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Journal of Virology, March 2003, p. 3301-3306, Vol. 77, No. 5
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.5.3301-3306.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Inhibition of Gammaherpesvirus Replication by RNA Interference
Qingmei Jia and Ren Sun*
Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, AIDS Institute, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dental Research Institute, and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095
Received 29 August 2002/
Accepted 25 October 2002

ABSTRACT
RNA interference (RNAi) is a conserved mechanism in which double-stranded,
small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) trigger a sequence-specific
gene-silencing process. Here we describe the inhibition of murine
herpesvirus 68 replication by siRNAs targeted to sequences encoding
Rta, an immediate-early protein known as an initiator of the
lytic viral gene expression program, and open reading frame
45 (ORF 45), a conserved viral protein. Our results suggest
that RNAi can block gammaherpesvirus replication and ORF 45
is required for efficient viral production.

TEXT
RNA interference (RNAi) is a mechanism conserved among different
species, in which double-stranded RNAs trigger a sequence-specific
gene-silencing process. Long double-stranded RNAs are processed
into 21- to 23-nucleotide (nt) small interfering RNAs (siRNAs)
by the Dicer enzyme (
8,
26,
40) and then incorporated into a
multicomponent nuclease called RNA-induced silencing complex.
This complex, when activated, can specifically down regulate
gene expression. RNAi has been used to study gene function in
multiple model organisms, including flies (
13), trypanosomes
(
20), zebra fish (
36), mice (
37), plants (
33), and
Caenorhabditis elegans (
6). However, in most mammalian cells, double-stranded
RNAs longer than 30 nt activate an interferon response, leading
to nonspecific degradation of RNA transcripts and a general
shutdown of host cell protein translation (
2,
28). This nonspecific
effect can be circumvented by the use of synthetic siRNAs that
are 21 nt long with short 3' overhangs (
5). The synthesized
siRNAs have been shown to induce homology-dependent degradation
of cognate mRNA and used to knock down expression of endogenous
and heterologous genes in mammalian cell lines (
3,
7,
11,
14,
21). Although evidence suggests that viruses have evolved proteins
that suppress RNA silencing, RNAi is believed to have evolved
as a host defense mechanism against transposable elements and
infectious viruses (
15,
16). The effect of RNAi on herpesvirus
replication has yet to be reported.
Two human gammaherpesviruses, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also referred to as human herpesvirus 8, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), are associated with several types of malignancies and lymphoproliferative disorders. KSHV is linked to Kaposi's sarcoma (19), multicentric Castleman's disease (27), and primary effusion lymphoma (4). EBV is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, lymphoproliferative disease, and certain types of T-cell lymphomas (24). The life cycle of herpesviruses is divided into two phases: latency and lytic replication. Rta, an immediate-early viral protein, is known to be a switch between the latent and lytic phases of the gammaherpesvriuses (9, 17, 29, 30, 38, 39). Herpesvirus lytic genes are transcribed in three stages: (i) the immediate-early stage, during which transcription occurs in the absence of de novo protein synthesis; (ii) the early stage, during which transcription is independent of viral DNA synthesis; and (iii) the late stage, during which transcription is dependent on viral DNA synthesis. The KSHV open reading frame 45 (ORF 45) has been shown to be transcribed in the absence of de novo protein synthesis (41). Analysis of KSHV global gene expression by other groups revealed that ORF 45 is transcribed at the early stage of virus reactivation (12, 25). The gene product of KSHV ORF 45 was suggested to inhibit virus-mediated interferon response by interacting with cellular interferon-regulatory factor 7 (42), a transcription activator up-regulated in KSHV-infected endothelial cells (22). The KSHV ORF 45 protein was also reported to interact with a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transactivator, Tat (10). However, studies on the role of ORF 45 during productive human gammaherpesvirus infection have been very limited due to the lack of cell lines that can support the replication of these viruses.
Murine herpesvirus 68 (MHV68), also known as gammaherpesvirus 68 (
HV68), is a natural pathogen of wild rodents (18, 23). Complete sequence and genomic analyses indicate that MHV68 is closely related to KSHV and EBV (34). For example, amino acid sequence alignments revealed that the MHV68 ORF 45 has 37.3 and 22.2% identity to the homologue of ORF45 in KSHV and EBV, respectively. Unlike KSHV and EBV, MHV68 establishes productive infections in a variety of fibroblast and epithelial cell lines, facilitating the examination of gammaherpesvirus replication and de novo infection. MHV68 ORF 45 is conserved among all gammaherpesviruses, but it has no extensive similarity to other cellular or viral proteins with known functions, making it relatively difficult to predict its functional roles during virus replication. Analysis of the roles of conserved viral genes, i.e., ORF 45, will allow us to gain a greater understanding of the functions of these genes in the human gammaherpesvirus life cycle. Use of the RNAi approach to examine functional roles of viral genes during gammaherpesvirus replication may provide an efficient way to screen genes that are essential for virus replication.
To assess the kinetics of MHV68 ORF 45 transcription, baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells were infected with MHV68 at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 5 in the presence or absence of inhibitors of protein synthesis (cycloheximide, 100 µg/ml) or viral DNA polymerase activity (phosphonoacetic acid, 200 µg/ml). Total cellular RNA (20 µg) was collected at various time points postinfection and analyzed by Northern blotting. Double-stranded DNA probes were prepared from PCR products of ORF 45, ORF M3, Rta, or GAPDH in the presence of [
32-P]dCTP. The 0.6-kb double-stranded ORF 45 probe (nt 63652 to 64225) detected multiple signals, with two major bands of 0.6 and 0.7 kb. These transcripts were detectable at 4 h, reached maximum expression at 24 h, and decreased at 48 h postinfection. The major transcripts of ORF 45 were eliminated by cycloheximide and significantly reduced by phosphonoacetic acid treatment (Fig. 1A), which is consistent with reported MHV68 DNA array analysis (1). A single-stranded DNA probe complementary to ORF 45 transcripts was also used for Northern blotting and confirmed that the major 0.6- and 0.7-kb transcripts of ORF 45 were in the sense orientation (data not shown). To verify that the concentrations of cycloheximide and phosphonoacetic acid used in this experiment were appropriate, the membrane was sequentially rehybridized with probes to sequences encoding MHV68 ORF M3, cellular GAPDH, and the SacI fragment of MHV68 Rta (38). The 1.2-kb probe to M3 (nt 6051 to 7282) detected one major transcript of 1.4-kb. The expression of this transcript was inhibited by cycloheximide and partially inhibited by phosphonoacetic acid (Fig. 1B), which is consistent with its classification as an early-late gene (32). Probing with the 0.7-kb probe to Rta detected one major transcript of 2.0 kb, which reached maximum expression at 4 h and decreased at 11 h postinfection. This major transcript level was not changed in the presence of cycloheximide, consistent with its expression pattern as an immediate-early gene (Fig. 1C) (38). As expected, the level of GAPDH expression declined during the course of infection (Fig. 1D). These results indicate that the drug concentrations used in this experiment fall within an appropriate range and the inhibition of ORF 45 transcripts by cycloheximide and phosphonoacetic acid was not due to nonspecific toxicity of the inhibitors. Therefore, our data suggest that MHV68 ORF 45 was transcribed at an early-late stage of virus lytic replication.
To examine the kinetics of ORF 45 protein expression, a polyclonal
antibody against ORF 45 was prepared. A bacterial expression
plasmid, pET-45, in which the full-length MHV68 ORF 45 coding
sequence without a translation termination codon was fused to
the His
6 sequence of pET30b(+) (Novagen, Madison, Wis.), was
constructed. The pET-45 plasmid was transformed into strain
BL21 (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.) of
Escherichia coli, and
protein expression was induced with isopropyl-ß-
D-thiogalactopyranoside.
The His
6-tagged ORF 45 protein expressed in
E. coli was purified
and injected into rabbit to produce polyclonal antibody against
ORF 45 (Covance Research Products, Denver, Pa.). To examine
the kinetics of ORF 45 protein expression during virus replication,
MHV68-infected BHK-21 cell extracts were analyzed by Western
blotting with the prepared polyclonal antibody against ORF 45.
Based on its putative amino acid sequence, the predicted size
of the MHV68 ORF 45 is 22.5 kDa. However, the ORF 45 protein
was detected to be approximately 48 kDa at 11 h postinfection.
An additional band of 51 kDa was observed at 24 and 48 h postinfection
(Fig.
2A). To confirm the specificity of the ORF 45 polyclonal
antibody, the membrane was reprobed with polyclonal antibody
against M9 (ORF65), as well as against multiple MHV68 lytic
proteins raised in rabbits (
31,
35,
38). ORF 65, a minor viral
capsid protein, was detected at 8 h postinfection and increased
during the course of virus replication (Fig.
2B). The expression
of multiple lytic viral proteins was detected at 11 h and reached
maximum expression at 24 h postinfection (Fig.
2C). To further
verify that both the 48- and 51-kDa proteins were expressed
from ORF 45, a mammalian expression plasmid, pFlag-45 (containing
the full-length ORF 45 coding sequence fused to the Flag sequence
of pFlag-CMV2 [Kodak]) was constructed. The sequence of pFlag-45
was determined to confirm that there was no mutation or duplication
in the coding region of the Flag-ORF 45 fusion protein. The
pFlag-45 was transfected into 293T cells, and Western blotting
was performed with a monoclonal antibody against Flag to analyze
the protein expression. The anti-Flag monoclonal antibody (Sigma,
St. Louis, Mo.) also detected the two bands of 48 and 51 kDa
(Fig.
3A). However, the 51-kDa signals were inhibited by treatment
with calf intestine alkaline phosphatase (unpublished observation).
This result was confirmed when the polyclonal antibody against
ORF 45 was used. Our data therefore indicate that ORF 45 is
expressed as a phosphoprotein during viral lytic replication.
Although the functional significance of the ORF 45 phosphoprotein
is not currently known, the kinetics of its phosphorylation
is of interest for further analysis.
To examine the functional role of ORF 45 during virus replication,
we analyzed the loss of function of ORF 45 via RNAi methods.
We designed siRNAs to target against ORF 45 (siRNA-45, 5'-AACUCCAGACUCAGUGUUUGA-3',
120 to 140 nt downstream of the start codon of the ORF 45 coding
sequence) and Rta (siRNA-Rta, 5'-AACCUCUGGCCUGCAGUCUGU-3', nt
161 to 181). Since Rta is known to play a critical role during
gammaherpesvirus replication, it can serve as a positive control.
An siRNA targeted to KSHV ORF K8 (K-bZIP) (siRNA-K8, 5'-AAGCCUCAACGGGCAACCAUU-3',
nt 87 to 107) was used as a negative control, since it has no
homologous gene in MHV68. All these siRNA sequences start with
AA and have similar GC contents in their targeting sequences.
The selected siRNA targeting sequences were then subjected to
a BLAST search against nonredundant nucleotide sequences to
ensure that only the intended viral gene was targeted. The 21-nt
RNA oligonucleotides were purchased from Dharmacon Research,
Inc. (Lafayette, Colo.), and RNA duplexes were prepared according
to the manufacturer's recommendations. 293T cells were used
for all transfections involved in RNAi for the following reasons:
(i) they are permissive for MHV68 replication and produce titers
of viral progenies similar to those produced in BHK-21 cells
(unpublished data), (ii) they show higher transfection efficiency
with the reagents used in this study, and (iii) they have been
successfully used to knock down endogenous and heterologous
genes by the RNAi method. We transfected 293T cells with pFlag-45
or pFlag-Rta in the presence or absence of various annealed
RNA duplexes (0.1 µM) using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen,
Carlsbad, Calif.). The protein expression was examined by Western
blot analysis using anti-Flag monoclonal antibody. As shown
in Fig.
3A, the expression of both forms of the ORF 45 protein
(48 and 51 kDa) was dramatically blocked by siRNA-45 but not
by siRNA-Rta. Similarly, when 293T cells were transfected with
RNA duplexes plus pFlag-Rta (
38), the expression of Rta protein
(approximately 100 kDa) was markedly down regulated by siRNA-Rta
but not by siRNA-K8 (Fig.
3B) or siRNA-45 (data not shown).
These results demonstrate that siRNAs can specifically and efficiently
inhibit ORF 45 or Rta protein expression in mammalian cells.
To examine the effects of siRNAs targeting against ORF 45 or Rta on lytic viral protein expression, MHV68 viral genomic DNA was transfected into 293T cells with or without various RNA duplexes. Western blotting was used to analyze the cell extracts. By use of a polyclonal antibody against MHV68, two cellular and multiple viral proteins were detected (Fig. 3C, upper panel, lanes 1 and 2). Cotransfection of 293T cells with MHV68 viral DNA plus siRNA-Rta significantly blocked the expression of other viral lytic proteins (lane 4), which is consistent with the known function of Rta as a transactivator of the downstream genes required for virus replication (17, 29, 38). Interestingly, siRNA targeted to ORF 45 also inhibited the expression of other lytic viral proteins (lane 3), indicating the critical role of ORF 45 in the process for those viral protein expressions. The siRNA targeted to KSHV gene K8 (siRNA-K8) did not show inhibition of viral lytic protein expression (lane 5). Another nonspecific siRNA targeting against the KSHV ORF 57 also failed to inhibit the expression of MHV68 viral proteins (data not shown). To confirm the specificity of RNAi-induced inhibition of viral lytic protein expression, the membrane was reprobed with the polyclonal antibody against ORF 45. The results showed that ORF 45 expression was greatly depleted by siRNA-45, but not by siRNA-K8 (Fig. 3C, middle panel, lanes 3 and 5). As we expected, siRNA-Rta also inhibited the expression of ORF 45 from the viral genome (lane 4) but did not affect that from the protein expression plasmid (Fig. 3A, lane 5). This result further confirmed that ORF 45 is expressed as a downstream gene of Rta during virus replication. We therefore conclude that siRNAs are capable of specifically inhibiting ORF 45 expression from the viral genome and this inhibition leads to reduction of virus replication.
To determine whether inhibiting viral lytic protein expression by RNAi decreases virus replication, MHV68.GFP recombinant viral DNA containing an insertion of an enhanced green fluorescence protein (GFP) expression cassette (38) was transfected into 293T cells with or without RNA duplexes (0.1 µM). At various time points posttransfection, GFP expression from the recombinant viral genome and the morphology of cells were analyzed with fluorescence and light microscopy, respectively. Supernatants from transfected cultures were collected to determine virus titers. As shown in Fig. 4A, at day 1 posttransfection there was no significant difference in GFP expression among cells cotransfected with different siRNAs, indicating that cells were transfected with equal amounts of viral DNA. Accordingly, titers of virus progeny were similar among cells treated with different siRNAs at this time point (Fig. 4B). However, at day 2 posttransfection, viruses from cells transfected with viral DNA alone or cotransfected with siRNA-K8 showed dissemination to neighboring cells, indicated by GFP expression from the recombinant viral genome. This dissemination was greatly impaired by siRNAs targeting ORF 45 or Rta. At day 3 posttransfection, typical signs of cytopathic effect (i.e., rounding up, death, and detachment of the infected cells) were observed in cultures that were transfected with viral DNA alone or cotransfected with siRNA-K8. However, cells cotransfected with either siRNA-Rta or siRNA-45 showed increasing growth (Fig. 4A, columns 2 and 3) and produced only 1 to 2% virus progeny at 4 days posttransfection, compared to those produced in control groups. This inhibition effect was maintained until 6 days posttransfection, when culturing was terminated (Fig. 4B).
To further confirm that inhibiting ORF 45 and Rta expression
by specific siRNAs diminishes gammaherpesvirus replication during
de novo virus infection, 293T cells were transfected with RNA
duplexes and then infected with MHV68 (MOI of 1) at day 1 posttransfection.
The kinetics of virus replication showed that pretreatment with
siRNA-Rta or siRNA-45 inhibited virus replication from de novo
infection. Consistent with the results shown in Fig.
4B, the
greatest inhibition was detected at 4 days posttransfection,
resulting in 144- and 43-fold reductions of virus titers caused
by siRNA-Rta and siRNA-45, respectively (Fig.
4C). Again, siRNA
targeted to an unrelated transcript, KSHV K8, did not show inhibition
on virus replication, indicating the specificity of siRNA-induced
inhibition of gammaherpesvirus replication. The prolonged (6-day)
inhibition of gammaherpesvirus replication by RNAi during both
cotransfection and de novo infection indicates the effectiveness
of the RNAi mechanism. From these results, we conclude that
RNAi is capable of blocking gammaherpesvirus replication and
that both Rta and ORF 45 are required for efficient virus replication.
This is the first report of RNAi's capability of inhibiting
herpesvirus replication. The mechanism of ORF 45 function in
virus replication is still unclear. However, inhibition of virus
replication in the presence of siRNA-45 suggests that its function
affects a process involved in virus replication and/or assembly.
These data indicate that RNAi can provide an antigammaherpesvirus response in mammalian cells. Using the efficient RNAi method, we can identify essential genes during gammaherpesvirus replication. These essential genes, i.e., Rta and ORF 45, are potential targets for antiviral therapy. siRNAs stably expressed from plasmid to target multiple essential viral genes may represent a powerful combination therapy for herpesvirus-related disorders.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Jiuyong Xie and Ting-Ting Wu for helpful discussions,
and Helen Brown, Eric Bortz, Xudong Li, Wendy Wong, and Wendy
Aft for critical editing of the manuscript.
This work was supported by NIH grants CA83525, CA91791, and DE14153 and by the STOP Cancer Foundation (R.S.). Q.J. was supported by a Universitywide AIDS Research Program of the University of California grant, F00-LA-016.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095. Phone: (310) 794-5557. Fax: (310) 794-5123. E-mail:
rsun{at}mednet.ucla.edu.


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Journal of Virology, March 2003, p. 3301-3306, Vol. 77, No. 5
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.5.3301-3306.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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