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Journal of Virology, June 2003, p. 6255-6264, Vol. 77, No. 11
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.11.6255-6264.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Jihong Yang,1 Keqin Gregg,2 Alain Nepveu,3 Jaquelin P. Dudley,2 and Patrick Hearing1*
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794,1 Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78705,2 Molecular Oncology Group, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1A13
Received 23 October 2002/ Accepted 25 February 2003
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Ad5 DNA encapsidation is dependent on cis-acting sequences located on the left end of the genome between nucleotides (nt) 194 and 380 (15, 16, 22, 39). The left end of the Ad5 genome is depicted in Fig. 1A. Through deletion and linker scanning mutagenesis, seven repeats have been identified within this domain that contribute to viral DNA packaging. These repeats are called A repeats because of their A/T-rich content. Although A repeats are functionally redundant, they follow a hierarchy of importance. A1, A2, A5, and A6 are the most important repeats for packaging activity (15, 16, 39). These repeats contain a bipartite consensus motif shown in Fig. 1B. Both the first and the second half-site of the consensus motif, as well as the 8bp spacing between the half sites, are important in viral DNA packaging (39). Several lines of evidence suggest that a limiting trans-acting factor(s) plays a role in the packaging process in conjunction with the cis-acting sequences (16, 39, 40). First, an isolated packaging domain on a multicopy plasmid represses packaging of a wild type virus in vivo. Second, coinfection experiments in vivo show that viruses with a greater number of packaging repeats package more efficiently than viruses with fewer packaging repeats. These results suggest competition for a limiting packaging factor(s) in vivo. Multimerized individual packaging repeats, termed minimal packaging domains, have been used to study Ad DNA packaging (40). Minimal packaging domains were shown to support packaging in vivo at various degrees when built into viruses lacking the genuine packaging sequences (Fig. 1C). When used in binding assays in vitro as probes, two cellular activities were identified that bind these sites including P complex, a previously uncharacterized protein(s), and chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor (COUP-TF) (40).
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FIG. 1. (A) Schematic representation of the left end of the Ad5 genome. Nucleotide coordinates, relative to the left terminus, are indicated and the ITR is represented by a gray box. A repeats 1 to 7 are represented by arrows between nt 194 and 380. (B) The packaging repeat consensus motif. Alignment of A repeats 1, 2, 5, and 6. Nucleotides comprising the bipartite sequence motif shared by these repeats are indicated in bold letters and the consensus motif is shown below in boldface type. (C) Packaging efficiencies and DNA binding affinities of the minimal packaging domains. Packaging efficiencies of the recombinant viruses carrying different minimal domains (percent packaging compared to a wild type-virus) (34) and the binding affinities of the domains when used in in vitro binding assays with P complex or COUP-TF (40) or Oct-1 (this work), are indicated. The numerical superscript refers to the number of copies of the synthetic packaging repeats present in the recombinant viruses. Symbols for in vitro binding assays: +++, competition efficiency equivalent to self-competition of the probe with identical, unlabeled competitor DNA sequences; ++++, increased binding relative to the +++ level; ++, binding reduced 3- to 5-fold relative to this level; +, binding reduced 15- to 25-fold relative to the ++ level; -, no protein binding activity detected.
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In this paper we report that another cellular protein, octamer-1 protein (Oct-1), binds to minimal packaging sequences. The focus of this study was to examine the functional relevance of Oct-1 and P-complex binding to the viral packaging domain. Our results demonstrate that Oct-1 binding to packaging repeats is not functionally relevant to viral DNA packaging, whereas P-complex binding to the packaging repeats directly correlates with packaging function. We show that P complex contains the cellular protein CCAAT displacement protein (CDP) and that full-length CDP is found in purified virus particles. All the data gathered to date supports the hypothesis that P complex is functionally relevant for viral encapsidation, and that CDP interacts with viral factors to direct the packaging process.
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Cultured cells and infections.
Monolayer HeLa and 293 cells were maintained in Dulbecco's modified minimal essential medium (DMEM) containing 10% calf serum (HyClone) and the antibiotics penicillin and streptomycin. N52.E6 cells were maintained in
-modification of Eagle's medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum (HyClone). The N52.E6 cell line is a primary human amniocyte line that is transformed by E1 proteins of Ad5 (38). Virus infections were performed at a multiplicity of infection of 5 PFU per cell for 1 h at 37°C. Cells were then washed twice with Tris-buffered saline solution and overlaid with fresh medium. For the determination of virus yield, infected cell lysates were prepared at 4, 24, and 48 h postinfection, and the infectious virus yield was determined by plaque assays on 293 cells.
Extract preparation and gel mobility shift assays.
Nuclear extracts were prepared by the method of Dignam et al. (9) and dialyzed overnight against a solution containing 20 mM HEPES (pH 7.5), 100 mM NaCl, 10% glycerol, 5 mM MgCl2, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, and 0.5 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (DB-100). The dialyzed lysate was cleared by centrifugation at 25,000 x g for 20 min. Two to five micrograms of nuclear extract was incubated with 0.5 µg of poly(dI-dC) and 20,000 to 50,000 cpm of 32P-labeled probe DNA (5 to 10 fmol of DNA) per in vitro binding reaction. The binding reaction was carried out in a total volume of 10 µl for 1 h at 4°C in 40 mM HEPES (pH 7.5), 70 mM NaCl, 0.1 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM, 10 µg of bovine serum albumin per ml, and 4% Ficoll. The complexes were resolved electrophoretically at 10 V/cm on a 4% 30:1 (acrylamide-bisacrylamide) polyacrylamide gel in 0.5x TBE (25 mM Tris[pH 8.3], 25 mM boric acid, 0.5 mM EDTA) at 4°C. For gel mobility supershift experiments, 0.3 µl of a rabbit polyclonal anti-CDP antiserum (48) or preimmune antiserum was added 0.5 h before or 0.5 h after the addition of probe. Peptide antibodies (0.5 µl) raised against different portions of CDP (
-23,
-403,
-510,
-861, and
-1300 [29; unpublished data) were added to the reaction mixes 0.5 h before or 0.5 after the addition of probe. Anti-Oct-1 antibody (catalog no. 232; Santa Cruz Biotechnology) was added after the addition of probe DNA. 0.5 to 2 µg of glutathione S-transferase (GST)-POU protein was used in binding reactions for gel mobility shift experiments.
Preparation of mobility shift probes and unlabeled competitors.
A head-to-tail dimer of Ad5 A5-7 repeat was cloned into pUC9. This fragment was liberated from the vector by digestion with EcoRI and HindIII and gel purified, and 100 ng of the fragment was 32P end labeled using Klenow DNA polymerase and [
-32P]dATP. Ad3 A(5-7)2, Ad5 A(5-7)2, Ad9 A(5-7)2 (5'-TCGACGGCGGAATATTTACCGAGGGCCGAGAGACTTTGACCGATTACGTGGGGGTTTC-3'), and Ad12 A(5-7)2 (5'-TCGACCGCGGAATATTTACCGAGGGCAGAGTGAACTCTGAGCCTCTACGTGTGGGTTTC-3') repeats were cloned into pE1A-194/814 plasmids. These fragments were liberated from their vectors by digestion with BspE1 and SgrA1, gel-purified, and 100 ng of these fragments were 32P-labeled using Klenow DNA polymerase and [
-32P]dCTP. The ITR oligonucleotide was annealed to its respective complementary strand (flanked by Xho/Sal linkers) (5'-TCGAGTTGTCATCAATAATGGTCGAGTTGTCATCAATAATGG-3') and was end labeled in the same way, using [
-32P]dCTP. Aliquots of radiolabeled DNA fragments were subjected to trichloroacetic acid precipitation to measure the specific activity of each probe. Quantification of bound versus unbound probe was performed using a Molecular Dynamics Storm 860 PhosphorImager and ImageQuant software. For the preparation of competitor DNAs containing packaging repeats, monomeric oligonucleotides were multimerized using T4 DNA ligase. Selection of head-to-tail multimers was achieved by subsequent digestion with SalI and XhoI, followed by phenol-chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. The sequences of the competitor DNAs were previously described (40).
Protein fractionation. Uninfected HeLa cell nuclear extract (50 mg of total protein) was subjected to heparin agarose chromatography with a bed volume of 1 ml/10 mg of loaded protein. The nuclear extract was applied in buffer DB-100 and washed with 5 bed volumes of loading buffer. Bound proteins were eluted using a 0.1 to 1.0 M linear NaCl gradient in DB. Binding activities were identified by gel shift analysis using different packaging and ITR sequences as probes. Generally, 2 µl of each heparin agarose column fraction was used for gel mobility shift assays using the same binding conditions as described above.
Western blot analysis. Western blot analysis was performed using 5 µl (10 to 15 µg protein) of uninfected, dl327-, and dl327-CMV-Flag-CDP-HA-infected N52.E6 nuclear extracts boiled in 2x sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) sample buffer, and electrophoresed on an SDS-8% polyacrylamide gel. Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose and probed with anti-Flag or anti-HA antibodies (diluted 1:2,500 and 1:800, respectively). Proteins were visualized using a secondary horseradish peroxidase-conjugated antibody and chemiluminescence as recommended by the manufacturer (Amersham). dl327 and dl327-CMV-Flag-CDP-HA virus particles (1011 particles) were disrupted by boiling in 100 µl of 2x SDS sample buffer, and 20 µl of each sample was examined by Western blotting as described above.
Virion purification. Six 100-mm-diameter plates of N52.E6 cells were infected with 5 PFU/cell dl327 virus or dl327-CMV-Flag-CDP-HA virus. Cells were harvested 48 h postinfection, pelleted, and resuspended in Tris-buffered saline. After three freeze-thaw cycles, cellular debris was removed by centrifugation at 2,500 x g for 10 min. The lysates were subjected to one CsCl step gradient and, subsequently, one or two rounds of CsCl equilibrium gradient centrifugation. Banded virions were diluted with distilled H2O and ethanol precipitated. Precipitated virions were resuspended in 2x SDS sample buffer and examined by Western blotting as described above.
Expression and purification of GST-POU protein. pET-GST-POU plasmid (kindly provided by Winship Herr) was introduced into BL21 DE3 cells. Protein expression was induced by adding isopropyl-ß-D-thiogalactopyranoside (final concentration of 0.4 mM) to a 500 ml culture at an optical density at 600 nm of 0.7. After overnight incubation, cells were pelleted by centrifugation, resuspended in phosphate-buffered saline containing protease inhibitors (2 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 0.5 mM pepstatin, 2 µg of leupeptin/ml, 0.5 mM benzamidine), and lysed by the addition of lysozyme (final concentration of 100 µg/ml) and NP-40 (final concentration of 0.1%). The extracts were sonicated for 30 s and clarified by centrifugation at 25,000 x g for 15 min. One milliliter of 50% glutathione agarose beads (Sigma) was added to the supernatant fluid and the slurry was incubated overnight at 4°C with gentle mixing. The beads were washed extensively with phosphate-buffered saline and bound protein was eluted using 400 µl of 50 mM Tris (pH 8.8) and 10 mM reduced glutathione. Twenty microliters of 10x buffer (100 mM KCl, 5% glycerol, 0.1 mM EDTA, 2 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 2 mM dithiothreitol, 0.5 mM pepstain, 2 µg of leupeptin/ml, 0.5 mM benzamidine) was added to the eluate and aliquots of the sample stored at -80°C.
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FIG. 2. Three cellular activities interact with the minimal packaging domains. Uninfected HeLa cell nuclear extract was fractionated by heparin agarose chromatography. Gel mobility shift experiments were performed using every other fraction (fractions 2 to 42 are represented) and the dimeric A(5-7) probe. Oct-1, P-complex and COUP-TF binding activities are indicated by arrows and the respective fractions indicated across the top.
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FIG. 3. Binding of Oct-1 to minimal packaging domains. (A) A gel mobility shift assay was performed using fraction 18 (Fig. 2) and an A16 probe. Several binding activities are evident with this probe and are indicated with arrows (lane 1). Anti-Oct-1 antibody was added to the binding reaction in lane 2. (B) Oct-1 binds to A-repeats with different apparent affinities. Bacterially expressed GST-POU domain of Oct-1 protein was used in a gel mobility shift assay with the A(5-7)2 probe (lane 1). Increasing amounts of specific competitor oligonucleotides (40- and 200-fold molar excess) were added to binding reactions in lanes 2 to 9 representing different multimeric A repeats: lanes 2 and 3, A repeats 5 to 7; lanes 4 and 5, A repeat 6; lanes 6 and 7, A repeat 2; lanes 8 and 9, A repeat 1.
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Oct-1 is not functionally relevant to viral DNA packaging. Sequences overlapping the A5 and A6 packaging repeats are highly conserved among different Ad serotypes, although several nucleotide differences within the consensus sequence are present (Fig. 4A). A(5-7)2 domains from different Ad serotypes were used as probes in gel mobility shift assays and their binding to Oct-1 and P complex was determined (Fig. 4B and C). Oct-1 bound to A-repeats 5-7 of Ad5, Ad9 and Ad12, but not to Ad3 (Fig. 4B). In contrast, P complex bound to A repeats 5 to 7 of all Ad serotypes (Fig. 4C). A hybrid virus carrying A(5-7)2 repeats from Ad3 in an Ad5 virus lacking the genuine packaging sequences was constructed and analyzed. Growth of this virus was compared to a homologous virus carrying the Ad5 A(5-7)2 packaging sequences in place of the natural packaging domain to determine if the inability of Oct-1 to bind to the packaging domain of this recombinant virus correlated with a DNA packaging defect. The Ad3 A5-7 packaging repeats supported virus growth to the same level as the Ad5 A5-7 repeats (Fig. 5). Thus, we conclude that Oct-1 does not play a functional role in viral DNA packaging since the Ad3 A5-7 A-repeats support packaging efficiently but do not bind Oct-1. In addition, P complex binding to A repeats of different Ad serotypes is consistent with packaging function.
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FIG. 4. (A) An alignment of A repeats 5 and 6 from different Ad serotypes is shown. The bold nucleotides indicate the first and the second half sites of the packaging consensus motif. The plus symbols indicate identical nucleotides to those found at that position with Ad5. (B) Gel mobility shift experiments were performed using fraction 18 (Fig. 2) with Ad5 A(5-7)2 (lane 1), Ad9 A(5-7)2 (lane 2), Ad 12 A(5-7)2 (lane 3), and Ad3 A(5-7)2 (lane 4) probes. Oct-1 binding activity is indicated by an arrow. (C) Gel mobility shift experiments were performed using fraction 22 (Fig. 2) with Ad5 A(5-7)2 (lane 1), Ad3 A(5-7)2 (lane 2), Ad9A (5-7)2 (lane 3), and Ad 12 A(5-7)2 (lane 4) probes. P-complex binding activity is indicated by an arrow.
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FIG. 5. Single step growth curve of viruses carrying Ad 5 A(5-7)2and Ad 3 A(5-7)2 packaging repeats in place of the natural packaging domain in Ad5. N52.E6 cells were infected with the two viruses and virus growth was measured by plaque assay of the virus produced at 4, 24, and 48 h postinfection.
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-Oct-1 antibodies abolished Oct-1 binding to the A(5-7)2 probe (lanes 8 and 9) but did not affect the formation of P complex, as expected. The same experiment was performed using ITR sequences containing the P-complex binding site as probe (Fig. 6B). Two major binding activities were observed (lane 1). These binding activities were either abolished (lane 4) or supershifted (lane 5) upon addition of
-CDP antibodies while preimmune serum,
-SATB1 and
-Oct-1 antibodies did not have an effect.
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FIG. 6. P complex contains CDP. (A) Gel mobility shift assays were performed using uninfected HeLa nuclear extract and an Ad5 A(5-7)2 probe. Preimmune (preim.) serum (lanes 2 and 3), -CDP antibody (lanes 4 and 5), -SATB-1 antibody (lanes 6 and 7), and -Oct-1 antibody (lanes 8 and 9) were added to the reactions 0.5 h before (lanes 2, 4, 6, and 8) or 0.5 h after (lanes 3, 5, 7, and 9) the addition of probe. (B) The same experiment shown in panel A was repeated using the ITR probe.
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200-kDa polypeptide that is subsequently cleaved during S phase by an unknown protease to yield
85-kDa and
110k Da proteins (29; Fig. 7A). Antipeptide antibodies raised against various regions of CDP (Fig. 7A) were used in gel mobility shift analyses to determine which form(s) of CDP was present within P complex (Fig. 7B). P complex was generated using heparin agarose fraction 22 (Fig. 2) and the Ad5 A(5-7)2 probe (Fig. 7B, lane 1). This complex was clearly supershifted upon addition of
-1300,
-861 and
-510 antibodies, before or after the addition of the probe (Fig. 7B, lanes 6 to 11) and a partial supershift was observed using the
-403 antibody (Fig. 7B, lanes 4 and 5). The proteolytic cleavage of CDP occurs downstream of CR1, between amino acids 659 and 878 (30). The
-861 and
-1300 antibodies recognize both full-length CDP and the
110-kDa cleavage product, whereas the
-403 and
-510 antibodies recognize full-length CDP and the
85-kDa cleavage product. P complex was supershifted by the
-510 antibody and there was partial supershift with
-403 antibody. Since the
85-kDa form of CDP does not bind to DNA (30), we conclude that P complex likely contains full-length CDP.
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FIG. 7. P complex contains full-length CDP. (A) Schematic diagram of the full-length CDP protein; a coiled coil (CC) region, the Cut repeats (CR1 to -3) and the homeodomain (HD) are indicated. Antibodies raised against the different parts of the protein are shown in brackets above the diagram. Full-length CDP and the 110- and 85-kDa proteolytic products of CDP are shown below the diagram. (B) Gel mobility shift assays were performed using fraction 22 (Fig. 2) with an Ad5 A(5-7)2 probe. Different antibodies were added to the reaction mixes, as indicated, 0.5 h before (lanes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) or 0.5 h after (lanes 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11) the addition of probe.
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-Flag and
-HA monoclonal antibodies and anti-CDP 23 and 1300 polyclonal antibodies (Fig. 8B). Antibodies directed against both epitope tags detected an
200-kDa polypeptide in WCE prepared from infected, but not uninfected, cells and allowed us to conclude that this species represented the full-length CDP protein. Other less prominent polypeptides were also detected in the infected WCE that likely represent the cleaved portions of the protein previously described (29). Full-length CDP was detected using the 23 and 1300 polyclonal antibodies against CDP. Smaller forms of CDP that were evident using the monoclonal antibodies also were observed using these polyclonal antibodies confirming their assignment as C-terminal and N-terminal truncation forms of CDP.
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FIG. 8. CDP in found in purified virus particles. (A) Schematic diagram of the recombinant Ad expressing epitope-tagged full-length CDP. The CMV-Flag-CDP-HA expression cassette is indicated as a patterned box and is situated in place of the E1 region. The virus also contains a deletion of E3 (dl327). The schematic is not drawn to scale. (B) Western blot analysis of WCE using uninfected and dl327-CDP-infected cells. Anti-Flag and -HA antibodies were used for detection of epitope-tagged CDP and anti-CDP antibodies 23 and 1300 were used to detect endogenous and epitope-tagged CDP forms. (C) Purified virus particles from dl327- and dl327-CDP-infected cells were isolated and examined for CDP by Western blot using -Flag and -HA antibodies. The mobility of molecular weight markers is indicated for each gel.
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-Flag and
-HA antibodies (Fig. 8C). An
200-kDa polypeptide corresponding to full-length CDP was detected with both antibodies in the sample prepared from dl327-CDP virions but not from dl327 virions. Other smaller polypeptides were detected with the
-Flag and
-HA antibodies. These smaller polypeptides do not represent cross-reactivity of the antibodies with Ad capsid proteins since they were not detected using dl327 virus particles. They may represent cleaved forms of CDP (30). In addition, Ad virions contain an active proteinase (44) and it is possible that the smaller CDP-derived polypeptides detected in dl327-CDP virions were produced by proteolysis of full-length CDP within the virion during maturation. As a control for the specificity of packaging of CDP into virus particles, as opposed to copurification of CDP on the surface of virions, we analyzed packaging of a C-terminally truncated mutant form of CDP that does not bind DNA (30). While the CDP mutant protein was expressed at high levels in infected cells, it was not found in purified virus particles (data not shown). We conclude from these results that full-length CDP is packaged within virions. |
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Previous results indicated that COUP-TF binding to the minimal packaging sequences does not play a functional role in viral DNA packaging (40). There is, however, a direct correlation between how well Oct-1 and P complex bind to minimal packaging domains in vitro and how efficiently they function in packaging assays in vivo (40). A(5-7)2 domains from different Ad serotypes were tested for their ability to bind P complex and Oct-1. Despite a strong homology among the Ad3, 5, 9 and 12 serotypes within this region, especially within the A-repeat consensus motif, minor differences that affect Oct-1 binding have been identified (Fig. 4A). Our goal was to establish a convincing link between DNA binding affinity and packaging efficiency. The ability of the Ad3 A(5-7)2 to substitute efficiently for the Ad5 packaging domain in a recombinant virus (Fig. 5) but not bind Oct-1 (Fig. 4B) shows that the DNA binding activity of Oct-1 is not functionally relevant to viral DNA packaging. We speculated that Oct-1 might be the DNA binding component of P complex but several lines of evidence that argue against this idea. Polyclonal
-Oct-1 antibodies, added before and after the addition of probe DNA, did not affect P-complex formation (Fig. 6A and B), and the peak of Oct-1 protein present in heparin agarose fractions did not coincide with P-complex activity (data not shown). Moreover, a high affinity Oct-1 binding site did not compete for P-complex binding in gel mobility shift assays.
Evidence gathered to this date supports the notion that P complex plays a functional role in viral DNA packaging (40). P complex binds to all the minimal packaging domains. The relative affinity of P complex for the different domains in vitro correlates well with the ability of the respective cis-acting sequences to support viral DNA packaging in vivo. We have uncovered the identity of P complex, or a component of the complex, by supershift analysis. Addition of polyclonal antibodies raised against CDP, before or after the addition of probe, abolished or supershifted P-complex binding activity depending on the probe and antibody used (Fig. 6 and 7). CDP, an
200-kDa protein, was first identified in Drosophila (named Cut) as a cell fate-determining factor (4). CDP contains three DNA-binding domains, termed Cut repeats (CR), in addition to a homeodomain (Fig. 7A) (29). CDP is cleaved in S phase by an unknown protease into a C-terminal
110k-kDa fragment and a N-terminal
85-kDa fragment (30). The DNA binding properties of the full-length and the 110-kDa proteins differ. The cleaved
110-kDa protein exhibits stable binding to DNA through its CR3 and homeodomain whereas the full-length protein binds transiently to DNA through its CR1 and CR2 domains (29, 30). The N-terminal
85-kDa fragment does not appear to bind to DNA (30). We have shown that P complex very likely contains full-length CDP (Fig. 7B) and that full-length CDP is found within mature virions (Fig. 8C). These results predict that CDP binds to Ad packaging A repeats via the CR1 and CR2 domains. The specificity of packaging of CDP into virus particles, as opposed to copurification of CDP on the surface of virions, is indicated by two observations. First, a truncated CDP mutant protein that lacks the C terminus was expressed at high levels in infected cells, but it was not found in purified virus particles. Since C-terminally truncated CDP mutants do not bind DNA (30), this indicates that DNA binding is required for CDP to copurify with virus particles. If CDP copurified with virus particles by sticking to the outside surface of virions, then one would expect to copurify the truncated mutant protein. Second, CDP in virions was enriched for several smaller forms compared to cellular extracts (Fig. 8). We would expect that if CDP contaminated the particles by sticking to their surface, then the CDP profile would look very similar to that seen with cellular extracts. Instead, the enrichment suggests that these forms are selectively packaged and/or full-length CDP is proteolytically cleaved within virus particles, perhaps by the Ad proteinase. We conclude that CDP copurifies with virus particles because CDP is located within virions.
Our working model for Ad DNA packaging is depicted in Fig. 9. CDP binds to the first half site of the A repeat consensus sequence within the packaging domain along with sequences within the ITR (nt 1 to 13, Fig. 6). Recently, the Ad-encoded protein IVa2 was found to bind the CG-rich sequence in the A repeat consensus motif (46) and compelling evidence for the role of IVa2 in viral packaging in vivo was described (47). Mutation of the second half-site of A repeats significantly reduces viral DNA packaging in vivo further implicating a functional involvement of IVa2 in DNA encapsidation (39). The L1 52/55-kDa protein directly interacts with IVa2 (18). Mutant viruses that do not express L1 52/55-kDa protein accumulate empty capsids with little or no packaged viral DNA, demonstrating that this protein also plays a role in viral DNA packaging (17, 21). It is hypothesized that IVa2 binding to the packaging sequences may bring L1 52/55-kDa protein in close proximity to the packaging domain. How the L1 52/55-kDa and IVa2 proteins facilitate packaging is unknown but both proteins are found in empty capsids and at much higher levels than in mature virus particles (17, 21). Thus, the L1 52/55-kDa and IVa2 proteins may play a role as scaffolding proteins to support empty capsid structure. It also seems likely that these viral proteins are involved in specific recognition of the packaging domain based on the binding of IVa2 to A repeat sequences (46). Full-length CDP binds transiently to DNA (29, 30) and P complex has similar DNA binding properties. The requirement for a precise spacing between the first and second half-sites of A repeats for packaging function (39) is consistent with the possibility that CDP may interact with IVa2 to stabilize the protein-DNA complex.
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FIG. 9. Model for specificity of Ad DNA packaging. The left terminus of the Ad genome is schematically represented with ITR and packaging (PACK) domains denoted by boxes. CDP protein is indicated with a gray circle and binds to ITR sequences and the first half-site of the A-repeat consensus sequence. The IVa2 protein is indicated with an open oval and binds to the second half-site of the packaging A-repeats. The L1 52/55-kDa protein is indicated with a stippled oval and interacts with the IVa2 protein. The binding of CDP to the ITR and packaging sequences may direct the formation of a higher order DNA-protein structure linking these functional elements, as shown.
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Finally, these results may have implications for the development of Ad gene therapy vectors. High-capacity or "gutless" Ad gene therapy vectors have been developed that lack all viral coding sequences; these vectors rely on a helper virus for their propagation (25). The packaging of the helper virus must be regulated under conditions of gutless vector production in order to minimize contamination of the gene therapy vector with wild type helper virus. Currently, the Cre-Lox recombination system is used to excise the packaging domain from the helper virus genome in order to selectively repress helper virus packaging while allowing the packaging of the gene therapy vector (25). The selective binding of Oct-1 to Ad5 packaging repeats, but not Ad3 packaging repeats, could be used to augment the efficiency in this system. We found that A repeats 5 to 7 of either Ad5 or Ad3 efficiently supported the growth an Ad5 recombinant virus that contains these A-repeats in place of the natural packaging domain (Fig. 5). We speculate that the packaging of a helper virus that contains Ad5 A-repeats 5 to 7 could be selectively repressed by Oct-1 overexpression at late times after infection whereby the bone fide packaging factor(s) may be displaced from the packaging repeats. In contrast, the packaging of a gutted vector that contains Ad3 packaging repeats may be refractory to such repression since Oct-1 does not bind to these sites.
This work was supported by Public Health grants AI41636 to P.H. and CA34780 to J.P.D. and by grant MT-11590 from the Canadian Institute of Health Research of Canada to A.N.
Present address: Division of Hematology/Oncology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229. ![]()
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