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Journal of Virology, December 2003, p. 12660-12670, Vol. 77, No. 23
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.23.12660-12670.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center,1 Department of Neurology,2 Department of Medicine,3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-72954
Received 29 May 2003/ Accepted 2 September 2003
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The HCMV immediate-early (IE) proteins, IE1-72 and IE2-86, are nuclear proteins that play important roles in the regulation of both viral and cellular gene expression. IE2-86 can transactivate a number of viral and cellular promoters (dihydrofolate reductase and thymidine kinase genes, etc.) which are associated with cell proliferation and DNA replication (2, 11, 14, 16, 20, 23, 26, 28). Expression of IE2-86 induces the progression of quiescent cells into S phase and delays cell cycle exit. Analogous to IE2-86, expression of IE1-72 protein can induce several S-phase-associated genes, including dihydrofolate reductase and DNA polymerase
(15, 27, 37). In the absence of p53, IE1-72 expression can also induce S phase and delay cell cycle exit (7).
The cyclins are key cell cycle regulatory factors that are controlled by a number of mechanisms, including their gene expression, phosphorylation, subcellular localization, and degradation, as well as activation of cyclin-dependent kinases (cdk's) (1, 32, 34). Cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity can be activated by the immediate-early genes, IE1 and IE2, in HCMV-infected cells (4, 21). Transactivation of the cyclin E promoter by IE2 has been reported (4), but the mechanism for IE1 activation of cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity in HCMV-infected cells is still unclear.
Another class of proteins involved in regulating the cell cycle includes the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (pRb) and its related proteins, p107 and 130. These pRb-related proteins serve as cell growth suppressors and share a homologous sequence called the pocket domain, which can bind to E2F, a protein known to promote proliferation (9, 36). pRb is thought to bind to and inhibit the activity of E2F, preventing cell entry into S phase (18, 39). p107 contains two independent domains implicated in cell growth suppression. The p107 pocket domain is located at the C terminus and, like the pocket domain of pRb, can bind to and inhibit the activity of E2F4, causing cell growth arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. The other growth-suppression domain is located at the N terminus of p107 and interacts with cyclin/cdk kinases. p107 forms complexes with cyclin A/cdk2 or cyclin E/cdk2 to repress the activity of these kinases (46, 47). The interaction between p107 and cyclins and cdk's that results in inhibition of kinase activity has been demonstrated to be a way to regulate the cell cycle (6, 36, 40, 41, 46, 47). The formation of complexes between p107 and cyclin/cdk kinases appears in a temporally defined manner. The p107-cyclin E/cdk2 complex is seen in late G1 phase, and the p107-cyclin A/cdk2 complex is seen later in S phase (24, 48).
Both IE1-72 and IE2-86 are able to bind to pRb family proteins. IE2-86 binds to pRb (8, 13), while IE1-72 binds to p107 (22, 30). The interaction between IE1-72 and p107 is dependent on the N terminus of p107 and exons 2, 3, and 4 of IE1-72 (22). Because the N terminus of p107 is necessary for binding to IE1-72 as well as to cyclin E/cdk2, we hypothesized that IE1-72 could disrupt the complex between p107 and cyclinE/cdk2. Thus, when HCMV infects cells and IE1-72 is expressed, the subsequent interaction of IE1-72 with p107 frees cyclin E/cdk2. This allows cyclin E/cdk2 to become an active kinase. To assess this hypothesis and to further define the interacting domains binding between p107 and IE1-72, we employed a series of deletion and point mutants of IE1-72 and p107. In this communication, we demonstrate that the interaction of IE1-72 with p107 does indeed activate cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity. The helix-loop-helix-turn-helix (HLHTH) domain in exon 3 and leucine zipper-2 (LZ-2) in exon 4 of IE1-72 are necessary for its binding to p107. In addition, amino acids (aa) 1 to 175 of the N-terminal region of p107 are essential for its binding to IE1-72.
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Preparation of cell lysates for Western analysis, IP, and kinase assays. Procedures for preparation of whole-cell lysates for Western blotting and IP were performed as described previously (30). Cells were harvested at the indicated times posttransfection. Cells were pelleted by low-speed centrifugation and washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Cells were then incubated in an EBC buffer (0.05 M Tris-HCl [pH 8.0], 0.12 M NaCl, 0.5% Nonidet P-40, 0.1 M NaF, 0.2 mM Na-orthovanadate, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride [PMSF], 10 µg of leupeptin/ml, and 1 µg of aprotinin/ml) at 4°C for 1 h, or in 0.2% Tween 20 lysis buffer (50 mM HEPES [pH 7.3], 150 mM NaCl, 2.5 mM EGTA, 1 mM EDTA, 0.2% Tween 20, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 1 mM PMSF, 1 µg of aprotinin/ml, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 10 mM ß-glycerophosphate, and 1 mM NaF) at 4°C for 4 h. Microcentrifugation at 13,600 x g for 15 min at 4°C was used for clarification. Supernatant was removed, and protein concentrations were determined with the Bio-Rad (Richmond, Calif.) protein assay kit.
To prepare whole-cell extracts for the kinase assays, cells were rinsed twice with PBS prior to harvest. Cell pellets were washed with PBS once and resuspended in 0.2% Tween 20 lysis buffer and lysed for 4 h on ice. Cellular debris was removed by centrifugation for 15 min at 13,600 x g at 4°C. The supernatant was recovered and stored at -70°C until use (10).
Transfection and CAT assays. C33A cells were transfected with various combinations of plasmids as indicated using the Effectene kit, following the manufacturer's protocol (Qiagen). Cells were grown in six-well plates and transfected when a density of 50% confluence was reached. A total of 0.8 µg of DNA was used in each transfection. The mixture of DNA and Effectene reagent was suspended in 600 µl of DMEM and added to the cells in 1 ml of DMEM-free serum. The cells were incubated at 37°C and 6% CO2 for 24 h, and then 1 ml of DMEM with 12% fetal bovine serum was added (30). After 24 h, cells were harvested and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) assays were performed, as described previously (12).
Immunocomplex kinase assays.
Immunocomplex kinase assays were performed as described previously (10). Cyclin E kinase complexes were immunoprecipitated from 200 µg of total cell protein with anti-cyclin E mouse monoclonal antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, Calif.) for 4 h at 4°C and collected on 15 µl of protein A-Sepharose CL-4B beads (Amersham, Piscataway, N.J.) overnight at 4°C. Immunoprecipitates were washed twice with lysis buffer (0.2% Tween 20 lysis buffer) and twice with kinase buffer (50 mM HEPES [pH 7.3], 10 mM MgCl2). They were then resuspended in 15 µl of kinase buffer (containing 1 mM dithiothreitol, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 2.5 mM EGTA, 20 µM ATP, 10 mM ß-glycerophosphate, and 1 mM NaF) with 1.5 µg of histone H1 substrate (Upstate, Lake Placid, N.Y.) and 5 µCi of [
-32P]ATP (ICN, Irvine, Calif.). The kinase reaction was allowed to proceed for 30 min at 30°C and was stopped by the addition of 15 µl of 2x sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) sample buffer. Samples were boiled for 5 min and then separated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Gels were vacuum dried, and phosphorylated substrate was visualized by autoradiography.
IP. Cell extracts of 500 µg of protein were first precleared with protein A- or protein G-Sepharose CL-4B beads (Amersham) for 1 h at 4°C. Beads were spun out, and then the precleared cell extract was incubated with appropriate antibody for 4 h. The protein complexes were precipitated by incubation with protein A- or G-Sepharose CL-4B beads overnight at 4°C. Precipitated complexes were washed three times with 0.2% Tween 20 lysis buffer and then resuspended in 2x sample buffer and boiled for 3 min. Proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and analyzed by Western blotting.
In vitro protein interaction. All transcription-translation of proteins was done with the Promega TnT-coupled reticulocyte lysate system (Promega, Madison, Wis.) for [35S]methionine labeling. The manufacturer's protocol was followed. Proteins were translated individually and then mixed in the indicated combinations for 1 h at 30°C. IPs were performed with 20 µl of translated protein, 0.5 µg of antibody, and 25 µl of protein G beads, in 0.3 ml of ELB+ buffer. The reactions were allowed to proceed overnight, and the beads were washed five times with ELB+ before boiling and separation by SDS-PAGE. The gels were dried and exposed to Kodak X-ray film.
Western blotting (immunoblotting) analysis. Equal protein amounts of whole-cell extracts (35 to 100 µg, depending on the specific antigen to be tested) were separated by SDS-PAGE gels and then transferred for 3 to 4 h to Immobilon-P membranes (Millipore, Billerica, Mass.). Blots were blocked in 5% (wt/vol) nonfat dry milk dissolved in PBS-0.1% Tween 20. Blots were probed with primary antibody in PBS-0.1% Tween 20 (1:1,000 dilution for anti-p107 [Santa Cruz Biotechnology], 1:20,000 for anti-IE1-72 [our lab], 1:20,000 for anti-IE2-86 [our lab], and 1:1,000 for anti-cyclin E and anti-cdk2 antibody [Santa Cruz Biotechnology]). After extensive washing, blots were probed with an appropriate peroxidase-labeled secondary antibody. Blots were again washed extensively and developed by enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL; Amersham).
Plasmid constructs. The IE1-72 and IE2-86 expression vectors (pcDNA3IE1-72 and pcDNA3IE2-86) have been previously described (43). The adenovirus E2CAT and the E2CAT mutant were gifts from Steve Bachenheimer and were described previously (25). The p107 expression vector (pCMVneop107) and the p107 vector used for transcription-translation (pBSKII p107) were obtained from Liang Zhu (46-48). pGEX2Tp107 used to produce glutathione S-transferase (GST)-p107 was generated from pBSKp107 by inserting a BamH1 fragment of p107 into pGEX2T at the BamH1 site. The direction of the insertion was identified by DNA sequencing.
Construction of IE1-72 mutants. The cDNA fragment encoding IE1-72 in pGEX2TIE1-72 was mutated by using the GeneEditor in vitro site-directed mutagenesis system (Promega) and subcloned into pcDNA3 plasmid at the BamH1 site. The site-directed mutants of IE1-72 were created using primers with the following sequences: M10 (179-184), 5'pGCATGATGTGAGCGAGGCCGCCGCTACCGAGTTGGGGGGTGC; M11 (192-197), 5'pGCACTGCAGGCTACGGCCCGTGCTACAACGGATGAACTTAGG; M12 (10-16), 5'pCCAAGAGAAGAGTGGCCCCTGCTAATCCTGCCGCGGGCCCTTCCTCC; M13-1 (45-52), 5'pGTTGAGGAAGGAGGTTACCAGTCCGCTGAGTCTGGCAGCCCCGCTGTTTCAGAG; M13-2 (71-77), 5'pCTTTTGAACAAGTGACCGCGGCTTCCACCGCGAAACCCGAGAAAGATGTCC; M13-3 (57-64), 5'pGACCCGCTGTTTCCAGCGTTGGCCGCAGCATCCCTCACAACTTTTGAACAAGTG; M14 (106-114), 5'pCAAGGAGCACATGCTGACAACATCTACCCAGACGGCAGCGCAATTCACTGGCGCCTTTAATATG; and M15 (312-318), 5'pGAGTTCTGTCGGGTGCAGTCCTCCTCTGTCTTTGCGGAGACTAGTGTGATGC. The cDNAs and the orientation of IE1-72 or its mutants in vectors were verified by DNA sequencing. DNA and amino acid sequences and the schematic location of the point mutants of IE1-72 are shown in Table 1 and below in Fig. 4A, respectively.
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TABLE 1. Mutated sequences of the IE1-72 protein
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FIG. 4. The aa 45 to 52 (loop structure of HLHTH) and aa 312 to 318 (LZ-2) sequences of IE1-72 are required for its interaction with p107. (A) Schematic diagram of the mutation sites of constructed IE1-72 mutants. (B) Autoradiographs of direct loads of in vitro-translated [35S]methionine-labeled p107, IE1-72, IE1-72 mutant proteins, and IE2-86, as indicated. (C) Autoradiographs of [35S]methionine-labeled proteins within complexes immunoprecipitated with various antibodies. Lane 1, [35S]methionine-labeled p107 protein immunoprecipitated with anti-p107 antibody; lane 2, [35S]methionine-labeled p107 protein immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 antibody; lane 3, [35S]methionine-labeled IE1-72 immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 antibody; lanes 4 to 12, [35S]methionine-labeled IE1-72 (wild type and mutants) and p107 within complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 antibody; lanes 13 to 15, [35S]methionine-labeled proteins in complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-IE2-86 antibody (controls). (D) GST-p107 pull-down experiment using in vitro-translated and [35S]methionine-labeled IE1-72 wild-type or mutant proteins. Results demonstrated that M13-1 and the M-15 mutant did not bind to GST-p107.
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Deletions of p107N30-flag and p107N175-flag, in which the first 30 or 175 aa of p107 were deleted and the flag sequence was tagged at the C terminus of the deletion, were produced by a similar strategy to that mentioned above, but the template DNA was pCMVneop107 and the 5' primers were p107N30-flag (5'CACTGGATCCATGGACGAGGGGAGCGCG) and p107N175-flag (5'CGGCGGATCCATGTTCTGTTGGACACTTTTTG). The common 3' primer mentioned above was used. DNA and amino acid sequences and the schematic of the p107 deletion and point mutants are shown in Table 2 and also below in Fig. 8A.
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TABLE 2. Sequences of p107 mutants
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FIG. 8. The aa 1 to 175 sequence of the p107 protein is required for interaction with the IE1-72 full-length protein. (A) Schematic diagram showing the mutation sites of various p107 mutants. (B) Autoradiograph of direct loads of in vitro-translated [35S]methionine-labeled IE1-72 and mutants of p107, as indicated. (C) Autoradiographs showing the presence of [35S]methionine-labeled IE1-72 and/or p107 or p107 mutant proteins in IP complexes from mixtures of the proteins, as indicated, immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 monoclonal antibody (lanes 2 to 10) or with anti-p107 antibody (lane 1).
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FIG. 1. Overexpressed p107 inhibited cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity, while overexpressed IE1-72 activated cyclin E/cdk2 kinase. (A) Western blot analyses demonstrating expression levels of p107, IE1-72, and IE2-86 in C33A cells transfected with the indicated constructs. (B) Kinase assays of complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-cyclin E antibody from mock-transfected C33A cells (lane 1), cells overexpressing p107 (lane 2), and cells overexpressing IE1-72 (lane 4). Lanes 3, 5, and 6 show kinase assays of complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-p107, anti-IE1-72, or anti-IE2-86 antibodies, respectively. His.H1, histone H1.
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FIG. 2. p107 overexpression inhibited histone H1 phosphorylation catalyzed by cyclin E/cdks, and IE1-72 expression reversed this inhibitory effect. (A) Western blot analyses demonstrating expression of p107, IE1-72, and IE2-86 in C33A cells transfected with the indicated constructs. (B) Kinase assays of complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-cyclin E antibody from lysates of mock-transfected cells (lane 1), cells transfected with p107 plasmid alone (lane 2), cells cotransfected with p107 plasmid and increasing amounts of IE1-72 plasmid (lanes 3 to 5), or cells cotransfected with p107 plasmid and IE2-86 plasmid (lane 7).
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FIG. 5. aa 45 to 52 and 312 to 318 of IE1-72 are required for binding to p107 and for alleviating p107 repression of cyclin E/cdk kinase activity. (A) Western blotting showing expression of cyclin E, cdk2, p107, IE1-72, and IE1-72 mutant proteins expressed in C33A cells cotransfected with the indicated plasmid constructs. Note that cyclin E and cdk2 are endogenous proteins (lane 1). (B) Western blots demonstrating anti-IE1-72 immunoreactivity in complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-p107 antibody from cell lysates of the same transfected cells as in panel A. (C) Histone H1 kinase assays using immune complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-cyclin E antibody using cellular lysates as described in the legend for panel A.
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FIG. 3. IP complexes containing p107 showed kinase activity when mixed with IP complexes containing IE1-72, and kinase activity increased with increasing levels of IE1-72. (A and B) Western blot analyses demonstrating p107, IE1-72, and IE2-86 expression in C33A cells transfected with the indicated expression vectors. (C) Kinase assays of mixtures of various IP complexes. Lanes 1 to 4, complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-p107 antibody from cells overexpressing p107 (see panel A, lanes 1 to 4) mixed with complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 antibody from mock-transfected cells (see panel B, lane 1) or cells transfected with increasing amounts of IE1-72 plasmids (see panel B, lanes 2 to 4). Lane 5, complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-p107 antibody from cells overexpressing p107 (see panel A, lane 5) mixed with complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-86 antibody from cells transfected with IE2-86 plasmid (see panel B, lane 5). Lane 6, complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-cyclin E antibody from cells overexpressing IE1-72 (see panel A, lane 6) mixed with complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 antibody from mock-transfected cells (see panel B, lane 6).
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FIG. 6. aa 45 to 52 and 312 to 318 of IE1-72 are necessary for activating cyclin E/cdk kinase activity. (A) Western blotting demonstrating expression of p107 or IE1-72 in lysates of C33A cells transfected with pCMV p107 (lanes 1 to 10) or pcDNA3 IE1-72 (lane 11). These lysates were subsequently immunoprecipitated with anti-p107 antibody or anti-cyclin E antibody (as indicated at the bottom of the panel), and the IP complexes were mixed with IP complexes represented in the corresponding lanes of panel B and assayed for kinase activity, as shown in panel C. (B) Western blot demonstrating IE1-72 or mutants of IE1-72 in lysates of C33A cells transfected by the indicated constructs. These lysates were subsequently immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 antibody, and the IP complexes were mixed with IP complexes represented in the corresponding lanes of panel A and assayed for kinase activity, as shown in panel C. (C) Histone H1 kinase assays of mixed IP complexes (see panels A and B).
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FIG. 7. IE1-72 coexpression with p107 alleviates p107-mediated repression of the E2FCAT promoter, and aa 45 to 52 and 312 to 318 of the IE1-72 protein are essential for alleviating p107-mediated suppression of the E2F-responsive CAT reporter construct. (A) Western blot showing expression of p107 and IE1-72 in C33A cells cotransfected with the indicated expression plasmids (upper panel). E2FCAT that contains an E2F-responsive promoter was subsequently used as a reporter gene to study the effect of IE1-72 on p107-mediated repression of the E2F-responsive gene. The results of CAT expression assays of lysates from cells transfected with various IE2-72 mutants are shown in the lower panel. (B) Western blots showing expression of p107 and IE1-72 in C33A cells cotransfected with the indicated expression plasmids (upper panel). The lower panel shows CAT expression assays of lysates from cells represented in the upper panel.
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HLHTH and LZ-2 regions of IE1-72 are required for binding to p107 and induction of cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity in vivo, and mutations in these regions inhibit IE1-72 activation of p107-cyclin E/cdk2 complex kinase activity. To determine if mutations in the HLHTH and LZ-2 regions of IE1-72 would affect binding to p107 in vivo, the eight mutant IE1-72 constructs were cotransfected with pCMVp107 into C33A cells. Protein expression profiles were confirmed by Western blotting (Fig. 5A). Complexes were immunoprecipitated from cell lysates using anti-p107 antibody and analyzed by Western blotting using anti-IE1-72 antibody to detect coimmunoprecipitated IE1-72 or IE1-72 mutants (Fig. 5B). IE1-72 mutant proteins M13-1 and M15 did not coimmunoprecipitate with p107 (Fig. 5B, lanes 7 and 11, respectively). The kinase activity of the IP complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-cyclin E antibody from these lysates was determined (Fig. 5C). IP complexes from cells expressing IE1-72 mutants M13-1 and M15 showed no cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity (Fig. 5C, lanes 7 and 11). Kinase activity was seen in IP complexes from cells expressing full-length IE1-72 as well as those cells expressing IE1-72 mutants M10, M11, M12, M13-2, M13-3, and M14 (Fig. 5C, lanes 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10, respectively).
To confirm which domains of IE1-72 are essential for activating the cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity of the p107-cyclin E/cdk2 complex, p107, full-length IE1-72, and IE1-72 mutant constructs were transfected into C33A cells. In a protocol similar to that described for Fig. 3, anti-p107 antibody IP complexes were immunoprecipitated from cells transfected with pCMVp107 and mixed with anti-IE1-72 antibody IP complexes immunoprecipitated from cells expressing IE1-72 constructs. The IP complex mixtures were screened for kinase activity (Fig. 6C). As expected, IP complexes from cells expressing full-length IE1-72 induced kinase activity (Fig. 6C, lane 2). In addition, IP complexes from cells expressing IE1-72 mutants M10, M11, M12, M13-2, M13-3, and M14 also induced kinase activity. Conversely, IP complexes from cells expressing mutants M13-1 or M15 did not induce kinase activity (Fig. 6C, lanes 6 and 10). As seen in Fig. 6C, lane 11, IE1-72 expression alone in C33A cells led to very high kinase activity, suggesting a very high level of active cyclin E/cdk2 kinase.
IE1-72 expression alleviates p107-medated repression of the E2FCAT promoter, and mutations of the HLHTH and LZ-2 regions of IE1-72 abolish this alleviation. We have previously reported that IE1-72 alleviates p107-mediated repression of the E2F-responsive promoter (22, 30). To determine the domains of IE1-72 necessary for this function, C33A cells were transfected with E2FCAT, a reporter gene containing an E2F-responsive promoter, as well as with p107 and various IE1-72 constructs. Lysates from these cells were assayed for CAT activity. p107 overexpression inhibited E2FCAT expression (Fig. 7A, lane 6), but E2FCAT expression increased with increased IE1-72 expression (Fig. 7A, lanes 7 and 8).
CAT activity was also seen in cells cotransfected with IE1-72 mutants M10, M11, M12, M13-2, M13-3, and M14 (Fig. 7B, lanes 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11, respectively). However, cells cotransfected with IE1-72 mutants 13-1 and 15 did not alleviate p107-mediated repression of the E2FCAT gene (Fig. 7B, lanes 8 and 12). The fold differences for the CAT assays in Fig. 7 are small (three to sixfold), but they are significant and consistent. These results suggest that the HLHTL and LZ-2 regions of the IE1-72 protein are essential for the alleviation of p107-mediated suppression of the E2F-responsive CAT reporter.
Deletion of aa 1 to 175 of p107 abolishes p107 binding to IE1-72 in vivo and abolishes inhibition of cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity in vitro. To further map the domains at the N terminus of p107 that interact with the IE1-72 protein, we constructed a series of deletion and point mutants of p107 located at the N terminus of p107 (Table 2). The deletion and point mutants of p107 and full-length IE1-72 plasmids were expressed in an in vitro transcription-translation system with [35S]methionine. The [35S]methionine-labeled mutants of p107 were mixed with [35S]methionine-labeled IE1-72. The mixture was immunoprecipitated with anti-IE1-72 antibody. The IP complexes were separated by SDS-PAGE for autoradiography. Of the various p107 mutants, only p107N175 did not coimmunoprecipitate with IE1-72 (Fig. 8C, lane 6). This mutant protein lacked aa 1 to 175.
To further confirm this result, either pcDNA3p107-f or pcDNA3p107N175-f (f denotes the presence of a flag tag) was cotransfected with pcDNA3IE1-72 into C33A or 293 cells. Cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-flag antibody, and the IP products were screened by Western blotting using anti-IE1-72 antibody. IE1-72 did not coimmunoprecipitate with the p107N175 deletion mutant (Fig. 9A, lane 3). Functionally, the p107N175 mutant did not inhibit cyclin/cdk kinase activity in C33A cells transfected with the mutant construct (Fig. 9B, lane 3).
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FIG. 9. aa 1 to 175 of p107 is required for interaction with IE1-72 in plasmid-transfected 293 cells, and the aa 1 to 175 fragment of p107 is essential for inhibiting cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity. (A) Western blots showing expression of IE1-72, p107-f, and p107N175-f in 293 cells transfected with the indicated plasmids (upper panel). The bottom panel shows the presence or absence of IE1-72 by Western blot analysis of IP complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-flag antibody from lysates of the cells represented in the upper panel. Note that IE1-72 did not coimmunoprecipitate with the p107N175-f mutant (lane 3). (B) Western blot confirming expression of p107-f or p107N175-f in C33A cells transfected with the indicated plasmids (upper panel). Kinase activity of IP complexes immunoprecipitated from cell lysates with anti-cyclin E antibody is shown in the lower panel.
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293 cells were cotransfected with various combinations of plasmids encoding p107-f, p107N175-f, IE1-72, and IE1-86 (Fig. 10A). IP complexes using anti-flag antibody were produced from cell lysates, and these complexes were probed for the presence of cyclin E, cdk2, and IE1-72. Cyclin E and cdk2 coimmunoprecipitated with p107-f in cells expressing p107-f alone (Fig. 10A and B, lane 1) as well as in cells coexpressing p107-f and IE2-86 (Fig. 10A and B, lane 3). Neither cyclin E nor cdk2 was present in complexes from cells coexpressing p107-f and IE1-72 (Fig. 10A and B, lane 2), but IE1-72 was seen in these complexes (Fig. 10C, lane 2). Neither cyclin E, cdk2, nor IE1-72 coimmunoprecipitated with the deletion mutant protein p107N175-f (Fig. 10, lanes 4 and 5).
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FIG. 10. p107-f coimmunoprecipitates with cyclin E and cdk2, and IE1-72 disrupts the interaction. (A) Western blot showing cyclin E immunoreactivity in IP complexes immunoprecipitated with anti-flag antibody from lysates of cells transfected with the indicated plasmid. (B) cdk2 immunoreactivity in the IP complexes described in panel A. (C) IE1-72 immunoreactivity in the IP complexes shown in panel A.
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In general, pRb plays a critical role in G1-S checkpoint control, whereby unphosphorylated pRb prevents cellular proliferation by binding with E2Fs and inhibiting cell cycle progression (29, 38). Phosphorylation of pRb by cyclin/cdk complexes results in the release of active E2F species to stimulate the transcription of genes involved in DNA synthesis and S-phase progression (17, 31). Data from our laboratory and from others has demonstrated that infection by HCMV is capable of activating cellular DNA replication machinery and driving quiescent cells to enter an S-phase-like environment (2, 11, 14, 37). HCMV activation of the cellular proliferation machinery is attributed to two major mechanisms: (i) viral ligand and cellular receptor interactions trigger viral signaling to activate important cellular transcription factors, such as Sp1 and NF-
B (42-44), and (ii) the expression of promiscuous, transactivating IE1-72 and IE2-86 proteins that are able to disrupt cell cycle regulation through their interaction with pRb family proteins (13, 22, 30).
A common paradigm for the creation of a cellular environment favorable to virus DNA replication, established by the study of the small DNA tumor virus, is that only one of each virally encoded protein (E1A of adenovirus, E7 of human papillomavirus, and large T of simian virus 40) binds to all members of the pocket domain proteinspRb, p107, and p130and alleviates transcriptional repression by these proteins. However, data from our laboratory and from others have shown that two HCMV IE gene products, IE1-72 and IE2-86, interact specifically with different pocket proteins. HCMV IE1-72, but not IE2-86, complexes with cellular p107 during HCMV infection, while IE2-86 binds to pRb (13, 22, 30). The binding of IE1-72 to p107 was specific and did not extend to an interaction with the closely related pRb protein. These results suggest that HCMV might have a different mechanism for temporally regulating the pocket domain proteins to create a cellular environment favorable for viral DNA replication.
IE2-86 binding to pRb resulted in the release of E2F from the pRb-E2F complex, but the IE1-72 interaction with p107, although sufficient to functionally activate E2F-mediated transcription, did not release E2F from the p107-E2F complex (22). In addition, the N385 mutant of p107, which lacks the N-terminal aa 1 to 385 fragment that binds to the cyclin/cdk2 complex to inhibit its kinase activity, has previously been shown to suppress growth of SAOS-2 cells in an E2F-dependent manner (22). IE1-72 could not alleviate growth suppression of SAOS-2 cells by overexpression of the N385 mutant of p107. However, overexpression of the L19 mutant of p107, which has a deletion of the region (aa 781 to 1068) that binds to E2F4 and represses E2F4 transcription activity, led to IE1-72 alleviation of growth suppression (22). These results suggest that alleviation of p107-mediated growth suppression by IE1-72 may involve an E2F-dependent pathway as well as the cyclin E/cdk2 pathway. These data further support the notion that p107 regulates cell cycle progression by at least two distinct mechanisms: (i) inhibition of E2F transcription factor, and (ii) interaction with cyclin/cdk through a second domain to inactivate cyclin E/cdk kinase activity.
A critical question to be asked is, if the interaction between IE1-72 and the p107-E2F complex did not result in the dissociation of E2F from p107 (22), why did the expression of IE1-72 alleviate the repression of the p107-mediated E2F-responsive promoter? There are two possible mechanisms: (i) IE1-72 interacts with p107-E2F to form a positive preinitiation complex to up-regulate the E2F-responsive promoter, or (ii) IE1-72 interacts with p107-E2F and results in the activation of cyclin/cdk2 kinase activity which, in turn, phosphorylates the pocket proteins and subsequently activates E2F transcriptional activity. A recent study by Calbo et al. (5) demonstrated that the phosphorylation of pocket proteins by G1 cyclin/cdk regulated their interaction with E2Fs and the expression of genes controlled by these transcription factors. They found that the activation of cyclin E/cdk2 activity in the absence of D-type cyclin/cdk activity was sufficient to induce E2F4 activation and promote the expression of E2F-dependent genes. Their findings strongly support the second notion described above.
Data presented in this communication suggest that the IE2-71 interaction with p107 modulates cyclin E/cdk2 activity (Fig. 1 to 3). The critical experimental result shown in Fig. 10 suggests that the binding of IE1-72 to p107 displaces cyclin E/cdk2 from p107. These results support a model in which IE1-72 binds to p107 and releases cyclin E/cdk2 (Fig. 11). This release results in activation of the cyclin E/cdk2 kinase, which is critical in cell cycle progression. IE1-72 appears to compete with cyclin E/cdk2 for p107 binding, as the alleviation of p107 inhibition of cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity increased with IE1-72 protein expression (Fig. 3). We, therefore, speculate that IE1-72 binds to p107 with higher affinity than cyclin E/cdk2 does. However, further binding studies are required to confirm this suspicion.
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FIG. 11. Model of the activation of cyclinE/cdk2 kinase activity by the overexpression of HCMV IE1-72.
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In this study, we further demonstrated that deletion of aa 1 to 175 of the p107 sequence abolished the p107 interaction with IE1-72 (Fig. 8). In addition, this mutated protein was not able to inhibit cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity (Fig. 9B, lane 3). Thus, the aa 1 to 175 fragment at the N terminus of p107 is required for binding to both IE1-71 and cyclin E/cdk2. This experimental result is in agreement with the results obtained by Woo et al. that showed aa 1 to 110 of p107 play an important role in regulating cell cycle progression by inhibiting cyclin E/cdk2 kinase activity (40).
We thank Steve Backenheimer, J. H. Sinclair, and Liang Zhu for providing valuable plasmids and David Enders and Joseph S. Pagano for helpful discussions and critical reviews of the manuscript.
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B during infection. J. Virol. 71:5051-5059.[Abstract]
B promoters. J. Virol. 71:4638-4648.[Abstract]
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