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Journal of Virology, March 2004, p. 2486-2493, Vol. 78, No. 5
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.78.5.2486-2493.2004
Vaccinia Virus A36R Membrane Protein Provides a Direct Link between Intracellular Enveloped Virions and the Microtubule Motor Kinesin
Brian M. Ward
and Bernard Moss*
Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0445
Received 23 July 2003/
Accepted 6 November 2003

ABSTRACT
Previous work demonstrated that intracellular enveloped vaccinia
virus virions use microtubules to move from the site of membrane
wrapping to the cell periphery. The mechanism and direction
of intracellular virion movement predicted that viral proteins
directly or indirectly interact with the microtubule motor protein
kinesin. The yeast two-hybrid assay was used to test for interactions
between the light chain of kinesin and the cytoplasmic tails
from five viral envelope proteins. We found that the N-terminal
tetratricopeptide repeat region of the kinesin light chain (KLC-TPR)
interacted with the cytoplasmic tail of the viral A36R protein.
A series of C- and N-terminal truncations of A36R further defined
a region from residues 81 to 111 that was sufficient for interaction
with KLC-TPR. Interactions were confirmed by using pull-down
assays with purified glutathione
S-transferase (GST)-A36R and
35S-labeled KLC-TPR. The defined region on A36R for interaction
with kinesin overlaps the recently defined region (residues
91 to 111) for interaction with the A33R envelope protein. The
yeast three-hybrid system was used to demonstrate that expression
of A33R interrupted the interaction between A36R and KLC-TPR,
indicating that the binding of A36R is mutually exclusive to
either A33R or kinesin. Pull-down assays with purified GST-A36R
and
35S-labeled KLC-TPR in the presence of competing A33R corroborated
these findings. Collectively, these results demonstrated that
the viral A36R protein interacts directly with the microtubule
motor protein kinesin and that the viral protein A33R may regulate
this interaction.

INTRODUCTION
Vaccinia virus, the prototype member of the poxvirus family,
replicates entirely in the cytoplasm and produces both intracellular
and extracellular forms of infectious virions (
24). Intracellular
mature virions (IMVs) contain a lipoprotein membrane and are
the first infectious form produced (
9,
16,
28,
38). A subset
of IMVs is wrapped with an extra double membrane derived from
the trans-Golgi network (TGN) or endosomal cisternae (
34,
42).
These wrapped forms are called intracellular enveloped virions
(IEVs). IEVs are transported via microtubules from the site
of wrapping to the cell periphery, in which the outermost IEV
membrane fuses with the plasma membrane, depositing cell-associated
enveloped virions (CEVs) on the cell surface (
15,
20,
27,
48,
49). Actin polymerization occurs on the cytosolic side of the
plasma membrane, directly beneath the CEV. The thick actin structures
that result, called actin tails, propel CEVs away from the surface
of the cell (
3,
8,
17,
39). Eventually, some enveloped virions
are released from the cell surface and are called extracellular
enveloped virions (EEVs) (
1,
26). While IMVs make up the majority
of progeny virions, the enveloped forms of the virus, CEVs and
EEVs, are critical for cell-to-cell and long-range spread (
1,
3,
6,
26).
Seven proteins exclusive to enveloped forms of the virus are encoded by the following open reading frames (ORFs): A33R (29), A34R (11), A36R (46), A56R (36), B5R (12, 21), F12L (45), and F13L (19). In this article, vaccinia virus ORFs are italicized and designated by a capital letter indicating a HindIII restriction endonuclease fragment, a number indicating the position in the HindIII fragment, and a letter (L or R) indicating the direction of transcription (e.g., A36R). Proteins encoded by the ORFs are in plain type (e.g., A36R). Except for A56R, deletion of any one of these ORFs results in a mutant that produces small plaques on cell monolayers (11, 22, 25, 30, 31, 52, 53, 55). Of the seven proteins encoded by the ORFs described above, A36R and F12L are uniquely restricted to the IEVs. F13L (2) and B5R (13, 51) are required for IMV envelopment, because deletion of either protein reduces the numbers of IEVs and decreases EEV production. Although deletion of the A33R, A34R, or A36R ORF results in the loss of actin tails (30, 31, 52, 53), only A36R has been shown to be directly involved in actin tail formation. Phosphorylation of Tyr 112 and 132 of A36R activates the Arp2-Arp3 complex and leads to actin nucleation (14, 23, 33). While the role of A34R in actin tail formation still needs to be determined, recent studies showed that the cytoplasmic domain of A33R interacts with residues 91 to 111 of A36R (50). The interaction of A36R with A33R is required for the incorporation of A36R into the viral envelope and subsequent actin tail formation (54).
Recent work dispelled a previously accepted belief that actin tails propel IEVs through the cytoplasm and demonstrated that IEV movement is dependent on microtubules (15, 20, 27, 48, 49). The cellular protein kinesin is a molecular motor that moves cargo from the Golgi network to the plasma membrane (18, 35), making it a likely candidate for movement of nascent enveloped virions to the cell surface. Kinesin is found in the cell as a heterotetramer consisting of two copies of the light chain (KLC) and two copies of the heavy chain (KHC). The KHC contains the microtubule-binding domain along with ATP-dependent motor activity. The KLCs interact with the central coiled stalk of the KHCs through their N-terminal
-helical domain. The C-terminal end of KLC contains a degenerate 34-amino-acid repeat motif termed the tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) (10, 44). TPR motifs from several diverse proteins are involved in protein-protein interactions (4). Recently KLC-TPR was shown to interact with a class of scaffolding proteins for the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase-signaling pathway (7, 47). These scaffolding proteins mediate the binding of cellular cargo to kinesin through attachment at the KLC-TPR.
The binding of kinesin-specific antibody to enveloped virions and evidence that overexpression of TPR results in a decrease in the accumulation of enveloped virus at the cell periphery were recently reported (27). Residues 71 to 100 of A36R were required for dispersion of IEV to the periphery of the cell, although binding to kinesin of either the whole A36R protein or segments of it was not demonstrated (27). Because residues 91 to 111 of A36R mediate an interaction with the A33R envelope protein (50), the role of A36R in movement could be indirect. Here, we used the yeast two-hybrid assay to screen for interactions between the KLC-TPR and the cytoplasmic domains of five viral envelope proteins. A strong interaction was detected between A36R and the KLC-TPR. The site of binding to the KLC was further mapped to residues 81 to 111 of A36R, which overlaps with the A33R interaction site (50). Using the yeast three-hybrid assay, we demonstrated that the binding of A36R is mutually exclusive to either the A33R protein or kinesin, suggesting that A33R regulates the intracellular transport of enveloped virions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Yeast two-hybrid constructs and assays.
Cloning of coding sequences for the cytoplasmic domains of A33R,
A34R, A36R, B5R, and F12L and the series of A36R truncations
into pGADT7 and pGBKT7 (BD Biosciences Clontech) has been described
previously (
50), with the exception of A36R
24-101. Primers C
CTCGAGTC
ACGTAGAATCGAGACCGAGGAGAGGGTTAGGGATAGGCTTACCTTCGTTATCCCATATTAAACT
and G
CATATGATTTGTAGGAAAAAGATACGTACT were used to amplify the
coding sequence of residues 24 to 101 of A36R and to add a 5'
NdeI restriction endonuclease site (underlined) and a 3' V5
tag (double underlined) followed by an
XhoI (underlined) site.
Amplified fragments were cloned into pGEM-T (Promega), sequenced,
and subsequently excised from pGEM-T by digestion with
NdeI-
XhoI,
and ligated into similarly cleaved pGBKT7 and pGADT7. Plasmids
containing the coding sequence for either the six TPR motifs
of rat KLC or the TPR motifs from protein phosphatase 5 (
47)
were a gift from K. J. Verhey. The coding sequence of the TPR
motifs was excised from pGBDU-C1 with
EcoRI-
SalI and ligated
into pGADT7 that had been cleaved with
EcoRI-
XhoI.
To test for interactions, yeast strain AH109 was cotransformed with purified plasmids by using the Yeastmaker yeast transformation system 2 (BD Biosciences Clontech) according to manufacturer's instructions. Transformed yeast cells were plated onto standard dropout medium minus leucine and tryptophan. Resulting yeast colonies were tested for interaction by streaking on standard quadruple-dropout (QDO) medium minus leucine, tryptophan, histidine, and adenine.
Yeast three-hybrid constructs.
The coding sequence of KLC-TPR was excised from pGBDU-KLC-TPR6 by using EcoRI-SalI and ligated into similarly cleaved pBridge (BD Biosciences Clontech) to create pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR. Primer AGCGGCCGCGGAGGACCTGCATATG was used in conjunction with the 3' DNA binding domain (BD) sequencing primer (BD Biosciences Clontech) to amplify the coding sequence of either residues 24 to 111 of A36R from pGAD-A36R24-111 or residues 1 to 40 of A33R from pGAD-A33R1-40 and to add a 5' NotI (underlined) restriction endonuclease site. Amplified fragments were cloned into pGEM-T, sequenced and subsequently excised from pGEM-T by digestion with NotI-BamHI, and ligated into pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR that had been cleaved with NotI-BglII.
Western blots.
Doubly transformed yeast cells were grown overnight in standard dropout medium lacking leucine and tryptophan that either did or did not contain methionine. The next day, cultures were diluted to equal optical densities, and an equal volume was extracted with Y-PER (Pierce). Proteins from the extracts were mixed with protein loading buffer, resolved by electrophoresis on a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide (10 to 20%) gel (Invitrogen), and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane. Membranes were incubated with antihemagglutinin (HA) monoclonal antibody (MAb) (Roche) followed by horseradish peroxidase-conjugated sheep anti-mouse antibody (Amersham). Bound antibodies were detected with chemiluminescence reagents (Pierce).
GST fusion constructs and protein interaction assays.
Plasmids pGAD-A36R24-111 and pGAD-A33R1-40 were digested with NheI and made blunt by filling in the overhang. Subsequently, the coding sequence for residues 24 to 111 of A36R and 1 to 40 of A33R were removed from pGAD-A36R24-111 and pGAD-A33R1-40, respectively, by digestion with XhoI and ligated into pGEX-5X-1 (Amersham Biosciences) that had been digested with SmaI-XhoI. The resulting plasmids were transformed into Escherichia coli strain BL21, and the glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusions were induced and purified.
For pull-down assays, KLC-TPR was labeled in vitro with [35S]methionine by using the TNT coupled reticulocyte lysate system (Promega). Dilutions of the labeled protein were resolved on SDS-polyacrylamide (10 to 20%) gels and transferred to nitrocellulose. Full-length products were excised and quantified by scintillation counting. Five micrograms of purified GST or GST-A36R24-111 was incubated with 20 µl of glutathione Sepharose 4B (Amersham Pharmacia) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) for 1 h at 4°C followed by three washes with PBS. Washed beads were used with 0.5 fmol of labeled KLC-TPR for pull-down assays as described previously (40).
For inhibition assays, 0.13 nmol of purified GST-A36R24-111 was incubated with 0.5 fmol of [35S]methionine-labeled KLC-TPR in 200 µl of PBS containing 200 µg of bacterial protein extract. For competition, either 1.3 or 13 nmol of purified GST-A33R1-40 or 13 nmol of purified GST was also included. After 1 h at 4°C, 50 µl of anti-V5 antibody-conjugated agarose (Sigma) was added. After another 1-h incubation at 4°C, the beads were washed three times with PBS. Proteins were eluted in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) loading buffer, resolved on SDS-polyacrylamide (10 to 20%) gels, transferred to nitrocellulose, and quantified by scintillation counting.
For preparation of cytosolic extracts, 108 HeLa cells were placed on ice, washed twice with ice-cold PBS, and scraped in ice-cold homogenization buffer (100 mM PIPES [pH 6.9], 2 mM MgSO4, 1 mM EGTA, complete protease inhibitor tablet [Roche], 0.2 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride). Cells were chilled in a 7-ml Dounce homogenizer on ice for 5 min and disrupted by 20 strokes of the pestle. The resulting extract was clarified by centrifugation at 50,000 x g for 1 h. Two milliliters of extract was incubated with 10 µg of purified GST or GST-A36R24-111 bound to glutathione Sepharose 4B (Amersham Pharmacia) for 3 h at 4°C. After incubation, the beads were washed three times with homogenization buffer. Proteins were eluted in SDS-PAGE loading buffer, resolved on SDS-polyacrylamide (10%) gels, and transferred to nitrocellulose. Membranes were incubated with either anti-KHC or anti-KLC antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) followed by horseradish peroxidase-conjugated donkey anti-goat antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch). Bound antibodies were detected with chemiluminescence reagents (Pierce).

RESULTS
Interaction of the A36R protein with kinesin in a yeast two-hybrid system.
After envelopment, IEVs are transported from the site of wrapping
at the TGN or late endosomal cisternae to the cell surface.
We considered that the microtubule motor protein kinesin would
be involved in virion transport because of its known role in
positive-end-directed movement on microtubules (
18,
35) and
data of Rietdorf and coworkers (
27). Previously, we demonstrated
that the yeast two-hybrid system was an effective tool for determining
the interactions between the cytoplasmic domains of various
IEV proteins (
50) and thought that it would also be useful for
determining interactions between the same domains and the microtubule
motor kinesin. Cellular cargo interacts with kinesin through
a series of six TPRs in the C terminus of KLC (
7,
47). Based
on this information, we decided to test the TPR domain of KLC
(KLC-TPR) for interaction with the cytoplasmic tails of five
virally encoded envelope proteins: A33R, A34R, A36R, B5R, and
F12L. DNA encoding the cytoplasmic domain of each of these proteins
was fused to DNA encoding the GAL4 BD. Correspondingly, the
DNA encoding residues 199 to 489 of rat KLC, which encode the
TPR domain, was fused to DNA encoding the GAL4 activation domain
(AD). The AD KLC-TPR plasmid was cotransfected into yeast with
one of the BD plasmids. In each case, the doubly transfected
yeast grew on double-dropout (DDO) medium lacking leucine and
tryptophan, indicating that they contained both the AD KLC-TPR
plasmid and a BD construct plasmid (Fig.
1). However, only the
yeast transfected with the KLC-TPR plasmid and the BD construct
with the cytoplasmic tail of A36R grew on the selective QDO
medium (Fig.
1). We did not detect growth on selective QDO medium
when the BD plasmid contained the GAL4 DNA BD unfused or fused
to the cytoplasmic domain of any of the other viral proteins
(Fig.
1). Furthermore, we did not detect growth on selective
QDO medium when the AD plasmid contained an unrelated TPR motif
from protein phosphatase 5 and the BD plasmid contained the
cytoplasmic domain of A36R (data not shown). Taken together,
these data indicated a specific interaction between the KLC-TPR
and the cytoplasmic domain of A36R.
We tested our series of previously constructed BD-A36R truncations
(
50) for interactions with AD-KLC-TPR to further define the
region of A36R responsible for the interaction with KLC-TPR.
The genes for the truncated proteins encoding amino acids 24
to 221, 24 to 123, and 24 to 111 interacted with KLC-TPR, while
those encoding amino acids 24 to 101, 24 to 93, and 24 to 80
failed to interact as determined by growth on selective QDO
medium (Table
1), indicating that the kinesin interaction region
was contained within the first 111 residues of A36R. Next we
tested for interaction between AD KLC-TPR and four truncations
of A36R in which the first 60, 70, 80, or 90 residues of the
cytoplasmic domain were removed in conjunction with the deletion
of the last 108 residues to give constructs expressing amino
acids 61 to 111, 71 to 111, 81 to 111, or 91 to 111. Positive
interactions were detected with the first three truncations,
but we were unable to detect an interaction with residues 91
to 111 (Table
1), indicating that residues 81 to 111 of A36R
were sufficient for interaction with the TPR domain of KLC in
the yeast two-hybrid system.
Interaction of A36R with KLC-TPR in vitro.
We next used an in vitro GST pull-down assay to confirm the
A36R-KLC-TPR interaction determined in the yeast two-hybrid
system. DNA sequences corresponding to residues 24 to 111 of
A36R were genetically fused to GST (GST-A36R
24-111) sequences.
Subsequent expression in
E. coli and one-step purification of
GST-A36R
24-111 yielded a prominent, Coomassie-stained band of

38 kDa that agreed with the predicted size of GST-A36R
24-111 and showed a slower mobility than GST alone (Fig.
2A). Equivalent
molar amounts of either GST or GST-A36R
24-111 were bound to
glutathione beads and incubated with 0.5 fmol of in vitro
35S-labeled
KLC-TPR. Following extensive washing, complexes were eluted
from glutathione beads by boiling in SDS sample buffer and resolved
by SDS-PAGE. After transfer to nitrocellulose, the amount of
35S-labeled KLC-TPR was imaged and quantified with a PhosphorImager.
GST-A36R
24-111 was able to bind over 10 times more KLC-TPR than
GST alone (Fig.
2B), indicating a specific interaction between
KLC-TPR and A36R and confirming our yeast two-hybrid results.
Interaction of A36R with cytosolic kinesin.
Until this point, we had only showed an interaction of A36R
with the isolated TPR domain of kinesin. We wanted to determine
if A36R could interact with the TPR domain of KLC from the complete
kinesin complex. To do this, a cytosolic extract containing
endogenous kinesin from HeLa cells was prepared and incubated
with either GST or GST-A36R
24-111 that had been bound to glutathione
beads. Following extensive washing, complexes were eluted from
glutathione beads by boiling in SDS sample buffer, and the presence
of both KLC and KHC was determined by SDS-PAGE followed by Western
blotting with either KLC- or KHC-specific MAbs. GST- A36R
24-111 was able to bring down both KLC and KHC, while GST alone was
not (Fig.
3).
The A33R protein competes with KLC-TPR for binding to the A36R protein.
We previously reported that residues 91 to 111 of A36R were
sufficient for interaction with the cytoplasmic tail of the
A33R envelope protein (
50). We wanted to determine if A36R could
bind A33R and KLC-TPR simultaneously, because the sites on A36R
for binding these two proteins overlap. To test for the ability
of A36R to simultaneously interact with A33R and KLC-TPR, we
used the yeast three-hybrid system (
32). The KLC-TPR domain
was inserted into the BD of pBridge (Clontech). Subsequently,
DNA containing codons 24 to 111 of
A36R was inserted into MCS
II of the pBridge vector, placing its expression under control
of the M25 promoter and creating pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A36R
24-111.
Proteins controlled by the M25 promoter are only expressed when
yeast are grown on medium deficient in methionine, since growth
in the presence of methionine inactivates the promoter. The
conditional expression of A36R
24-111 in this system allowed
us to check for a specific simultaneous interaction with BD-KLC-TPR
and AD-A33R
1-40 by scoring for growth on medium deficient in
both histidine and methionine. Before testing for simultaneous
interactions, we checked the induction and stable expression
of A36R
24-111 from the M25 promoter. Yeast cells were cotransformed
with pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A36R
24-111 and pAD-A33R
1-40 and plated
on standard DDO medium lacking leucine and tryptophan in order
to select for the presence of both plasmids. Doubly transformed
yeast was grown overnight in DDO medium that either did or did
not contain methionine. Extracts from yeast cultures were separated
by SDS-PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose, and probed with
an anti-HA MAb. The anti-HA MAb interacted with an

15-kDa band
of the predicted size of A36R
24-111 (Fig.
4A). Importantly this
band was only seen in extracts from yeast grown in the absence
of methionine, confirming both the regulation of the M25 promoter
and the stable expression of A36R
24-111.
After confirming the regulation of the M25 promoter, we checked
for simultaneous interaction of KLC-TPR and A33R with A36R by
making 10-fold dilutions from overnight cultures of yeast that
had been cotransformed with pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A36R
24-111 and
pAD-A33R
1-40. Subsequently, equal volumes of each dilution were
applied as spots to DDO, DDO
-Met, DDO
-His, and DDO
-His/-Met media. Equal levels of growth were seen on nonselective DDO
and DDO
-Met media, indicating that the expression of A36R
24-111 has no toxic effects on yeast growth (Fig.
4B). Yeast grown
on DDO
-His medium, which selects for positive interactions,
showed almost a 2-log decrease in growth when compared to nonselective
DDO medium (Fig.
4B). This was in accordance with our initial
screen, indicating that BD-KLC-TPR and AD-A33R
1-40 were unable
to interact with each other. Likewise, yeast grown on DDO
-His/-Met medium, which selects for positive interaction in the presence
of A36R
24-111, showed a similar 2-log decrease, as was seen
for growth on DDO
-His medium, indicating that the expression
of A36R
24-111 did not increase the ability of BD-KLC-TPR and
AD-A33R
1-40 to interact. These results suggested that A36R cannot
simultaneously interact with KLC-TPR and A33R and that their
binding may be mutually exclusive.
We considered that if the binding of A36R was mutually exclusive to either KLC-TPR or A33R, then A33R should be able to compete with KLC-TPR for binding to A36R. We decided to use the yeast three-hybrid assay (32, 41) to see if the expression of A33R could compete and disrupt the interaction between BD-KLC-TPR and AD-A36R24-111. To test this idea, pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A33R1-40 was generated by replacing A36R24-111 in pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A36R24-111 with residues 1 to 40 of A33R. Induction and stable expression of A33R1-40 under the M25 promoter were checked by growing yeast cotransformed with pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A33R1-40 and pADA36R24-111 in DDO medium with and without methionine. Extracts from yeast cultures were separated on SDS-PAGE, transferred to nitrocellulose, and probed with an anti-HA MAb. The anti-HA MAb interacted with a band of
12.5 kDa, which is the predicted size of A33R1-40 (Fig. 5A). As anticipated, this band was only detected in extracts from yeast grown in the absence of methionine, confirming the stable expression of A33R1-40 from the M25 promoter.
The possible inhibition of the BD-KLC-TPR:AD-A36R
24-111 interaction
by A33R
1-40 was determined with yeast cotransformed with pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A33R
1-40 and pADA36R
24-111 using the same dilution assay as before. Yeast
cotransformed with pBridgeBD-KLC-TPR/A33R
1-40 and pADA36R
24-111 grew equally well on DDO and DDO
-Met media, indicating that
the expression of A33R
1-40 had no detectable toxic effects on
yeast (Fig.
5B). Equal amounts of growth were also seen for
yeast plated on DDO and DDO
-His media, indicating a positive
interaction between BD-KLC-TPR and AD-A36R
24-111 (Fig.
5B).
In contrast, expression of A33R
1-40 by growth on DDO
-His/-Met resulted in almost a 3-log reduction in growth as compared to
growth on DDO
-Met medium (Fig.
5B). The most straightforward
interpretation of this assay result is that A33R effectively
competed with KLC-TPR for interaction with A36R and disrupted
the interaction between BD-KLC-TPR and AD-A36R
24-111.
A33R competes with TPR for A36R binding in vitro.
In order to confirm the yeast three-hybrid assay results, we performed pull-down assays in the presence of competing A33R. For this purpose, a fusion between GST and residues 1 to 40 of A33R was constructed (GST-A33R1-40). The fusion protein was overexpressed in E. coli and purified with glutathione resin in a one-step purification process. SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified protein resulted in a prominent
21-kDa band that agreed with the predicted size of GST-A33R1-40 (Fig. 2A). Complexes between GST-A36R24-111 and in vitro 35S-labeled KLC-TPR were allowed to form in the presence of either a 10- or 100-fold molar excess of GST-A33R1-40 or a 100-fold molar excess of GST alone. GST-A36R24-111 complexes were purified with anti-V5 MAb-conjugated agarose by virtue of a V5 epitope tag that is present in GST-A36R24-111 but absent in GST-A33R1-40. Following extensive washing, complexes were eluted from V5 MAb agarose by boiling in SDS sample buffer and resolved by SDS-PAGE. After transfer to nitrocellulose, the amount of 35S-labeled KLC-TPR was imaged and quantified with a PhosphorImager. In the presence of 10-fold-more A33R, the amount of KLC-TPR bound to A36R was markedly decreased when compared to the amount of complexes that were formed in its absence (Table 2). Furthermore, in the presence of 100-fold-more A33R, the interaction between A36R and KLC-TPR was reduced almost to the background level of KLC-TPR binding in the absence of A36R. Importantly, in the presence of a 100-fold molar excess of GST, there was no significant reduction in the interaction between A36R and KLC-TPR. These data confirm our results from the yeast three-hybrid assay.
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TABLE 2. Test for the ability of GST-A33R1-40 to compete with in vitro 35S-labeled TPR for interaction with GST-A36R24-111
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DISCUSSION
Simple diffusion through the viscous cytoplasm would be prohibitively
slow for progeny virions to escape the cell and continue the
infectious process (
37). For this reason, poxviruses employ
the same microtubule network that the host cell uses for the
transport of cargo to the cell surface. Previous reports established
the dependency of enveloped vaccinia virus virions on the microtubule
network for intracellular transport from the site of wrapping
at the TGN to the cell surface. Movement of cellular cargo from
the TGN and late endosomes to the cell surface is carried out
by the molecular motor kinesin (
18,
35). A recent report demonstrated
that kinesin-specific antibodies labeled enveloped virions and
that overexpression of TPR resulted in a decrease in the accumulation
of enveloped virus at the cell periphery (
27). However, that
study did not demonstrate a direct interaction between kinesin
and any viral protein. Furthermore, an inability to demonstrate
an interaction between residues 71 to 100 of the A36R protein
and the TPRs of KLC expressed in
E. coli was stated (
27). In
the present work, we used the yeast two-hybrid assay to demonstrate
a direct interaction between the TPR domain of the KLC and the
virus-encoded A36R envelope protein. The finding that A36R provides
this link fits well with our previous results. We reported that
IEV of a recombinant virus with a deletion of the entire A36R
protein or a region that contains residues 81 to 111 displayed
a short sporadic motion that was difficult to track. IEV of
a recombinant virus with most of the cytoplasmic tail of A33R
deleted resulted in a similar defect (
50). It is now evident
why both of these mutations resulted in similar IEV intracellular
movement. Removal of residues 81 to 111 from A36R not only disrupts
the ability of A36R to interact with A33R but also disrupts
the interaction of A36R with kinesin and severs the link between
IEVs and microtubules. Likewise, the deletion of the cytoplasmic
tail of A33R prohibited the incorporation of A36R into IEVs
and also removes this link between IEVs and microtubules.
Recent reports have identified three cellular scaffolding proteins from the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase signaling pathway (JIP-1, JIP-2, and JIP-3) (7, 47) that also interact with KLC through the TPR region. Interactions with the cytoplasmic domains of different membrane receptors have been established for both JIP-1 and JIP-2, providing a link between vesicle cargo and KLC. Multiple adapter proteins linking different vesicle attachments to kinesin raise the possibility that the adapter proteins regulate the binding of cargo to kinesin. Poxviruses appear to have circumvented this potential cellular regulation by encoding an envelope protein that interacts directly with the KLC. This would allow enveloped virions the fastest access to microtubule motor transport and exit from the cell.
If poxviruses bypass the normal cellular regulation of kinesin binding, then what regulates the IEV-kinesin interactionor, more precisely, the A36R-KLC-TPR interaction? One possibility is A33R. In this report, we have demonstrated that the TPR interaction site on A36R overlaps with the previously determined A33R binding site. Furthermore, we have shown that interactions at this site on A36R are mutually exclusive to either A33R or KLC-TPR. The exclusivity of these interactions may act as a regulatory mechanism. The interaction between A33R and A36R is required for the incorporation of A36R into the IEV membrane, implying that all of the A36R in the viral envelope is interacting with A33R. Logically, the A33R-A36R interaction precedes the A36R-KLC-TPR interaction. At some point, A36R must disassociate from A33R to allow for interaction with kinesin. Dissociation of A36R from A33R may also relate to the presence of A36R only on the outer of the two IEV membranes. The envelopment of IMV could serve as a signal for the release of A33R by A36R and a subsequent interaction with KLC-TPR followed by trafficking of newly enveloped virions out to the cell periphery.
Interestingly, cells infected with recombinant vaccinia viruses containing deletions in the A36R gene still release enveloped virions, albeit at a reduced level (25, 53). We can think of three possibilities to explain this apparent discrepancy. The first is that the envelopment of some virions occurs close to or at the cell surface overcoming the requirement for kinesin-mediated transport. Alternatively, some enveloped virions may be produced by budding of IMV at the plasma membrane, once again forgoing the requirement for kinesin. Budding has been described for the IHD strain of vaccinia virus (43) as well as for the distantly related fowlpox virus (5). Third, it is possible that other proteins on the IEV envelope also interact with kinesin or that there are other modes of intracellular transport for IEV. Indeed, in the absence of A36R, we were able to observe occasional infrequent abnormal IEV movement that consisted of short sporadic motions (50).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank members of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases for their
interest and suggestions, especially Tom Kristie and Jodi Vogel.
Kristen J. Verhey kindly provided plasmids.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 4 Center Dr., MSC 0445, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-0445. Phone: (301) 496-9869. Fax: (301) 480-1147. E-mail:
bmoss{at}nih.gov.

Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642. 

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