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Journal of Virology, April 2003, p. 5008-5013, Vol. 77, No. 8
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.8.5008-5013.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Abteilung Virologie, Universitätskliniken des Saarlandes, 66421 Homburg/Saar,1 Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Universitätsklinikum, 93053 Regensburg,2 Max Planck Institut für Biochemie, 82152 Martinsried/Munich, Germany3
Received 19 September 2002/ Accepted 22 January 2003
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, Sp-1/Spi-B, hnRNP-D/AUF1, or ATF/CRE. Domains of EBNA2 critical for transformation of B cells and for activation of gene expression had been identified previously through mutational analysis (6, 28, 29). EBNA2 binds to RBPJ
with its conserved WWP325 (18) motif, the deletion of which results in a severe reduction of activation of the LMP1 promoter and a complete loss of transforming capacity (6). An adjacent arginine-glycine (RG) repeat element between amino acids (aa) 337 and 354 of EBNA2 was shown elsewhere to be critical but not essential for B-cell transformation in vitro, but the deletion of aa 337 to 354 increased the potential of EBNA2 to activate the LMP1 promoter (29). While most interacting partners bind to the C terminus of EBNA2, we had recently demonstrated that EBNA2 interacts through its N-terminal aa 121 to 216 with a putative helicase/ATPase termed DP103 (12), which in turn binds to SMN, the product of the spinal muscular atrophy gene (SMN) (4, 5, 30). The survival of motor neurons (SMN) gene is lost or mutated in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) (17). SMN is found in different macromolecular complexes, and one of these has recently been shown to facilitate the assembly of spliceosomal U snRNPs by mediating the attachment of the Sm proteins onto snRNAs U1, U2, U4, and U5 (7, 20, 22). The function of the SMN complex involves direct binding of Sm proteins to SMN, an interaction that is strongly enhanced by modification of arginines in Sm proteins B/B', D1, and D3 to symmetrical dimethylarginines (sDMAs) (2, 3, 9, 21). This modification is catalyzed by the PRMT5 complex (also termed the methylosome), which consists of the PRMT5 methyltransferase and the WD45 and pICln proteins (10, 21). In addition to its role in RNA metabolism, SMN appears to be also involved in transcriptional regulation (23, 27). It has previously been shown that SMN cooperates with EBNA2 in the activation of the viral LMP1 promoter (30).
EBNA2 binds to SMN in cell extracts.
To test whether EBNA2 directly binds to SMN, we performed coimmunoprecipitation studies of EBV-transformed Raji cells with EBNA2-specific monoclonal antibody (MAb) 1E6 (14). Under the conditions employed, we could not observe coprecipitation of SMN and EBNA2, probably because only a small subfraction of EBNA2 is present in nuclear gems while a major part of EBNA2 is localized in the nucleoplasm (11, 24), where SMN is not abundant. However, our previous study had indicated that the deletion of exons 6 and 7 (SMN
6/7) resulted in its redistribution to the nucleoplasm, where it strongly colocalized with EBNA2. The SMN
6/7 mutant also showed an increased coactivation potential, probably because binding to DP103 was inhibited (30). We therefore cotransfected EBNA2wt and hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged SMN
6/7 in HeLa cells and precipitated EBNA2 with specific MAb 1E6 (14) and nonspecific rat MAbs as the negative control. The bound proteins were subsequently analyzed by Western blotting with either anti-HA MAb to visualize SMN
6/7 or EBNA2-specific MAb R3 (14). As shown in Fig. 1, SMN
6/7 was coprecipitated with EBNA2. In contrast, we did not observe a signal of HA-tagged SMN
6/7 when control MAb was used. Precipitation of tagged SMN
6/7 could also be achieved by using HA-specific antibody but not the control MAb; the precipitated SMN
6/7 migrated to the same position as did the protein from the whole-cell extract. Likewise, the EBNA2 from the transfected cells comigrated with EBNA2 from B95.8 cell extract (data not shown). Taken together, these experiments suggest that SMN interacts with EBNA2 in vivo.
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FIG. 1. EBNA2 binds to SMN in vivo. (A) Coimmunoprecipitation of EBNA2 and SMN from transfected HeLa cell extract. HeLa cells were transiently transfected by the calcium phosphate method with pSG5-EBNA2wt and pSG5-SMN 6/7 (30) expressing full-length EBNA2 and HA-tagged SMN with a deletion of aa 242 to 293 encoded by exons 6 and 7 of SMN. The cell extract was bound to protein G-Sepharose (Pharmacia) preadsorbed with nonspecific MAb 5A10 (lanes designated "Control") or the EBNA2-specific MAb 1E6 (14) (lanes designated " EBNA2"). The immune complexes were separated by SDS-10% PAGE, transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, and stained with HA-specific MAb 3F10 or EBNA2-specific MAb R3 (14). The positions of the precipitated EBNA2, SMN 6/7, and immunoglobulin G heavy ("IgG-h") and light ("IgG-l") chains as well as the position of coelectrophoresed molecular mass marker proteins (103 kDa) are indicated by arrows or bars. In the lower panel, the position of the input SMN 6/7 protein (lane designated "Input") is shown as a reference for the precipitated SMN 6/7 protein. The input represents about 3% of the total amount used for precipitation. WB, Western blot; IP, immunoprecipitation.
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FIG. 2. In vivo methylation of EBNA2. B95.8 cells (EBNA2 positive) and P3HR1-1 cells (EBNA2 negative) were labeled in vivo with either [35S]methionine or [3H-methyl]methionine in the presence (+) or absence (-) of the protein synthesis inhibitors cycloheximide and chloramphenicol. The cell extracts were subjected to immunoprecipitation with the EBNA2-specific MAb R3 (14) and analyzed by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography (lanes designated "EBNA2 immunoprecipitation"). The unprecipitated cell extracts (lanes designated "input") were also analyzed to demonstrate that protein de novo synthesis was efficiently inhibited. The rightmost lane, designated "Western blot," shows that MAb R3 efficiently precipitated the EBNA2 protein. Arrows indicate the positions of the precipitated EBNA2 protein; the lane designated "marker" shows the positions of coelectrophoresed 14C-labeled molecular mass marker proteins (Amersham).
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PRMT5," and "Mock," respectively) as described previously (21). Clearly, the depleted extract lost most of its methyltransferase activity, while the mock-depleted extract was still active. To further support the findings shown above, the HeLa cell extract was separated by gel filtration and individual fractions were tested for methylation of EBNA2. The GST-EBNA2 fusion protein was incubated with the PRMT5-containing fractions obtained from gel filtration, which were assayed in parallel with GST-SmD3 fusion protein, a known substrate for this enzyme (21). As can be seen in Fig. 3C, the fractions containing the PRMT5 methyltransferase that efficiently methylated the GST-SmD3 fusion protein also showed labeling of the GST-EBNA2 protein. These experiments indicate that the RG-rich region of EBNA2 can be methylated by the PRMT5 methyltransferase complex in vitro. We then tested whether EBNA2, when translated in vitro under conditions that either allowed or inhibited methylation, would bind to SMN. The commercially available in vitro transcription-translation extracts contain methyltransferases including the PRMT5 complex which efficiently methylate proteins cotranslationally (21). To generate methylated and unmethylated EBNA2, full-length EBNA2 was translated in vitro with [35S]methionine as a label in the presence or absence of S-adenosyl-homocysteine (SAH), an inhibitor of protein methylation. As shown in Fig. 3D, EBNA2 was efficiently synthesized under either condition (lanes designated "EBNA2 Input"). We then tested the binding of the EBNA2 proteins to GST-SMN protein immobilized on glutathione beads. As shown in the right part of Fig. 3D (lanes designated "GST-SMN"), only the methylated EBNA2 was retained by the beads (lane designated "- SAH") while unmethylated EBNA2 did not bind (lane designated "+ SAH"). In the experiments the results of which are shown, a GST-SMN fusion protein containing aa 1 to 150 of SMN was employed. A fusion protein containing aa 90 to 150, which encompasses just the Tudor domain of SMN, yielded the same results (data not shown), indicating that the Tudor domain of SMN is responsible for binding to EBNA2. As previous experiments had shown that SmD3 is methylated on its arginine-glycine (RG) repeat element (9, 21), we tested the EBNA2
RG mutant, which features a deletion of the RG repeat (29), for methylation and subsequently for binding to SMN (see below). As shown in Fig. 3E, both EBNA2
RG and EBNA2wt were efficiently labeled to the same extent during in vitro translation in the presence of [35S]methionine (lanes 1 and 2, respectively, designated "Input"). The proteins were then applied to glutathione beads containing either GST alone (lanes 3 and 4) or GST-SMN fusion protein (lanes 5 and 6). As can be seen, the GST-SMN beads retained the EBNA2wt (lane 6) protein but significantly less of the EBNA2
RG mutant (lane 5). The lanes designated GST show the amount of EBNA2wt or EBNA2
RG that was nonspecifically retained under the conditions employed.
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FIG. 3. In vitro methylated EBNA2 binds to SMN. (A) Methylation of EBNA2 by the PRMT5 complex. GST-EBNA2 (aa 301 to 400, "GST-EBNA2-tail") (lane 1) or GST-wt (lane 2) bound to a column was incubated with a HeLa cytosolic extract in the presence of S-[3H-methyl]adenosylmethionine as a donor for methyl groups The labeled proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE, and the labeled proteins were visualized by autoradiography as described previously (21). (B) Depletion of the PRMT5 complex reduces methyl incorporation into GST-EBNA2-tail. The HeLa cell extract was either untreated (lane designated "Extract"), mock treated (lane designated "Mock"), or depleted of PRMT5 (lane designated " PRMT5") by nonspecific or PRMT5-specific rabbit serum, respectively (21). (C) Methylation of GST-EBNA2 (aa 300 to 400) by using partially purified PRMT5 complex. HeLa cell cytosolic extract was purified by gel filtration, and the fractions obtained were incubated with either GST-EBNA2 or GST-SmD3 and analyzed as described for panel A. (D) Binding of methylated and unmethylated EBNA2 to SMN. EBNA2 was in vitro transcribed-translated (lanes designated "EBNA2 Input") by using [35S]methionine to label the newly synthesized EBNA2 protein in the presence (lanes designated "+SAH") or absence (lanes designated "-SAH") of SAH, a known inhibitor of methylation. The labeled EBNA2 proteins were then passed through a column containing immobilized GST-SMN (aa 1 to 150) (lanes designated "GST-SMN"). The inputs as well as the protein retained by the column were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and fluorography as described previously (21). (E) EBNA2 with a deletion of the RG repeat (EBNA2 RG) does not bind to SMN. EBNA2wt and EBNA2 RG were in vitro transcribed-translated in the presence of [35S]methionine (lanes designated "Input"). The labeled proteins were then passed through a column that contained either only GST or GST-SMN (aa 1 to 150). Bound proteins were visualized by SDS-PAGE and fluorography.
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SMN costimulates EBNA2
RG in the activation of the LMP1 promoter.
It was previously demonstrated that the deletion of the arginine-glycine repeat of EBNA2 (EBNA2
RG) resulted in an approximately four- to fivefold increase in the activation of the viral LMP1 promoter; this mutant, however, exhibited a severely reduced transforming potential (29). When we compared EBNA2
RG with EBNA2wt by using the LMP1 reporter (16, 30), we also observed a fourfold stimulation as shown in Fig. 4A. In this experimental setting, we found an increase in activity when both proteins were coexpressed with SMNwt. In particular, the EBNA2
RG mutant was further activated by approximately 1.5-fold through coexpression of SMN. This indicates that SMN can cooperate with EBNA2 in the activation of the LMP1 promoter regardless of the presence of the RG repeats.
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FIG. 4. Activation of LMP1 promoter by combinations of EBNA2 and SMN mutants (A) Coactivation of the LMP1 promoter by SMN and EBNA2 RG. The EBNA2wt and EBNA2 RG expression vectors were transfected with or without the SMNwt expression plasmid and tested for activation of the LMP1 promoter (-327/+40) in BJAB cells as described in the work of Voss et al. (30). (B) Expression of HA-tagged SMNwt and an HA-tagged SMN expression construct with a deletion of the Tudor domain (SMN Tudor) in HeLa cells after transient transfection, separation by SDS-10% PAGE, and detection with HA-specific MAb 3F10. Numbers at left are molecular masses in kilodaltons. (C) SMN Tudor with a deletion of the Tudor domain fails to coactivate the LMP1 promoter. The SMN Tudor mutant was expressed with EBNA2wt or EBNA2 RG in BJAB cells and tested for activation of the LMP1 promoter construct. (D) No significant coactivation of the LMP1 promoter by EBNA2 and an SMA patient-derived point mutant in the Tudor domain of SMN (SMN E134K). The EBNA2wt expression vector was transfected with SMNwt or SMN E134K and tested for activation of the LMP1 promoter in BJAB cells. The experiments the results of which are shown in panels A and C were carried out five times each in duplicate; the experiments the results of which are shown in panel D were carried out three times in duplicate.
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Tudor) to be tested for its ability to costimulate EBNA2wt and EBNA2
RG. The expression of SMNwt and the SMN
Tudor mutant is shown in Fig. 4B. The cotransfection of this mutant together with EBNA2wt or the SMN-EBNA2
RG mutant did not result in a significant increase in stimulation of the LMP1 promoter compared to either EBNA2wt or EBNA2
RG alone (Fig. 4C). These data provide further evidence for a functional cooperation and binding of EBNA2 to SMN, which is mediated by the Tudor domain of SMN. To analyze the importance of the Tudor domain for binding to EBNA2 in more detail, we tested the coactivation of EBNA2 by the E134K point mutant of SMN derived from a patient with SMA (31). As can be seen in Fig. 4D, the point mutant showed only a small coactivation of the LMP1 promoter. A statistical analysis (by t test) revealed that the increase was not significant. We conclude that even a small perturbation within the Tudor domain that should otherwise leave the three-dimensional structure of the protein intact affects the coactivation potential of SMN.
We also analyzed the colocalization of the EBNA2
RG and the SMN protein and, conversely, of EBNA2wt and SMN
Tudor to determine whether the deletion of the contact domain for SMN on EBNA2 and vice versa resulted in a different subnuclear localization and/or association with SMN. The proteins clearly showed an overlap in nuclear gems as described previously (30). The deletion of the RG repeat did not result in an altered subnuclear localization of the EBNA2 or the SMN protein; the merged images likewise did not reveal any differences from the wild-type proteins. In the experiment involving EBNA2wt and SMN
Tudor, we also did not observe a grossly altered subnuclear localization of either protein. However, we observed only a partial overlap of the EBNA2wt-SMN
Tudor combination in the gems (data not shown), supporting the results of the reporter gene assays described above.
In light of our previous observation that the coexpression of SMN leads to an increase in the activation of the LMP1 promoter by EBNA2, we were not surprised by the observation that the non-EBNA2-binding SMN
Tudor protein was inactive in all settings, failing to coactivate EBNA2 or EBNA2
RG. However, we were puzzled by the fact that the expression of SMN with EBNA2
RG still resulted in a highly reproducible 1.5-fold increase in stimulation over expression with EBNA2
RG alone. One possible explanation for the unexpected costimulation of EBNA2
RG by SMN might be (i) that there was residual binding of SMNwt to EBNA2
RG not revealed by the in vitro assays and (ii) that the RG motif of EBNA2 might otherwise be targeted by another, negatively regulating factor(s) which is now unable to bind and repress EBNA2 or (iii) that the RG region constitutes only part of a larger binding region of EBNA2 for SMN while the Tudor domain, in contrast, appears to represent the complete binding region for EBNA2 on SMN. The mechanism of the EBNA2-SMN cooperation remains enigmatic. Nevertheless, the interaction of EBNA2 with SMN has strong implications for the transformation by EBNA2. The elucidation of the mechanism of the EBNA2-SMN cooperation will shed new light on the transformation by EBV and might also reveal novel aspects of the function of SMN in addition to its role in RNA processing.
RG were kindly provided by E. Kieff, Boston, Mass. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), grant Gr950/9-1 to F.A.G.
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