Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, November 2005, p. 13618-13629, Vol. 79, No. 21
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.21.13618-13629.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Matthias Ottinger,
Eva Brüning,
Antje Bürger,
Regina König,
Emrah Kati,
Julie A. Sheldon,
and
Thomas F. Schulz*
Department of Virology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
Received 13 May 2005/ Accepted 5 August 2005
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
LANA-1 is a multifunctional protein with an apparent molecular mass of approximately 220 to 232 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). LANA-1 is required for the replication and long-term persistence of the KSHV episomal genome in dividing cells (3, 4, 19, 23, 25). LANA-1 binds to mitotic chromosomes via its amino (N)-terminal region (amino acids [aa] 5 to 22) and to a 16-bp imperfect palindrome within the origin of replication (oriP) located in the KSHV terminal repeat (TR) through its carboxy (C)-terminal region (amino acids 996 to 1139) (19, 29, 45, 64). Binding of LANA-1 to mitotic heterochromatin via its N-terminal chromatin-binding domain is essential for viral replication (31, 56). In addition, we have recently shown that a domain in the C-terminal region of LANA-1, bordered by aa 1143, affects the association of LANA-1 with components of interphase nuclear heterochromatin and the nuclear matrix (64). The binding of the C-terminal domain of LANA-1 to viral DNA and its ability to form oligomers in solution (29, 55) are reminiscent of other viral DNA-binding proteins such as Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA-1), the E1/E2 complex of papillomavirus, and the simian virus 40 large T antigen (7, 11, 14, 38, 61, 66).
To mediate replication, these proteins must promote the assembly of an initiation-of-replication complex by recruiting cellular factors at or near their binding sites. One example of such association is the interaction of EBNA-1 and LANA-1 with the origin recognition complex (54, 60), a complex of six subunits involved in heterochromatin and chromosome condensation that allows assembly of prereplication complexes in specific sites of the genome (37, 42, 44). E2 and EBNA-1 also activate transcription when bound to their respective oriPs, and this activity has been proposed to be required for initiation of DNA replication (49, 50, 58). In contrast, LANA-1 represses downstream promoters when bound to the TR, suggesting the presence of an enhancer region within the TR that might facilitate the formation of the initiation-of-replication complex (20). Whether the ability of LANA-1 to repress transcription and to replicate a TR-containing plasmid when bound to the TR are coupled processes is unknown at present.
LANA-1 is a pleiotropic transcriptional regulator capable of activating, as well as repressing, heterologous viral and cellular promoters (19, 51, 64); it interacts with proteins or protein complexes such as CREB, CBP, AP1, mSIN3, or Sp1 (2, 31, 33, 36, 62). LANA-1 also interacts with p53, retinoblastoma protein (pRb), and glycogen synthase kinase 3ß (GSK-3ß); inhibits the activation of p53-dependent promoters; induces the activation of E2 promoter-binding factor (E2F)-dependent genes; and promotes entry into the S phase of the cell cycle (16, 17, 47).
It has been proposed that binding of LANA-1 to mitotic chromosomes via its N-terminal end occurs through interaction with cellular proteins such as methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) (30). MeCP2 is the first reported member of a family of proteins that bind methylated CpG (32). MeCP2 silences gene expression through recruitment of the histone deacetylase machinery (6, 27, 41), through facilitation of methylation of histone H3 (18), and through condensation of chromatin (21). Additional components of the nuclear chromatin interacting with LANA-1 include DEK-1, reported to bind to its C-terminal domain (30), heterochromatin protein 1 (34, 53, 60), and histone H1 (9).
LANA-1 also recruits RING3/Brd2, a member of the Drosophila female sterile gene (fsh)/BET/Brd family of proteins involved in E2F-mediated activation of cell cycle regulatory genes, to chromatin (24, 40, 46). RING3/Brd2 mediates phosphorylation of Ser/Thr residues within the C-terminal domain of LANA-1 in in vitro assays (46). BET proteins form a family of transcriptional regulators characterized by the presence of one or two N-terminal bromodomains required for chromatin binding and an extraterminal (ET) domain involved in protein-protein interaction (15). Members of this family have been shown to play roles in cell cycle control. RING3/Brd2 and E2F interact in protein complexes isolated from nuclear extracts, and this interaction has been hypothesized to promote G1-S transition (12, 24). A murine homologue of RING3/Brd2 has been shown to be part of the murine mediator complex (26). Another BET protein, Brd4/MCAP, plays a role in S-phase entry (39) and seems to be required for E2-mediated bovine papillomavirus (BPV) episome persistence and transformation (5, 8, 67). These observations suggest that the BET homologue RING3/Brd2 could be one of the proteins that LANA-1 utilizes to adhere to nuclear chromatin, modulate transcription, or promote replication-segregation of KSHV genomes.
In view of the role of the C-terminal domain of LANA-1 in heterochromatin interactions (64), replication of viral episomes (25), and transcriptional activation and repression (20, 22, 55), we have in this study characterized a series of LANA-1 deletion mutants for their ability to mediate individual functions of LANA-1 and to interact with two nuclear chromatin-associated proteins, RING3/Brd2 and MeCP2. We show that only mutants that retain functional activity are still able to interact with Brd2/RING3. The results indicate that Brd2/RING3 binding to LANA-1 may be important for the interactions of the C-terminal domain of LANA-1 with nuclear heterochromatin and its functional activity. This would suggest interesting parallels to the recently described role of Brd4/MCAP, a homologue of Brd2/RING3, in heterochromatin binding and the function of BPV E2.
|
|
|---|
331-933) the primers 73AC1 (GGGGTACCAGATTTCCCG AGGATGG), 73Ac2 (GGAATTCATCATCCTTATTGTCATTGTC), 73AC3 (GGAATTCGAAGAGCCCATAATCTTG), and 73AC4 (CCGCTCGAGTGT CATTTCCTGTGGAGAGT) were used. To produce L-
275-933, the DNA amplified with primers 73AC3 and 73AC4 was cloned downstream the N-terminal region of the dLANA-1 (aa 1 to 275) construct described in reference 64. In a similar manner, the LANA region amplified with primers 73AC1 and 73AC2 was cloned upstream of the C-terminal region of the dLANA-1 (aa 972 to 1162) construct described in reference 64. All constructs were sequenced to ensure that no errors occurred during the cloning procedure. The TR-containing plasmids, pBluescript-1TR and pBluescript-2TR, contain one or two copies, respectively, of the KSHV TR inserted into pBluescript II backbone. pBluescript-1TR was a gift from Vincent Lacoste. To produce pBluescript-2TR, the TR fragment was excised from pBluescript-1TR using NotI, and an excess of TR fragment was ligated into NotI-digested pBluescript II (Stratagene). The TR was cloned into pGL3basic (Promega) using the KpnI and SacI restriction sites to produce pGL3basic-TR.
![]() View larger version (32K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. Schematic representation of LANA-1 constructs used in this study. The internal acidic repeat is shown in gray. The numbering of LANA-1 protein corresponds to that of Russo et al. (52).
|
Transient transfection and luciferase reporter assays. All transfection experiments were carried out using FuGENE 6 (Roche) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Cells were plated in six-well plates, transfected 16 to 24 h later, and harvested 40 h after transfection in lysis buffer containing leupeptin, benzamidin, aprotinin, pepstatin A, and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF).
For luciferase reporter assays, 3 x 105 293 cells were seeded per well of a six-well tray and transfected with 50 ng of the pGL3basic-TR plasmid or the vector containing the cyclin E promoter plus LANA-1-expressing constructs (or mock). Control cells were transfected with pGL3basic-TR plasmid to obtain the basal activity of the TR. The experiments were performed in triplicate.
To measure luciferase activity, transfected cells were washed with cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and harvested in luciferase reporter lysis buffer (Promega) 48 h after transfection. Luciferase activity was measured as recommended by the manufacturer's manual with a luminometer (Lumat LB9501; Berthold). The relative activity obtained with each construct, and error bars representing standard deviations are depicted.
Short-term replication assay. Short-term replication assays were performed as previously described (19). Briefly, 106 293 cells were cotransfected with pBluescript-1TR, pBluescript-2TR, or control pBluescript plus LANA-1-expression constructs or pcDNA3.1. At 16 h after transfection, the cells were trypsinized, washed three times with PBS, plated in new flasks, and allowed to grow for a further 48 h. At that time, the cells were harvested in 700 µl of lysis buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl, 10 mM EDTA, 0.6% SDS), and chromosomal DNA was precipitated overnight with 0.85 M NaCl. An aliquot was collected from the supernatant to determine the expression levels of the different LANA constructs by immunoblotting. Plasmid DNA was purified from the supernatant using phenol:chlorophorm, precipitated with ethanol, and resuspended in 20 µl of H2O containing 100-µg/ml RNase A. A total of 90% of the DNA was digested with KpnI and 180 U of DpnI during 48 h, while the other 10% was digested with KpnI to measure input DNA. The digested DNA was precipitated with ethanol, resuspended in 20 µl H2O, and analyzed by Southern blotting with a 801-bp TR fragment or the complete pBluescript-1TR plasmid as an alkaline phosphatase-labeled probe (Amersham Pharmacia).
Electrophoresis mobility shift assay.
Oligonucleotides containing both LBS (LBS A, 5' AGGCGGCGCGCGGCCCCATGCCCGGGCGGGAGGCGCCGC AGGCCCCGGCGGCGTCCCCTT 3'; and LBS B, 5' AAGGGGACGCCG CCGGGGCCTGCGGCGCCTCCCGCCCGGGCATGGGGCCGCGCG CCGCCT 3') were annealed and labeled with [
-32P]dCTP using Klenow. Sephadex 50 spin columns were used to purify the labeled probe from nonincorporated nucleotides. LANA-1 proteins were in vitro transcribed-translated with rabbit reticulocytes (TNT Promega). Expression of LANA proteins was confirmed by immunoblotting. LANA proteins were incubated with 20,000 cpm of 32P-labeled probe in a buffer containing 30 mM Tris HCl, 50 mM KCl, 10 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 10% glycerol, 0.1 mM dithiothreitol, and 2 µg poly(dI-dC). The samples were separated by electrophoresis on a native 3% polyacrylamide gel in 1x Tris-borate-EDTA. Dried gels were exposed to Kodak film and developed.
GST pulldown. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and GST-C terminus (CT) LANA fusion proteins were produced in Escherichia coli and bound to GST beads. Expression and binding of GST and GST-LANA fusion proteins to GST beads was assessed by SDS-PAGE and Coomassie staining. Beads loaded with equal amounts of protein were incubated with cell lysates (20 mM Tris [pH 7.5], 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1% Triton X-100, leupeptin, benzamidin, aprotinin, pepstatin A, and PMSF) of cells transfected with expression vectors for LANA-1 or LANA-1 mutants (see above) for 1 h at room temperature. Following three washes in PBS containing 0.1% Triton X-100, the beads were boiled in SDS-PAGE loading buffer containing 2% SDS and 1% ß-mercaptoethanol to elute the bound proteins. Binding of LANA-1 proteins was detected by immunoblotting.
Immunoprecipitation. 293-T cells were cotransfected with 1 µg of LANA constructs (or mock) plus 1 µg of RING3/Brd2 or MeCP2 (or mock) constructs. Cells were lysed in 300 µl of TBST buffer (20 mM Tris [pH 7.5], 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1% Triton X-100, leupeptin, benzamidin, aprotinin, pepstatin A, and PMSF) 48 h after transfection. Cell lysates were precleared with protein G-Sepharose beads (for MeCP2) and protein A-Sepharose beads (for RING3) (Amersham Bioscience). An aliquot of cleared lysate was used as input control, and the rest (260 µl) was incubated overnight with anti-FLAG-coupled protein G-Sepharose beads (for MeCP2) or with anti-GFP-coupled A-Sepharose beads (for RING3). Following five washing steps with lysate buffer (20 mM Tris [pH 7.5], 150 mM NaCl, 0.5% Tween 20), the beads were boiled in SDS-PAGE loading buffer, run in 10% polyacrylamide gels, and detected by immunoblotting with KS patient serum.
Immunoblots. Western blots were performed as previously described (57). Briefly, protein extracts were separated on SDS-PAGE gels with 8%, 10%, or 12% polyacrylamide. Then, the proteins were transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes (Amersham) using a Mini-Trans blot unit (Bio-Rad) during 90 min at 200 mA. The membranes were blocked for 2 h in PBS-M (PBS containing 5% Marvel and 0.1% Tween) and incubated for 1 h at room temperature with the primary antibody diluted in PBS-M. After a washing step, the membranes were incubated for 1 h with a peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody diluted in PBS-M. Following another washing step, the presence of the proteins was detected with a chemiluminescence (ECL) kit (PerkinElmer Life Sciences) and exposed to Kodak film. LANA-1 constructs were detected with KSHV-positive patient sera (1:500) and a rabbit anti-human antibody (1:1,000; 2% rabbit serum). EGFP-RING3/Brd2 was detected with an anti-GFP monoclonal antibody (1:3,000; BD) and MeCP2 was detected with an anti-FLAG monoclonal antibody (1:2,000; Sigma).
|
|
|---|
![]() View larger version (32K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. Binding of LANA-1 to RING3/Brd2. (A) IP assay (see Materials and Methods) showing binding of LANA-1 and L-1143 to RING3/Brd2. L-1139 was not observed to bind to RING3/Brd2. (B) Control experiment showing that the control EGFP protein did not coimmunoprecipitate any of the LANA-1 constructs tested. (C) MeCP2 and LANA-1 interaction. Binding of LANA-1 to FLAG-MeCP2 was observed following IP of MeCP2 with an anti-FLAG antibody and detection of LANA-1 constructs by immunoblotting with KSHV-positive human serum.
|
LANA-1 has previously been shown to activate E2F-dependent promoters like the cyclin E promoter (47) and to induce E2F-dependent cellular transcripts (1, 47, 65). Deletion of the last 23 amino acids of LANA-1 resulted in a LANA-1 construct unable to activate the cyclin E promoter (Fig. 3A). Lack of cyclin E activation by L-1139 was not due to lower levels of protein expression (Fig. 3B). Thus, the loss of activation of the cyclin E promoter correlated with the lack of RING3/Brd2 binding (Fig. 2). The internal repeat region was not required for the activation of the cyclin E promoter, nor were residues 278 to 331 and 933 to 972 flanking the internal repeat (Fig. 3C). Amino acids 933 to 972 are part of a region previously reported to be involved in the binding of LANA-1 to pRB (47), which is thought to mediate the activation of E2F-dependent genes by LANA-1 (1). KSHV's origin of replication (oriP) is located within the KSHV TR region (19, 25). Binding of the LANA-1 carboxy-terminal domain to the TR represses downstream promoters (20). We cloned one KSHV TR unit upstream of a luciferase reporter gene lacking any constitutive promoter (pGL3basic) and found that the TR unit alone was able to direct expression of the luciferase gene severalfold above background values obtained with the promoterless luciferase vector (not shown). Full-length LANA-1 repressed this promoter/enhancer activity within the TR (Fig. 4). The C terminus of LANA-1 (aa 934 to 1162) repressed the TR more efficiently than full-length LANA-1 (Fig. 4A). A LANA-1 construct lacking the last 23 amino acids of LANA-1 showed a reduced ability to repress the promoter/enhancer activity found within the full-length TR (Fig. 4B). More extensive carboxy-terminal truncations of LANA-1, however, not only failed to repress the TR promoter/enhancer activity but had a moderately stimulating effect (Fig. 4B). Deletion of the internal repeat and flanking domains of LANA-1 affected the repression of TR promoter/enhancer activity only moderately (Fig. 4C). Taken together, our results suggest that the region from aa 972 to 1139 is sufficient to repress TR promoter/enhancer activity (Fig. 4).
![]() ![]() View larger version (43K): [in a new window] |
FIG.3. Deletion of the last 23 aa of LANA-1 impaired the activation of the cyclin E promoter. (A) Luciferase reporter assay showing the effect of the different LANA-1 C-terminal truncations on the activation of the cyclin E promoter. 293 cells were cotransfected with a cyclin E promoter-containing luciferase construct and increasing concentrations of LANA-1-expressing constructs. At 48 h after transfection, cells were lysed and luciferase activity was measured. (B) Detection of LANA-1, L-1143, and L-1139 by immunoblotting. Lysates of cotransfected 293 cells were separated by SDS-PAGE, and the expression of LANA-1 proteins was detected with KSHV-positive human serum. (C) Luciferase reporter assay showing the effect of the LANA-1 internal deletions on the activation of the cyclin E promoter.
|
![]() View larger version (18K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. Luciferase reporter assay showing the effect of (A) LANA-1 and LANA-1 C terminus, (B) LANA-1 C-terminal truncation mutants, and (C) LANA-1 internal deletions on the repression of the KSHV TR promoter/enhancer region. 293 cells were cotransfected with pGL3basicTR and increasing concentrations of LANA-1-expressing constructs. At 48 h after transfection, cells were lysed and luciferase activity was measured.
|
![]() View larger version (45K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 5. Short-time replication assay (see Materials and Methods). (A) Deletion of amino acids 1139 to 1143 resulted in LANA-1 constructs unable to replicate a TR-containing plasmid. (B) The C terminus of LANA-1 was able to replicate a TR-containing plasmid, although at a reduced level compared to that of full-length LANA-1. (C) Deletion of LANA-1 internal repeat and flanking regions did not affect LANA-1-mediated replication of a TR-containing plasmid.
|
331-933, L
331-972, L
275-933, and GA-LANA, which all lack the internal repeat region of LANA-1 (Fig. 1), compared to the typical migrating pattern of LANA-1 (compare Fig. 6D with Fig. 6A and B). The carboxy-terminal domain of LANA-1 (CT) bound to LBS (Fig. 6D). In this case, and in contrast to L
331-933, L
331-972, L
275-933, and GA-LANA, the faster-binding complex predominated over the slower-binding complex. Overall, our results show that binding of LANA-1 to TR occurred in the region between amino acids 973 and 1143. In addition, the amino-terminal region of LANA-1 (aa 1 to 275) may contribute to the formation of the tetrameric LANA-1/LBS-1-LBS-2 complex, which may be required for efficient episomal replication, given the inefficient replication mediated by the CT construct (Fig. 5B).
![]() View larger version (79K): [in a new window] |
FIG.6. (A, B, and D) Electrophoresis mobility shift assay showing binding of LANA-1, L-1159, L-1153, L-1143, L-1139, L-1133, L-1128, L- 331-933, L- 331-972, and L- 275-933 to a radiolabeled probe containing LBS-1 and -2. (C) The expression levels of in vitro-transcribed/translated LANA-1, L-1153, L-1143, L-1139, L-1133, and L-1128 were tested by immunoblotting. (A, B, and D) Arrowheads indicate the two bandshifted LANA-1-containing complexes of higher and lower mobility (see text). Asterisks (A and B) indicate an unspecific shifted band.
|
![]() View larger version (59K): [in a new window] |
![]() View larger version (33K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 7. Dimerization of LANA-1 deletion mutants. GST and GST-CT fusion protein were expressed in bacteria as explained in Materials and Methods. LANA-1 proteins were in vitro transcribed/translated, incubated with GST or GST-CT, and bound to Sepharose beads for 1 h. Following extensive washing steps, the beads were boiled in loading buffer containing ß-mercaptoethanol, and the samples were separated by SDS-PAGE (see Materials and Methods). The detection of LANA-1 proteins and GST-CT was carried out with a KSHV-positive patient serum.
|
|
|
|---|
Using a series of carboxy-terminal and internal deletion mutants of LANA-1, we show here that loss of the interaction with interphase heterochromatin or components of the nuclear matrix, as reported previously (64), correlates with the loss of binding to Brd2/RING3. In contrast, binding of the methyl CpG-binding protein MeCP2, which had been found to bind to the amino-terminal 16 aa of LANA-1 (30), did not correlate with the interaction with interphase heterochromatin, as expected.
Our previous GST-pulldown experiments with the carboxy-terminal domain of LANA-1 and corresponding truncation mutants had suggested binding sites for Brd2/RING3 between aa 1007 to 1055 and 1048 to 1162 of LANA-1 (46), while the coimmunoprecipitation assays shown here suggest that, in the context of nearly full-length LANA-1, carboxy-terminal truncation beyond aa 1143 leads to a loss of Brd2/RING3 binding (Fig. 2). This most likely suggests that the contact region between aa 1007 to 1055 plays an important role in the context of the correctly folded molecule or that deletion of LANA-1 beyond aa 1143 affects the overall conformation of LANA-1. Since deletion of the carboxy-terminal domain beyond aa 1143 destroyed several functions and properties of LANA-1, including dimerization (Fig. 7) and binding to TR DNA (Fig. 6), we favor the latter explanation. Our observation that the region of LANA-1 required for binding to Brd2/RING3 also affects its interaction with interphase heterochromatin or elements of the nuclear matrix (64) is compatible with the interpretation that, as recently suggested for the Brd homologue Brd4 and BPV E2 (67), Brd2 could play a role in tethering LANA-1 and the associated viral episomes to nuclear heterochromatin. In this case, the conserved ET domain of Brd2/RING3 would mediate this tethering (46), unlike in the case of Brd4 and BPV E2 where a region downstream of the ET domain is thought to be responsible (67). However, given the suspected impact of truncating LANA-1 beyond aa 1143 on its conformational structure, other interpretations cannot be excluded. Previous immunofluorescence studies showed a nearly quantitative relocalization of Brd2/RING3 from its usual widespread intranuclear distribution in uninfected cells into the LANA-1 and viral episome containing nuclear speckles in KSHV-infected cells (40). A recent study showed that Brd2/RING3 is associated with terminal repeat sequences in KSHV-infected primary effusion lymphoma cell lines and could play a role in maintaining the acetylated state of nucleosomes positioned in the vicinity of LBS-1 and LBS-2 (60). Together with the findings reported here, these two observations would suggest that a minimal region (aa 973 to 1143) in the carboxy-terminal domain of LANA-1 is sufficient for binding to LBS-1 and -2, for recruiting additional cellular factors such as Brd2/RING3, for mediating at least a basic level of replication, and for repressing promoter/enhancer activity located in the TR region.
Our observations and previously published data indicate that RING3/Brd2 is a good candidate to play a role in LANA-1-mediated functions. RING3/Brd2 interacts with the E2 promoter-binding factor (E2F) and is involved in the E2F-mediated activation of cell cycle regulatory genes (12, 24); it associates in the nuclei of HeLa cells with the cyclin-dependent kinase 8 and TRAP220 mediator subunits and the polymerase II large subunit (10). Finally, RING3/Brd2 homologues have been shown to be part of the mediator complex and to be required for certain BPV E2-mediated functions (5, 8, 26, 39, 67).
Amino acids 735 to 990 of LANA-1 interact with pRB, and this interaction is thought to be important for E2F-dependent gene expression (47). Our observation that deletion of aa 933 to 972 does not have an impact on the activation of E2F-dependent genes does not exclude a role of pRB in the activation of the cyclin E promoter studied here. The C-terminal region of LANA-1 also interacts with GSK-3ß (17) and this interaction has been shown to be required for the stabilization of ß-catenin, thereby promoting entry into the S phase of the cell cycle. Lack of binding to GSK-3ß could also have an impact on the activation of the cyclin E promoter. It is therefore possible that LANA-1 activates E2F-dependent genes through several pathways and its suspected role in maintaining an open chromatin configuration by binding to acetylated histones may complement the effect of pRB and GSK-3ß, also recruited by LANA-1, on the expression of E2F-dependent promoters.
Our data do not prove that the interaction with RING3/Brd2 is essential for LANA-1-mediated episomal replication, since constructs that do not bind RING3/Brd2 are also deficient for LBS binding. To address this question more directly, we are currently attempting to develop dominant negative mutants of Brd2/RING3 and to explore their ability to inhibit LANA-1-mediated episomal replication.
The minimal replication of a TR containing plasmid observed in this study with the carboxy-terminal domain (aa 934 to 1162) of LANA-1 (Fig. 5) has previously also been reported by some (25) but not other (23, 35) groups. Although capable of binding to LBS-1 and LBS-2 motifs in a band shift assay, LANA-1 aa 934 to 1162 appear to preferentially form a complex consisting of a dimeric protein bound to viral DNA (Fig. 6) (29). Adding the amino terminal residues 1 to 275 is sufficient to increase TR replication to wild-type levels (Fig. 5); this is accompanied by a preferential formation of a higher-order band-shifted complex, thought to consist of a tetrameric protein interacting with both LBS-1 and LBS-2 (Fig. 6) (19). It is thus conceivable that the increased replication seen with the L
275 933 and GA-LANA (lacking aa 275 to 972) constructs relative to the construct expressing only aa 934 to 1162 is due to the formation of higher-order LANA-1/viral DNA complexes in the presence of the amino-terminal domain (aa 1 to 272) of LANA-1. However, Wong et al. (65) recently showed that a chromatin-binding motif located within aa 2 to 24 is required for the ability of LANA-1 to act as a transcriptional modulator, and Lim et al. (34) showed that this region is also required for the replication of episomal DNA. An alternative explanation would therefore be that the additional interaction with nuclear heterochromatin provided by the amino-terminal region of LANA-1 promotes viral DNA replication either by enabling the segregation of replicated episomes during mitosis or via an as-yet-unknown mechanism. Moreover, the carboxy-terminal domain (aa 934 to 1162) is a more potent repressor of the promoter/enhancer activity in the terminal repeat region than LANA-1, L
275-933, or GA-LANA (Fig. 4 and data not shown), suggesting that formation of the lower-order complex (Fig. 6) could be sufficient for silencing transcriptional activity through nucleosome silencing in the TR region (60).
In summary, our findings define a minimal region in the carboxy-terminal domain of LANA-1, which is required but not sufficient for the ability of LANA-1 to bind to and replicate episomal DNA, activate heterologous promoters, interact with interphase heterochromatin, and produce dimerization. The same region is indispensable for the binding of LANA-1 to a member of the Brd family, Brd2/RING3. Although other LANA-1-associated nuclear proteins are undoubtedly required for the multiple functions of LANA-1, this correlation is in keeping with the interpretation that recruitment of Brd2/RING3 plays a role in LANA-1-associated functions.
The work was supported by grants DFG Schu 1436/1-1 and 1436/2-1. M.O. was funded by grant DFG GRK 745.
Present address: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Madrid, Spain. ![]()
Present address: Centro de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. ![]()
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»