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Journal of Virology, July 2004, p. 6846-6854, Vol. 78, No. 13
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.78.13.6846-6854.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Departamento de Biología Celular, Fisiología e Inmunología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Córdoba, 14004 Córdoba, Spain
Received 12 August 2003/ Accepted 20 February 2004
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B/Rel family, NF-AT, and Sp1 bind to the HIV-1-LTR core promoter and have been demonstrated to play a role in mediating the transactivating properties of Tat through direct or indirect interaction with this protein (20, 21). However, Tat requires a cis-activating stem-loop RNA structure called the transactivating response element, which is located immediately 3' from the LTR transcription start site (6, 15, 59). Through interaction with the transactivating response element, Tat recruits a cyclin T-associated kinase, CDK9, into the preinitiation transcription complex (3, 19, 60). The recruitment of p-TEFb (cyclin T/cdk9) to the HIV-1 promoter complex is necessary and sufficient to promote transcriptional elongation and the target-specific phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) CTD repeats (19, 64). In addition to its regulatory activity over the HIV-1 LTR, other pleiotropic effects exerted by HIV-1 Tat on the host cell have also been observed (10). The Tat protein has been shown to regulate the rate of transcription of host cellular genes and to interact with the signaling machinery, leading to cellular dysfunction and immunosuppression associated with viral infection (34, 56). Tat can affect the expression of cellular genes, including those for cytokines (4, 48), cycle-related proteins (41, 42, 52), surface receptors such as EDF-1 and TCR/CD3 (5, 62), or chemokine receptors (CCR5,CXCR4) (28, 55). Moreover, recent studies using microarray techniques have demonstrated that this protein down-regulates principally genes involved in differentiation signal control and significantly increases expression of genes necessary for proliferation (host cell transcription and translation machinery), probably to establish an adequate environment to enhance viral replication (13, 22). Interestingly, Izmailova et al. have demonstrated that both HIV-1 infection and adenovirus-mediated Tat overexpression induce similar up-regulation of gene expression and secretion of chemokines in human dendritic cells (31).
Virtually all eukaryotic mRNA precursors (pre-mRNAs) must be modified at the 3' end to serve as efficient templates before they are exported to the cytoplasm. The posttranscriptional acquisition of poly(A) tails on the 3' ends of eukaryotic mRNAs is an essential process which promotes transcription termination (7) and transport of the mRNA from the nucleus (29). The poly(A) tail is also important for optimal translation and for regulating mRNA stability (18, 49, 53, 61). Pre-mRNAs are maturated in a two-step reaction: site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage followed by poly(A) addition to the new 3' end (39, 58, 63). Nuclear poly(A) addition requires cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF), poly(A) polymerase (PAP), cleavage stimulation factor (CstF), and the cis-acting sequence AAUAAA. CPSF is a complex of four polypeptide subunits (160, 100, 73, and 30 kDa) that binds specifically to the AAUAAA signal (32, 38, 47) and is required for both cleavage and poly(A) addition activity. The contact with the mRNA-specific signal is made through the CPSF 160-kDa subunit (CPSF1). Although the roles of the other subunits remain elusive, a possible regulating activity of the 100-kDa (CPSF2) and 73-kDa (CPSF3) CPSF subunits on the complex has been described. Interestingly, a role for the CPSF complex in HIV-1 gene regulation has been suggested, since functional binding sites for this factor are present in the HIV-1 LTR promoter (14, 54).
To further study the effect that Tat exerts on host cell, we used the mRNA differential display method and identified several genes that were up- or down-regulated in cells overexpressing Tat ectopically. Among them, we have found that the CPSF3 gene is clearly up-regulated in Tat-expressing cell lines, and we report here on the possible function of this factor in regard to cellular and HIV-1 gene regulation.
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Plasmid constructs. We used the pSilencer 1.0-U6 vector (Ambion, Inc., Austin, Tex.) to express small interfering RNA (siRNA) in mammalian cells. The oligonucleotides for the bodies of the siRNAs used were pSI-CPSF1 (5'-GCTTCAAGGATGCCAAGCT-3') (GenBank accession no. NM_013291), pSI-CPSF2 (5'-GAATCTGCCCTTTGCTATC-3') (XM_029311), and pSI-CPSF3 (5'-GAAGTAGGAAGATCATGTA-3') (NM_016207), and they were confirmed by BLAST research (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) to ensure that they did not have significant sequence homology with other genes. pSI-Control plasmids were constructed for each of the silencing plasmids described above, which had the same sequence with three differing nucleotides. The full-length human CPSF3 cDNA sequence was obtained by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) from HeLa cells and cloned into pcDNA3. The resulting construct was sequenced to ensure that no punctual mutations were introduced during the PCR amplification. The expression plasmid pBI-EGFP-Tat was generated by cloning the Tat gene between the MluI and NheI sites of the pBI-EGFP vector (BD Clontech). The vector pNL4-3.Luc.R-E (National Institutes of Health AIDS Research and Reference Reagent program; catalogue number 3418) contains the firefly luciferase gene inserted into the pNL4-3 nef gene. This proviral construct expresses luciferase activity as a marker of viral gene expression. The plasmid HIV-LTR-Luc, harboring the HIV LTR promoter (LAV1 Bru strain) followed by the luciferase gene, has been described previously (30). The plasmid HTLV-Luc, containing the human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) type 1 LTR promoter driving the luciferase reporter gene, was previously described (24). The expression vector pSV-Hygro, harboring the bacterial hygromycin phosphotransferase gene under the control of the simian virus 40 promoter, has been described elsewhere (11). The plasmids pGL3-Waf1-Luc, containing 2.4 kb of the human waf1/p21 promoter and upstream region; pGL3-Bax-Luc, containing a SmaI-SacI fragment of the human Bax promoter (position 687 to 318); and pGL3-mdm2-Luc, containing the P2 intronic mouse mdm2 promoter, were previously described (1, 16, 45).
Differential display-PCR.
Total RNA was prepared from K562-pcDNA3 and K562-Tat cells by the lithium chloride-urea method. Isolated total RNA was treated with DNase I (Invitrogen Life Sciences) and analyzed on a 1% agarose gel for quality and quantity before use. Differential display was performed according to the recommendations of the manufacturer (Beckman Coulter, Fullerton, Calif.), using Hieroglyph mRNA profile kit (Genomix Corporation, Foster, Calif.). Amplicons were resolved by electrophoresis on 4.5% denaturing polyacrylamide gels for 3 h 30 min at 50°C and 1,500 V. Modifications to the manufacturer's procedure were as follows: instead of labeling the arbitrary primers, the anchored primers used in the PCR amplification were end labeled with [
-33P]dATP (NEN, Zaventen, Belgium) by using T4 polynucleotide kinase (Invitrogen Life Sciences).
Cloning, sequencing, and identification of cDNAs. Bands showing a change of expression were reamplified, purified by using the Concert kit (Invitrogen Life Sciences), cloned into the pGEM-Teasy vector (Promega, Madison, Wis.), and sequenced. The cDNA fragments were compared with the sequence data banks by using the BLAST algorithms and the resources at the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
RT-PCR amplification. Retrotranscription of mRNA into cDNA was performed in a 20-µl reaction mixture according to the SuperScript II RNase H reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen Life Sciences) protocol, using 0.5 µg of oligo(dT)12-18 primer (Invitrogen Life Sciences) for 5 µg of mRNA. RT-PCR amplification was performed in a 50-µl PCR mixture containing 0.5 to 2 µl of the retrotranscription mixture, 1x PCR buffer, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 200 µM deoxynucleoside triphosphates, a 10 µM concentration of each of 5' and 3' primer, and 2.5 U of recombinant Taq DNA polymerase (Invitrogen Life Sciences). The mixtures were amplified in a MultiGene cycler IR system (Labnet Co., Woodbridge, N.J.). The primers used were as follows: ß-actin antisense primer, 5'-GCAACTAAGTCATAGTCCGC-3'; ß-actin sense primer, 5'-CTGTCTGGCGGCACCACCAT-3'; CPSF1 sense primer, 5'-CTCTTTCGCTCCATTCCAC-3'; CPSF1 antisense primer, 5'-TCCTTCTCCTCGCCAGTCA-3'; CPSF2 sense primer, 5'-GATCAGATTTGGAGGACTAA-3'; CPSF2 antisense primer, 5'-AGAATGATTGAGTTTTTAGG-3'; CPSF3 sense primer, 5'-AATGGCTGGCAAACCCTTCTAATG-3'; and CPSF3 antisense primer, 5'-CATCGTCTTCACTTCCCTCTTCACA-3'. The amplification profile consisted of an initial denaturation for 2 min at 95°C and then 20 to 35 cycles of 30 s at 95°C, annealing for 30 s at 55°C (CPSF1, CPSF3, and ß-actin) or at 52°C (CPSF2), and elongation for 1 min at 72°C. A final extension for 10 min was carried out at 72°C. The expected sizes of the amplicons were 249 bp for CPSF1, 314 bp for CPSF2, 291 bp for CPSF3, and 232 bp for ß-actin. PCR products were electrophoresed on a 1% (wt/vol) agarose gel and detected by UV visualization.
Real-time PCR quantification. For the quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis of gene expression, the iCycler (Bio-Rad, Hercules, Calif.) system was used. Total RNA was isolated and retrotranscribed as described above. Equal amounts of cDNA were used in triplicate and amplified with the specific primers. The PCR mixture consisted of 25 µl containing 1x PCR buffer, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 200 µM deoxynucleoside triphosphates, a 10 µM concentration of each sequence-specific primer, 3 µl of SYBR Green I (diluted 1:15,000), 2 µl of transcribed cDNA, and 0.5 U of recombinant Taq DNA polymerase (Invitrogen Life Sciences). Amplification efficiencies were validated and normalized against ß-actin, and fold increases were calculated by using the comparative threshold cycle method for quantitation. The amplification profiles were the same as described for semiquantitative RT-PCR amplification.
Transient transfections and luciferase assays. The transfections were performed with Lipofectamine Plus reagent (Invitrogen Life Sciences) according to the manufacturer's recommendations for 48 h with the indicated plasmids. The cells were then lysed in 25 mM Tris-phosphate (pH 7.8)-8 mM MgCl2-1 mM dithiothreitol-1% Triton X-100-7% glycerol. Luciferase activity was measured with an Autolumat LB 953 (EG&G Berthold). The background obtained with the lysis buffer was subtracted from each experimental value, and all experiments were repeated at least three times.
Western blots. Total cell extracts were obtained by incubating the cells in lysis buffer (20 mM HEPES [pH 8.0], 0.35 M NaCl, 0.1 mM EGTA, 0.5 mM EDTA, 1 mM MgCl2, 20% glycerol, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 1 µg of leupeptin per ml, 0.5 µg of pepstatin per ml, 0.5 µg of apronitin per ml, and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride) containing 1% NP-40. Cells were incubated for 15 min in ice, and cellular proteins were obtained by centrifugation at 10,000 x g for 10 min. Protein concentrations were determined by the Bradford assay (Bio-Rad), and 20 µg of proteins was boiled in Laemmli buffer and electrophoresed in sodium dodecyl sulfate-7.5% polyacrylamide gels. Separated proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes (0.5 A at 100 V; 4°C) for 1 h. The blots were blocked in Tris-buffered saline solution containing 0.1% Tween 20 and 5% nonfat dry milk overnight at 4°C, and immunodetection of specific proteins was carried out with the primary antibodies by using an ECL system (Amersham, Little Chalfont, United Kingdom). Antitubulin monoclonal antibody was purchased from Sigma Co. (St. Louis, Mo.), and rabbit anti-CPSF3 was a gift from D. Bentley (University of Colorado Health Center, Denver).
Scanning electron microscopy. The cells were cultured, collected over polycarbonate membranes, washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline, fixed with fixative solution (2% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer) for 1 h, and postfixed with 1% osmium tetroxide for 2 h. Following dehydration with ethanol, membranes were sputter coated with a gold layer of 1.5 to 2 nm. The preparations were examined under a Jeol JSM 6300 microscope.
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FIG. 1. HIV-1 Tat protein increases the expression of CPSF3. (A) Identification of a 632-bp gene fragment up-regulated in K562-Tat cells. To carry out the differential display assays, we used four similar samples of the same cell to minimize artifactual amplification. Thus, two different extractions of mRNA (first extraction, lanes 1 and 3; second extraction, lanes 2 and 4) were subjected to two different RT-PCRs (lanes 1 and 2 and lanes 3 and 4). A differentially amplified 632-bp fragment (arrow) separated on 4.5% denaturing polyacrylamide gels was identified by autoradiography, excised from the gel, reamplified, cloned, and sequenced. (B) Tat increases the expression of CPSF3 in tat-transfected cells. Total RNA was extracted from HeLa (lanes 1), HeLa-Tat (lanes 2), Jhan (lanes 3), Jhan-Tat (lanes 4), K562 (lanes 5), and K562-Tat (lanes 6) cells, and the expression of CPSF3 and ß-actin was detected by RT-PCR.
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FIG. 2. HIV-1 Tat protein specifically up-regulates the 73-kDa subunit of the CPSF complex in both K562 and HeLa cells. (A) Total RNA was extracted from K562-pcDNA3, K562-Tat, HeLa, and HeLa-Tat cells, and the expression of three CPSF subunits was studied by semiquantitative RT-PCR. ß-Actin amplification was carried out in parallel as a control. (B) Quantitative real-time RT-PCR of CPSF subunit expression in K562-pcDNA3, K562-Tat, HeLa, and HeLa-Tat cells. Amplification was normalized against ß-actin gene expression, and fold increases were calculated by using the comparative threshold cycle method for quantification. The results shown are representative of those from three experiments. Error bars indicate standard deviations.
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,) phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), or the transactivator protein X of hepatitis B virus (HBx), and we did not find any change in the expression of CPSF3 (data not shown). Taken together, our results suggest that HIV-1 Tat regulates CPSF3 gene expression by a specific pathway different from those activated by TNF-
, PMA, or the HBx protein.
CPSF3 protein expression is regulated by HIV-1 Tat.
Next, we were interested in studying whether the increase in the mRNA expression of CPSF3 regulated by the Tat protein induces a significant effect on the steady-state levels of CPSF3 protein. To evaluate this, we carried out Western blot experiments with both the K562-Tat and HeLa-Tat cell lines compared with their respective parental cell lines by using a specific antibody that recognizes CPSF3 (44). As shown in Fig. 3A, CPSF3 protein levels were significantly up-regulated in both K562-Tat and HeLa-Tat cells compared to their parental cell lines, with
-tubulin protein expression used as a control. To rule out the possibility that the increase in the Tat-induced CPSF3 protein level was due to a change in the rate of protein stabilization, we performed experiments to measure the half-life of CPSF3 protein in both HeLa and HeLa-Tat cells. Thus, HeLa and HeLa-Tat cells were treated with cycloheximide (10 µg/ml) for the indicated times, and the steady-state levels of the CPSF3 protein were studied by immunoblotting. As shown in Fig. 3B, no significant differences in the half-life of the CPSF3 protein were found in HeLa-Tat cells compared to the parental cell line. Next, we studied the up-regulation of CPSF3 protein in an inducible model of HIV-Tat by using the HeLa-On-Tat cell line, in which Tat protein is induced in response to doxycycline. As shown in Fig. 3C, HeLa-On-Tat cells stimulated with doxycycline showed a clear increase in CPSF3 expression that was clearly more evident after 12 h of stimulation.
-Tubulin protein expression was used as a control for the protein levels. To study the functionality of HIV-Tat protein, HeLa-On-Tat cells were transiently transfected with the HIV-LTR-Luc plasmid, and after 48 h the cells were stimulated with doxycycline for the indicated times. As shown in Fig. 3D, doxycycline treatment resulted in a time-dependent induction of the Tat-dependent HIV-LTR promoter activity.
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FIG. 3. CPSF3 protein induction by HIV-1 Tat. (A) Total cell extracts were obtained from K562-pcDNA3, K562-Tat, HeLa, and HeLa-Tat cells, and CPSF3 protein expression was detected by Western blotting. (B) Cellular proteins were obtained from cycloheximide (CHX)-treated HeLa and HeLa-Tat cells at the indicated times, and the levels of CPSF3 protein were analyzed by Western blotting. (C) HeLa-On-Tat cells were stimulated with doxycycline (Dox) (1 µg/ml) for 1, 3, 6, and 12 h; total proteins were extracted; and the expression of CPSF3 was identified by immunoblotting. In all the cases the same membranes were reblotted with a monoclonal antibody recognizing -tubulin. (D) HIV-LTR induction in HeLa-On-Tat cells by doxycycline. The cells were transfected with the HIV-LTR-Luc plasmid and 24 h later were stimulated with doxycycline as indicated. After this time, the cells were lysed and the luciferase activity was measured as described in Material and Methods. The results shown are representative of those from three experiments. RLU, relative light units. Error bars indicate standard deviations.
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FIG. 4. Effects of CPSF3 overexpression on viral and cellular gene expression. 293T and HeLa cells were transiently transfected with the pNL4-3.Luc.R-E, p21-Luc, or mdm2-Luc plasmid along with either the expression vector encoding CPSF3 (pcDNA3-CPSF3) (gray bars) or the empty pcDNA3 plasmid (black bars). After 48 h of transfection, luciferase activity was assayed. The results show mean fold induction ± standard deviation from three different experiments.
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FIG. 5. Specific inhibition of CPSF3 mRNA expression by siRNA. 293T cells were transiently transfected with either the pSI-CPSF3 plasmid (lanes 2) or the pSI-Control plasmid (lanes 1). Forty-eight hours later, total RNA was extracted and CPSF3 expression was studied by RT-PCR, using the ß-actin gene expression as a control. The change in expression was analyzed by using image analysis software (Kodak digital science 1D, version 2.01) and expressed as relative units. Results from one representative experiment out of four independent experiments are shown. Error bars indicate standard deviations.
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FIG. 6. Effects of CPSF3 silencing on viral and cellular gene expression. 293T and HeLa cells were transiently cotransfected with the indicated luciferase reporter vectors and either the pSI-CPSF3 plasmid (gray bars) or the pSI-Control plasmid (black bars) (silencer/target plasmid ratio of 10:1; 1 µg of DNA total). After 48 h of transfection, luciferase activity was assayed. Each transfection was assayed in triplicate, and the results show mean percent activation ± standard deviation.
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FIG. 7. Long-term inhibition of CPSF3 subunit expression. (A) Total RNA was isolated from either 293T-siControl (lanes 1) or 293T-siCPSF3 cells (lanes 2), and the expression of CPSF1, -2, and -3 was analyzed by RT-PCR, using ß-actin gene expression as a control. (B) Phenotype changes in 293T-siCPSF3 clones were monitored by light (A and B) and scanning electron (C and D) microscopy in comparison to the parental controls. Corresponding images were taken at the same exposure. Magnifications, x400 (light microscopy [LM]) and x1,600 (scanning electron microscopy [SEM]).
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FIG. 8. Effects of CPSF subunit specific inhibition on viral and cellular gene expression. 293T cells were transiently cotransfected with the indicated plasmids along with either each CPSF subunit silencer plasmid (pSI-CPSF1 [dark gray bars], pSI-CPSF2 [light gray bars], or pSI-CPSF3 [white bars]) or the pSI-Control plasmid (black bars) (silencer/target plasmid ratio of 10:1; 1 µg of DNA total). The luciferase activity was measured and expressed as percent activation. Values are means ± standard deviations from three independent experiments.
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In this report, we have provided evidence that CPSF 73-kDa subunit (CPSF3) expression is up-regulated specifically by the HIV-1 Tat protein in three different cell lines and also in a Tat-inducible cell line. Also, knockdown of the endogenous CPSF3 by RNA interference, together with gene overexpression experiments, have shown that CPSF3 is an important regulatory protein for both viral and cellular gene expression. Thus, HIV-1-Tat up-regulation of CPSF3 could represent a novel mechanism by which this virus establishes an adequate cellular environment to enhance viral replication. We found that CPSF3 is not regulated by other stimuli, such as TNF-
, PMA, or the HBx protein. This result implies that Tat may regulate CPSF3 gene expression by a specific pathway that probably takes place at the transcriptional level by interacting with non-cell type-specific transcription factors modulating its activity. Interestingly, the CPSF3 proximal promoter contains several consensus sites for transcription factors such as CREB and c-Rel, which have been demonstrated to interact physically or functionally with the HIV Tat protein (2, 23). Experiments with the CPSF3 promoter are in progress to elucidate this point. Alternatively, Tat may affect the mRNA stability of CPSF3, but, taking into account the high homology between the three subunits of the CPSF complex and the fact that Tat does not induce the expression of CPSF1 and -2, it is unlikely that the high CPSF3 mRNA expression observed in tat-expressing cells is due to mRNA stabilization.
The 3' ends of eukaryotic mRNAs are generated by endonucleolytic cleavage and polyadenylation. In mammals, the multisubunit CPSF plays a central role in both steps of the processing reaction. Although the precise role of the CPSF3 subunit is not completely clarified, a function for this protein in mammalian cells can be inferred from experiments performed with yeast. Significant studies have shown that both the mRNA maturation process and the involved protein complexes in yeast are highly similar to those in mammals (39). In this regard, the equivalent to the mammalian CPSF3 protein was identified as a subunit (Ysh1/Brr5) of yeast polyadenylation factor I (PFI). Disruption of the open reading frame of this protein is lethal, which demonstrates that this gene is essential for viability in yeast (32). Similarly, studies by means of protein mutation and extract depletion by immunoprecipitation have demonstrated its role in both the cleavage and the polyadenylation of mRNA in vivo and in vitro (9). The association of PFI with Pap1p (PAP) confers on the former a possible modulating role in cleavage and polyadenylation activities in yeast (50). The fact that CPSF, together with its equivalent PFI, are among the best conserved components of the 3'-end-processing machinery in these highly divergent organisms indicates their key function in the mRNA maturation process.
The modifications of pre-RNAs during their maturation process are central to the correct development of many processes, such as transcription, splicing, nucleocytoplasmic transport, and translation. Among these modifications, the most rate-limiting step is that of 3'-end processing, including cleavage and poly(A) addition. Since polyadenylation is a prerequisite for HIV-1 RNA nucleocytoplasmic transport and 3'-end processing is necessary for nuclear export (8, 29), the data in this study suggest a model in which Tat protein increases CPSF3 expression to favor mRNA processing and its translation in the cytoplasm, thereby causing an increase in both cell and viral gene expression. However, our results suggest that CPSF3 is more relevant for viral gene expression than for cellular gene expression. In this regard, some authors have demonstrated that an excessive polyadenylation activity could impair the nucleocytoplasmic transport of de novo synthesized cellular mRNAs (8, 25). Nevertheless, an increase in this activity would not equally affect the poly(A) tails of the viral mRNA during viral replication (46). Therefore, through CPSF3 up-regulation the HIV-1 Tat protein could preferentially increase the amount of cytoplasmic viral RNAs exported from the nucleus, at the expense of cellular RNAs. Interestingly, Vpr, another HIV-1 regulatory protein, has been shown to modulate the activity of poly(A) polymerase, thus enhancing the polyadenylation processes in order to optimize HIV-1 replication and contribute to HIV-1 pathogenesis (46).
In addition to its role in mRNA 3'-end processing, there is increasing evidence that the CPSF complex also plays a key function in the transcription initiation of genes specifically regulated by RNAPII (26). It has been shown that RNAPII transcription and mRNA maturation are tightly coupled processes (51). Transcription initiation by RNAPII requires the assembly of initiation factors to form a preinitiation complex. CPSF is brought to the preinitiation complex by TFIID, and after the start of the transcription, it is transferred to the elongating polymerase and bound to CTD for correct 3'-end processing (12, 27). Interestingly, functional binding sites for CPSF present in the HIV-1 LTR promoter (positions +71 to +76) have also suggested a role for this factor in HIV-1 gene transcription (54). So far, no DNA binding activities have been specifically described for the CPSF3 subunit in cellular gene promoters, but the results presented here indicate that CPSF3 functions as a gene transcription repressor, at least for the mdm2 promoter, and since this subunit does not contain any consensus DNA binding domain, it is possible that CPSF3 interacts with other nuclear factors to form a negative regulatory complex.
HIV-1 has evolved various means to perturb the cell cycle to optimize the cellular conditions in favor of its own replication. The facts that HIV-1 Tat induces an increase in CPSF3 expression and that this protein plays a crucial role not only in mRNA processing but also in transcriptional repression of the mdm2 gene promoter suggest a novel mechanism by which the HIV-1 virus modulates cellular factors required for optimal viral replication.
We thank D. Bentley (University of Colorado Health Center) for rabbit anti-CPSF3 and M. Fresno (CBM-UAM, Madrid, Spain) for Jhan-Tat cells. We thank Carmen Cabrero-Doncel for assistance with the manuscript.
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