase, indicating
that both spliced and intron-containing versions of SNV RU5-containing
RNA are affected by LMB. In contrast, cells transfected with
the RRE-containing reporter pTR155 and pRev exhibited a reduction
in the cytoplasmic accumulation of RRE
gag RNA and Gag production
by a factor of 0.6. These data indicate that SNV RU5 provides
both spliced and intron-containing RNAs access to a nuclear
export pathway that is distinct from the NES-CRM1-mediated Rev/RRE
pathway. A possible explanation for the LMB enhancement of
gag RNA expression conferred by SNV RU5 is that CRM1 inactivation
alters the availability of a rate-limiting SNV RU5 nuclear export
or RNA stability cofactor(s).
The combination of SNV RU5 and Rev/RRE augments Gag expression.
We sought to evaluate whether or not the combination of SNV
RU5 and Rev/RRE on a single RNA would synergistically augment
gag gene expression. The RRE was introduced into pYW100 (contains
RU5) and pYW205 (lacks RU5), and Gag production was measured
in the presence or absence of Rev. The introduction of RRE had
little effect on Gag production in the absence of Rev (Table
3). As expected, cotransfection of Rev transactivated Gag production
from pYW100RRE and from pYW205RRE). Notably, the magnitude of
the increase in Gag production was smaller in the presence of
SNV RU5 than in the absence of SNV RU5 (compare pYW100RRE [34-fold]
and pYW205RRE [95-fold]). To address the possibility that the
lower fold transactivation is attributable to a maximum threshold
of Gag production from pYW100RRE plus Rev, dose-response curves
were generated with twofold molar increases of cotransfected
pRev. Gag production from pYW100RRE, pYW205RRE, and pTR155 increased
progressively in response to increasing pRev and demonstrated
that Gag production had not reached a maximum threshold (data
not shown). Furthermore, pYW100RRE RNA continued to exhibit
a smaller magnitude of Rev transactivation. An alternative explanation
for the lower fold Rev transactivation for pYW100RRE is that
Rev/RRE disrupts translational enhancement by SNV RU5. Consistent
with this possibility, the positive effect of SNV RU5 was reduced
in the presence of Rev. The positive effect of SNV RU5 was 7.5-fold
in the absence of Rev (compare pYW100RRE [30 ± 1.5 ng/ml]
and pYW205RRE [4 ± 0.8 ng/ml]) and was reduced to 2.7-fold
in the presence of Rev (compare pYW100RRE plus pRev [1,030 ±
350 ng/ml] and pYW205RRE plus pRev [380 ± 37 ng/ml]).
NES/CRM1-dependent Rev/RRE nuclear export pathway is dominant and impedes translational enhancement by SNV RU5.
LMB was used to determine whether or not Rev/RRE can divert
SNV RU5
gag RNA to the LMB-inhibited CRM1/NES-dependent pathway.
In the absence of Rev, pYW100RRE exhibits LMB-enhanced Gag production
(Fig.
5), similar to those from pYW100 (Fig.
2A). Gag levels
from pYW100RRE increased to 190% ± 8%, indicating that
RRE does not disrupt LMB enhancement by SNV RU5. However, in
the presence of Rev, Gag production from pYW100RRE was inhibited
by LMB (Fig.
5). Gag production was reduced to a level similar
to that of pYW205RRE plus pRev (lacks RU5). The shift of pYW100RRE
RNA from LMB enhancement in the absence of Rev to LMB inhibition
in the presence of Rev indicates that SNV RU5 and Rev/RRE compete
for posttranscriptional control of
gag RNA. Rev/RRE appears
to sequester the SNV RU5 transcripts to the LMB-sensitive NES/CRM1-mediated
nuclear export pathway.
Quantitative RNA and protein analysis was used to determine
whether or not sequestration to the Rev/RRE pathway abrogates
SNV RU5 translational enhancement. The positive effect of Rev
on cytoplasmic accumulation of the
gag RNA was similar for pYW100RRE
(contains SNV RU5) and pTR155 (antisense SNV RU5) RNAs, 4.5-fold
and 2.9-fold, respectively (Fig.
6A; Table
4). Consistent with
the results in Table
3, Rev transactivated Gag production from
both reporters. Again, the magnitude of the increase was smaller
in the presence of SNV RU5 than in the absence of SNV RU5 (14-fold
versus 42-fold). The translational efficiency of the
gag RNAs
remained similar for pYW100RRE and pTR155 in the presence of
Rev, 0.26 and 0.30, respectively. However, in the absence of
Rev, the translational efficiency of pYW100RRE was greater by
2.6-fold (Fig.
6B). These results indicate that SNV RU5 and
Rev/RRE do not function in a synergistic manner to increase
the cytoplasmic expression of
gag RNA. The augmentation of translational
efficiency observed with RU5 alone (compare pTR155 [1.0-fold]
and pYW100RRE [2.6-fold]) is abrogated upon Rev/RRE and RU5
combination (compare pTR155 plus Rev [4.3-fold] and pYW100RRE
plus Rev [3.7-fold]) (Fig.
6B). Similar results were observed
in replicate experiments with pYW205RRE (lacks RU5) and pYW100RRE
(data not shown). The elimination of the positive effect of
SNV RU5 by Rev/RRE correlates with sequestration to the LMB-inhibited
CRM1/NES nuclear export pathway. A possible explanation is that
SNV RU5, but not Rev/RRE, recruits a nuclear factor(s) that
is necessary to program the RU5
gag RNA for translational enhancement
in the cytoplasm.

DISCUSSION
Our results uncover a functional linkage between the SNV RU5
nuclear export pathway and translational enhancement of intron-containing
retroviral mRNA. Results of RNA transfection assays with synthetic
gag and
luc RNAs that are capped and polyadenylated indicate
that cytoplasmic factors are insufficient for translational
enhancement by SNV RU5. We observed that
gag RNA introduced
into the cytoplasm by RNA transfection is functional template
mRNA for protein synthesis. Our data corroborate extensive studies
with reporter plasmids and HIV provirus indicating that the
Rev/RRE dependence of
gag RNA is attributable to derepression
of nuclear retention (
6,
9a,
14,
26a,
37a). Consistent with
previous studies, our in vitro translation data obtained with
RRL and 293 cell lysates indicate that neither Rev/RRE nor SNV
RU5 is necessary for Gag protein synthesis in cytoplasmic extracts
(
12). The positive effect of SNV RU5 was not recapitulated in
the in vitro translation extracts. This negative result is consistent
with a role for nuclear factors or the notion that translational
regulation is not faithfully reconstituted in these cell extracts.
Recently, a protocol was developed with HeLa cells for the preparation
of in vitro translation extracts that faithfully recapitulate
the synergistic interplay between the 5' cap structure and the
poly(A) tail during translation initiation (
4). Recapitulation
of this aspect of translational regulation may be necessary
to execute SNV RU5 translational enhancement in vitro.
LMB was used as a tool with which to determine that SNV RU5-containing RNAs achieve nuclear export independently of the leucine-rich NES/CRM1-independent nuclear export pathway utilized by Rev/RRE. Recently, similar CRM1-independent RNA export of intron-containing RNA was reported for the Rous sarcoma virus direct repeat (DR) element, the MPMV constitutive transport element, and the hepatitis B virus posttranscriptional regulatory element (PRE) (33, 34, 45). SNV RU5 is distinct in affecting both intron-containing and intron-lacking reporter RNAs. At high concentrations of LMB (5 to 10 nM), DR element- and PRE-mediated gene expression is increased (33, 34), which is reminiscent of our results obtained with SNV RU5. Although the DR element and the PRE do not share with SNV RU5 a direct effect on translational efficiency, the DR element augments other aspects of cytoplasmic expression, including RNA stability, RNA packaging, and efficient virus assembly (2, 31, 32, 39, 40, 42). SNV RU5 and the DR element may recruit common cellular factors that provide access to a distinct CRM1-independent nucleocytoplasmic export pathway that targets the RNA for cytoplasmic localization at particular subcellular microenvironments, active translation centers in the case of SNV RU5, and virus assembly sites in the case of the DR element.
The combination of SNV RU5 and Rev/RRE on a single RNA provided a unique tool with which to investigate the relationship between utilization of a particular nuclear export pathway and translational enhancement by SNV RU5. First, our data demonstrate that Rev/RRE is significantly more potent than SNV RU5 in its magnitude of posttranscriptional activation. Second, the combination of Rev/RRE and SNV RU5 increases posttranscriptional gene expression in a less-than-additive manner. The small positive effect of the combination of SNV RU5 and Rev/RRE correlates with a small increase in cytoplasmic RNA accumulation of gag RNA and may be attributable to an increase in the stability or export of the RNA. Third, in the presence of Rev/RRE, LMB-inhibited nuclear export of RU5 gag-RRE RNA is observed to function dominantly over the LMB-enhanced pathway. Fourth, sequestration of SNV RU5 gag-RRE RNA to the LMB-enhanced pathway correlated with abrogation of translational enhancement by SNV RU5. The possibility that the translational efficiency of the reporter RNA had reached a maximum level was eliminated by the observation that the gag RNA was competent for increased amounts of Gag protein synthesis when Rev was overexpressed. Our results support the model in which interaction between SNV RU5 and a nuclear factor(s) is necessary for SNV RU5-mediated translational enhancement.
We speculate on two possible roles of nuclear factors in SNV RU5-mediated translational enhancement. First, SNV RU5 may interact with a nuclear factor that is, or recruits, a rate-limiting translation initiation factor. An attractive candidate is eIF4E because eIF4E shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm and is the rate-limiting initiation factor for cap-dependent translation (13). In a second model, SNV RU5 interacts with a cellular protein that resembles Rev in the ability to provide nuclear export to a particular RNA export pathway and direct polysome association. This scenario is similar to the recent suggestion that R of HFV directs HFV Gag translation by delivery of the RNA to a translationally active environment in the cytoplasm (37). While Rev functions cotranscriptionally (23) to activate nuclear export by the leucine-rich NES/CRM1-dependent pathway and selectively drives intron-containing gag RNA along a particular cytoplasmic circuit, the hypothetical Rev-like factor would bind SNV RU5 and facilitate export and polysome association along a different cytoplasmic circuit. The dominance of Rev/RRE may be attributable to cotranscriptional interaction of Rev/RRE and host proteins at a point upstream of interaction between SNV RU5 and an RU5-interactive protein(s). We note that SNV RU5 confers LMB enhancement in the context of either the SNV U3 or CMV immediate-early promoter/enhancer, indicating that recruitment of RU5-interactive factors is not strictly dependent on cotranscriptional recruitment by the SNV promoter. SNV, HFV, and MPMV are divergent retroviruses, but they share 5' RNA elements that may interact with a common nuclear factor(s) that programs the intron-containing RNA for productive cytoplasmic utilization.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Minoru Yoshida (University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan)
for the gift of LMB, Paul Copeland (Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland,
Ohio) for expert advice on preparation of 293 cell translation
lysates, and Jennifer Frey for plasmid construction. We are
grateful to Michael Lairmore for comments on the manuscript
and Patrick Green for discussion.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R29AI40851) and the National Cancer Institute (P30CA16058), Bethesda, Md.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University, 1925 Coffey Rd., Columbus, OH 43210-1093. Phone: (614) 292-1392. Fax: (614) 292-6473. E-mail:
boris-lawrie.1{at}osu.edu.


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Journal of Virology, April 2002, p. 3292-3300, Vol. 76, No. 7
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.7.3292-3300.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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