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Journal of Virology, April 2005, p. 4120-4131, Vol. 79, No. 7
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.7.4120-4131.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Received 30 September 2004/ Accepted 18 November 2004
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It was initially assumed that the effects of ICP27 on HSV-1 gene expression were mediated primarily at the transcriptional level. Indeed, ICP27 is required for the transcription of at least two viral late genes, gC and UL47 (24). Furthermore, ICP27 interacts with the RNA polymerase II holoenzyme, providing further evidence for transcriptional modulation by ICP27 (25, 89). However, a wealth of data accumulated over the past decade has demonstrated that ICP27 mediates many of its effects posttranscriptionally. ICP27 alters the specificity of the polyadenylation machinery, an effect which may enhance the expression of viral L genes bearing inherently weak poly(A) signals (42-44, 72). ICP27 also impairs pre-mRNA splicing via multiple contacts with the splicing machinery (1, 19, 20, 36, 55, 70, 71). More recently, intensive studies have shown that ICP27 enhances the efficiency of nuclear export of intronless HSV-1 mRNAs (3, 4, 30, 69, 79).
ICP27 is an RNA binding protein that shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm (23, 47, 48, 56, 69, 79). It contains an arginine-rich RGG box that is required for RNA binding (48, 69), as well as two nuclear localization sequences (46) and a leucine-rich sequence that bears a strong resemblance to the nuclear export sequence (NES) of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protein Rev (69). Mutations that delete the NES restrict the protein to the nucleus and severely impair the viability of the virus (34). ICP27 was originally proposed to promote export of viral intronless RNAs through the cellular export adaptor CRM1 (80) in essentially the same manner as HIV Rev (reviewed in references 7, 58, and 82). However, Koffa et al. recently reported that CRM1 is not required for ICP27-induced mRNA export in Xenopus laevis oocytes (30), and Chen et al. provided evidence that the leucine-rich NES of ICP27 does not require CRM1 for activity (3). The current model for ICP27-mediated export of viral mRNAs is that ICP27 recruits the cellular mRNA export factor REF to viral intronless mRNAs (3, 30). REF is normally deposited onto cellular mRNAs as part of a multicomponent complex (the exon junction complex, or EJC) during the process of splicing and serves as a license for nuclear export of the spliced mRNA by interacting with the export factor TAP/NFX1 (26, 32, 33, 65, 81, 90; reviewed in reference 61). ICP27 has been shown to bind to REF and is thought to recruit REF to HSV RNAs, providing them with a splicing-independent means of accessing the TAP cellular mRNA export pathway (3, 30). Although the data supporting this model are compelling, it is noteworthy that a deletion (d3-4) that abolishes the ICP27-REF interaction (30) has little or no effect on virus growth or gene expression in Vero cells (34). In contrast, a deletion that removes the leucine-rich NES has much more serious consequences for the viability of the virus (34). Thus, the ICP27-REF interaction appears to be largely dispensable, at least in some cell types.
Given the multifunctional nature of the ICP27 protein, it has been relatively difficult to decipher at what level of gene expression ICP27 acts to regulate individual viral genes. In this study, we have examined how ICP27 modulates the expression of the essential viral transactivator, VP16. We find that ICP27 enhances VP16 expression primarily by increasing the translational efficiency of VP16 mRNA. Thus, we have uncovered a novel role for ICP27 in the translational control of viral gene expression.
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Isolation of RNA and Northern blot analysis. Nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA fractions were isolated from infected Vero cells in 100-mm-diameter dishes by using the RNeasy purification kit (QIAGEN) as previously described (10). Total RNA was harvested from infected Vero cells by using the Trizol reagent (Invitrogen). Probes and hybridization conditions for Northern blot analysis were as follows. The VP16 probe was a fragment generated by PCR using plasmid pVP16-KOS as a template (86). To probe for the U3 snoRNA, a radiolabeled oligonucleotide specific for U3 was used as previously described (4). Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and ß-actin transcripts were detected with 32P-labeled oligonucleotide probes (for GAPDH, 5'-TTGACTCCGACCTTCACCTTCCCCAT-3'; for ß-actin, 5'-GACGACGAGCGCGGCGATATCATCATCCATG-3'). Hybridizations using the GAPDH and ß-actin probes were carried out in modified Westneat solution (6.6% sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS], 250 mM morpholinepropanesulfonic acid [MOPS; pH 7.0], 5x Denhardt's solution, 1 mM EDTA) at 55°C. To detect thymidine kinase (TK) transcripts, a 662-bp SstI/SmaI fragment from plasmid pTK173 (84) was used. The ICP8 probe was a 1,857-bp BamHI/EcoRI restriction fragment isolated from plasmid pE/3583 (16). Hybridizations with double-stranded DNA probes were carried out either in Church buffer (9) at 65°C or in ExpressHyb (Clontech) at 68°C. Quantification of bands on all Northern blots was carried out using a Storm 860 PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics) with ImageQuant software.
Western blot analysis. To detect VP16 protein, 1.1 x 106 Vero cells in 6-well plates were mock infected or infected with HSV-1 at a multiplicity of 10 and at various times postinfection were harvested for total protein by lysing the cells in 200 µl of SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) sample buffer. Proteins (8 µl of the cell lysate) were separated on an SDS-12% polyacrylamide gel and blotted for Western blot analysis. The anti-VP16 monoclonal antibody LP1 (obtained from A. Minson) was used at a 1:15,000 dilution in 5% skim milk powder in 25 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8)-150 mM NaCl-0.1% Tween 20. Proteins were visualized by using the ECL Plus Western blotting detection reagent (Amersham Biosciences) and quantified by using the blue fluorescence-chemifluorescence scanner of a Storm 860 PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics). Care was taken in this analysis to ensure that the Western blotting conditions yielded accurate quantification of the VP16 protein levels. Therefore, a dilution series of the protein lysate from KOS1.1-infected cells (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 µl) was used to construct a standard curve, which showed a linear response.
To detect Ser-51-phosphorylated or total eIF2
, Vero cells were mock infected or infected with HSV-1 at a multiplicity of 10 and cell lysates were prepared at 12 h postinfection. As a positive control for Ser51 phosphorylation of eIF2
, cells were treated with 1 µM thapsigargin for 1 h prior to harvesting. Proteins were separated on an SDS-12% polyacrylamide gel and blotted for Western blot analysis. Polyclonal antibodies against eIF2
and phospho-eIF2
(Ser51) were obtained from Cell Signaling Technology and used at a 1:1,000 dilution.
Association of mRNAs with polyribosomes. Sucrose density gradient fractionation of polyribosomes in extracts prepared from mock-infected or HSV-1-infected Vero cells was performed 6 or 12 h postinfection essentially as described by Greco et al. (18). Briefly, postmitochondrial supernatants prepared from 3 x 107 infected or uninfected Vero cells were layered onto 10 to 42% sucrose gradients and spun in an SW40 rotor for 105 min at 38,000 rpm and 4°C. In some experiments, the gradients were 10 to 50% sucrose and were spun at 37,000 rpm. Fractions were collected by hand from the top of the gradient, and their absorbances at 254 nm were measured. RNA was extracted from each fraction as described elsewhere (18), and Northern blot analysis was performed as described above to determine the distribution of selected RNA species across the gradient.
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FIG. 1. VP16 mRNA is predominantly cytoplasmic in the absence of ICP27. Vero cells were either mock infected or infected with the indicated viruses at a multiplicity of 10. At 12 h postinfection, postmitochondrial supernatants were prepared from the cells and RNA was extracted either from this cytoplasmic (C) fraction or from the pelleted nuclei (the nuclear [N] fraction). RNAs from equivalent numbers of cells were analyzed by Northern blotting for the VP16 transcript or the U3 snoRNA.
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The translational yield of VP16 mRNA is greatly decreased in cells infected with viruses lacking ICP27. In order to determine whether and how ICP27 modulates VP16 gene expression, we undertook a series of experiments that carefully compared the levels of VP16 protein and mRNA in cells infected with HSV strains containing or lacking ICP27. First, we monitored VP16 protein levels by Western blot analysis over a 12-h time course in cells infected with the wild-type virus or the ICP27-null mutant, d27-1 (Fig. 2A). Note that the Western blotting conditions we used were empirically determined to yield quantitative data, in which the VP16 protein levels were in a linear range compared to a standard curve. VP16 protein was detectable at 6 h postinfection in wild-type-infected cells and accumulated to high levels by 12 h. In d27-1-infected cells, however, VP16 protein accumulation was greatly decreased, yielding less than 3% of wild-type levels by 12 h postinfection. Clearly, therefore, ICP27 is required at some stage for VP16 gene expression. Next, VP16 mRNA levels were determined by Northern blot analysis over a duplicate 12-h time course on the same day (Fig. 2B). In wild-type-infected cells, VP16 RNA began to accumulate at 4 h postinfection and levels rose rapidly thereafter, reaching a plateau at 8 to 10 h. Accumulation of VP16 RNA in d27-1-infected cells was delayed, and RNA levels were reduced, relative to that for the wild-type infection at all time points analyzed. However, as the infection proceeded, VP16 mRNA continued to accumulate in d27-1-infected cells rather than reaching a plateau, and hence at 12 h postinfection the levels were approximately 50% of those for the wild-type infection, compared to only 10% at 6 h postinfection. Although significant, these reductions in VP16 mRNA levels were not sufficient to explain the striking decrease in VP16 protein accumulation (compare the graphs in Fig. 2A and B). That is, at each time analyzed, VP16 protein levels were decreased far more than the corresponding mRNA levels.
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FIG. 2. Comparison of VP16 protein and RNA levels in infected cells containing or lacking ICP27. Vero cells were mock infected or infected in duplicate with the KOS1.1 or d27-1 virus at a multiplicity of 10. At the indicated times postinfection, protein was harvested from one dish and total RNA was isolated from the duplicate. VP16 protein (A) and RNA (B) were analyzed by Western blotting and Northern blotting, respectively. Levels of VP16 protein and RNA were quantified and plotted as a function of time.
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We wanted to confirm that the defect in VP16 protein accumulation was due to the lack of ICP27 and not to another peculiarity of the d27-1 virus. Thus, we quantified VP16 RNA and protein levels at 12 h postinfection in cells infected with either the wild-type virus KOS1.1, the d27-1 mutant (using several independently prepared stocks), d27-lacZ1 (a precursor of the d27-1 virus), or, most importantly, a completely independent ICP27-null virus, 5dl1.2. Table 1 shows the relative VP16 RNA-to-protein ratios normalized to the ratios in KOS1.1-infected cells. In all cases, the RNA-to-protein ratio was significantly higher in cells infected with viruses lacking ICP27 (9- to 81-fold). These data demonstrate that compared to that with the wild-type virus, there is a large defect in the accumulation of VP16 protein in cells infected with viruses lacking ICP27 that cannot be accounted for by a drop in mRNA levels, and this effect is not unique to the d27-1 virus.
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TABLE 1. Translational yield of VP16 mRNA is severely impaired in cells infected with viruses lacking ICP27a
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FIG. 3. VP16 protein stability is unaltered in the absence of ICP27. Vero cells were mock infected or infected with HSV KOS1.1 or d27-1 at a multiplicity of 10 for 12 h to allow VP16 to accumulate. Cycloheximide (CHX) was added to the culture medium at a concentration of 100 µg per milliliter to arrest further protein synthesis, and total protein was harvested directly into SDS-PAGE lysis buffer at the indicated times following addition of cycloheximide. VP16 protein was detected by Western blotting as described in Materials and Methods. Note that the volume loaded for the d27-1 samples was 4 times that loaded for the KOS1.1 samples (20 and 5 µl, respectively), in order to detect sufficient quantities of VP16 to note changes in the levels following CHX addition.
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40% in fractions 17 to 20) and the remainder of the RNA spread more or less evenly throughout the upper portion of the gradient (Fig. 4D). To verify that the VP16 mRNA was indeed associated with active translation complexes, infected cells were treated with puromycin, which causes nascent peptide release and dissociation of polysomes. This treatment induced a shift in VP16 RNA from the bottom of the gradient (fractions 17 to 20) to fractions higher up in the gradient (fractions 9 to 15) (data not shown). Similarly, disruption of polysomes in the postmitochondrial supernatant by EDTA caused all of the VP16 mRNA to fractionate at the top of the gradient with ribosomal subunits (data not shown). Thus, VP16 RNA is associated with actively translating polyribosomes in cells infected with KOS1.1.
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FIG. 4. VP16 mRNA is predominantly associated with 40S ribosomal subunits in cells infected with viruses lacking ICP27. Postmitochondrial supernatants were prepared from mock-infected, KOS1.1-infected, or d27-1-infected Vero cells and fractionated on sucrose gradients. (A) UV absorbance profiles at 254 nm of the 20 fractions collected from each gradient. The top of the gradient is to the left (fraction 1), and the bottom is to the right (fraction 20). The peak in fractions 5 to 8 corresponds to ribosomal subunits and monoribosomes. Note that since the absorbance of the gradient was not monitored continuously, the individual ribosomal subunit peaks are not resolved in these profiles. (B) Agarose gel electrophoresis of RNA isolated from the sucrose gradient fractions. Half of the RNA isolated from each fraction was electrophoresed on a 1% denaturing agarose gel and stained with ethidium bromide to visualize the 5S, 18S, and 28S rRNAs (indicated to the right). (C) Distribution of VP16 transcripts across the sucrose gradients as determined by Northern blotting. (D) The VP16 bands in panel C were quantified, and the percentage of total RNA present in each fraction was graphed.
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Infection with the ICP27 mutant virus does not alter the phosphorylation of the translation factor eIF2
.
Translational arrest mediated by PKR-induced Ser51 phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor eIF2
is widely observed in virus-infected cells (reviewed in reference 15). Phosphorylation of the eIF2
subunit is reversed in HSV-1 infection by the action of the
134.5 gene product, which binds to protein phosphatase 1
and promotes the dephosphorylation of eIF2
(21). In view of the effects of ICP27 on the translation of VP16 mRNA, we asked whether Ser51 phosphorylation of eIF2
was induced in cells infected with the d27-1 virus. The contents of total eIF2
and phospho-Ser51-eIF2
were determined by Western blotting (Fig. 5). The results showed that HSV infection with either KOS1.1 or d27-1 did not increase the extent of Ser51 phosphorylation of eIF2
above that present in mock-infected cells. As a positive control, uninfected cells were treated with thapsigargin, a compound that depletes calcium levels in the endoplasmic reticulum, thereby inducing Ser51 phosphorylation of eIF2
by the PERK/PEK kinase (60). As shown in Fig. 5, thapsigargin treatment readily induced Ser51 phosphorylation of eIF2
. These data argue that the reduced translational efficiency of VP16 mRNA in the absence of ICP27 is not due to increased phosphorylation of eIF2
.
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FIG. 5. Phosphorylation of eIF2 is not increased in cells infected with d27-1. Vero cells were either mock infected, infected for 12 h with the indicated virus, or treated with thapsigargin (TG) for 1 h. The cells were harvested for SDS-PAGE, and the content of eIF2 or phospho-Ser51-eIF2 was determined by Western blot analysis.
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FIG.6. Translational efficiency of two cellular RNAs is not impaired in HSV-infected cells in the absence of ICP27. Postmitochondrial supernatants from uninfected Vero cells or from cells infected with d27-1 for 12 h at a multiplicity of 10 were analyzed by sedimentation through sucrose gradients as in Fig. 4. (A) UV absorbance profiles at 254 nm of the 20 fractions collected from each gradient. Fraction 1 represents the top of the gradient, and fraction 20 represents the bottom. (B) Agarose gel electrophoresis of RNA isolated from the sucrose gradient fractions. Half of the RNA isolated from each fraction was electrophoresed on a 1% denaturing agarose gel and stained with ethidium bromide to visualize the 5S, 18S, and 28S rRNAs (indicated to the right). (C and D) The distribution of the GAPDH (C) and ß-actin (D) transcripts across each gradient was determined by Northern blot analysis. The transcript bands were quantified, and the percentage of total RNA present in each fraction was graphed and is shown below the Northern blots.
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FIG. 7. Polyribosomal distributions of VP16, TK, and ICP8 mRNAs at early and late times postinfection. Vero cells were infected with HSV KOS1.1 or d27-1 at a multiplicity of 10. At 6 or 12 h postinfection, postmitochondrial supernatants were prepared and fractionated on 10 to 50% sucrose gradients such that polysomes sedimented in fractions 15 to 18. Following fractionation, RNA in the pellet was recovered by resuspending in H2O. The distributions of VP16, TK, and ICP8 mRNA in the gradient fractions and the pellet (last fraction) were determined by Northern blot analysis. The RNA in each fraction was quantified, and a graph of the percentage of total RNA in each fraction is shown.
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20% of the levels in d27-1-infected cells by 12 h postinfection (data not shown). The remaining transcript was diffusely distributed through the upper half of the sucrose gradient, and a small fraction (
7%) was associated with polysomes (Fig. 7B). We conclude that the TK transcript is actively translated early in infection in an ICP27-independent manner but that the translational efficiency decreases as infection proceeds.
Finally, the polysomal distribution profiles of ICP8 mRNA are shown in Fig. 7C. At 6 h postinfection, approximately 40% of the transcript sedimented in polysomal fractions in both KOS1.1- and d27-1-infected cells, suggesting that the translational efficiency of ICP8 is not affected by ICP27. In accord with this conclusion, it has been documented that expression of ICP8 does not require ICP27 (83). It was somewhat surprising that 40 to 50% of the mRNA sedimented in fractions 6 to 10 in both KOS1.1- and d27-1-infected cells. Since ICP8 is a large transcript of
4 kb, these fractions may represent small polyribosomes. The data seem to suggest that ICP8 mRNA is not assembled efficiently into large polyribosomes. It is not clear why this is the case, but the result may indicate that translation of ICP8 mRNA is subject to ICP27-independent differential regulation during infection. Interestingly, the proportion of total RNA in these fractions was even greater at 12 h (
65%), which again suggests a progressive decline in translational efficiency as infection proceeds. Taken together, these data strongly suggest that neither the TK nor the ICP8 transcript exhibits the striking dependence on ICP27 for efficient translation that we observe for VP16 mRNA. However, the efficiencies of translation of all three mRNAs seem to decline at late times, and this effect is independent of ICP27. This finding is consistent with the progressive decrease in translational efficiency of HSV-1 mRNAs previously documented by Laurent et al. (31).
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We have analyzed the effects of ICP27 on nuclear/cytoplasmic RNA distribution, mRNA abundance, protein accumulation, and mRNA polyribosomal distribution of the essential HSV-1 transactivator VP16. We provide strong evidence that ICP27 is not required for cytoplasmic accumulation of the VP16 transcript (Fig. 1). This conclusion is in complete agreement with the results of Pearson et al. (54), who observed that the nuclear/cytoplasmic distributions of several HSV-1 mRNAs (gB, gC, VP16, UL42, UL26.5, and the short UL24 transcript) were not affected by the presence or absence of ICP27. In fact, the only transcripts in which cytoplasmic localization was found to be defective in the absence of ICP27 were the long UL24 transcripts. These observations led Pearson et al. to suggest that ICP27-independent modes of HSV-1 RNA export must exist. In this context, it is noteworthy that REF, the ICP27 binding partner thought to promote ICP27-dependent RNA export, is dispensable for RNA nuclear export in Drosphila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans (17, 37).
The main effects of ICP27 on VP16 gene expression were found at the levels of mRNA abundance and translational efficiency. VP16 RNA levels were somewhat reduced in the absence of ICP27 at all times of infection (see Fig. 2). However, VP16 protein levels were reduced to a far greater extent. The most striking and novel finding we report here is that ICP27 greatly enhances the translational efficiency of the cytoplasmic mRNA, resulting in VP16 protein yields that are 9- to 80-fold greater per RNA molecule than those in the absence of ICP27. The increased accumulation of VP16 protein was not due to changes in its turnover rate but rather correlated with a dramatic mobilization of VP16 mRNA from 40S ribosomal subunits into actively translating polysomes. These effects appear to be mRNA specific, since two cellular RNAs and two early HSV RNAs did not show the same dependence on ICP27 for translational stimulation. Pearson et al. recently reported a large defect in the accumulation of UL24 protein in the absence of ICP27, compared to a minor reduction in short UL24 transcript levels, leading the authors to speculate that the translation of these transcripts is impaired in the absence of ICP27 (54). Thus, it is likely that the requirement of ICP27 for efficient translation is not unique to the VP16 message. It is possible that identification of additional mRNA targets of such regulation might be facilitated by examining infections conducted under more-restrictive conditions, such as low-multiplicity infection of primary cells. In this context, it will be important to learn if the requirement is manifest during infection of other cell types.
Our experiments have not addressed whether the effects of ICP27 on the translational enhancement of VP16 mRNA are direct or indirect. ICP27 stimulates the expression of some of the E genes that participate in DNA replication, and as a consequence the ability of ICP27 mutant viruses to replicate DNA is defective. The expression of many L genes is compromised in d27-1 infection because of the impairment of DNA replication, and furthermore, several late genes strictly require ICP27 directly for their expression. Thus, it is not clear if the requirement for ICP27 for efficient VP16 translation is direct or rather reflects reduced levels of one or more other viral proteins. Several considerations make it tempting to speculate that ICP27 is acting directly. These are outlined below.
Our findings that ICP27 increases the abundance and translational efficiency of VP16 mRNA, but not its nuclear export, are reminiscent of several recent studies that have analyzed how the process of splicing enhances gene expression (38, 49, 50, 88). It has been noted for many years that the presence of an intron in an mRNA can dramatically boost the levels of gene expression. It is now recognized that the process of splicing does not merely serve to remove unwanted sequences from RNA but also enhances other vital mRNA-processing events such as polyadenylation and nuclear export. Many of these effects may be attributable to the EJC, a protein "mark" that is deposited 20 to 24 nucleotides upstream of exon-exon junctions during the process of splicing (26, 32, 33, 65, 81, 90; reviewed in reference 61). At least seven proteins comprise the EJC, some of which (such as REF) are thought to promote nuclear export of the spliced RNA by recruiting the TAP/NXF1 nuclear export factor. Furthermore, several EJC proteins remain bound to the RNA in the cytoplasm, and at least one of these, Y14, remains associated with mRNA until it engages the ribosome and is not removed until the mRNA has undergone translation (8, 27, 28). It has been suggested that this is the means by which the splicing history of an RNA is communicated to the translation machinery in the process of nonsense-mediated decay, a degradation pathway for RNAs that bear premature termination codons (8, 29, 32, 40; reviewed in reference 39). The laboratories of Moore and Cullen have recently reported that splicing-dependent enhancement of gene expression occurs primarily at the levels of mRNA abundance and increased translational efficiency rather than nuclear RNA export, and these effects are due to the action of the EJC proteins RNPS1, Y14, and Magoh (38, 49, 50, 88). Factors involved in nonsense-mediated decay were also found to stimulate translation when tethered to an intronless reporter mRNA (49). The similarities between our data and these reports are intriguing. In particular, we note that splicing was found to enhance the translational utilization of ß-globin mRNA, a highly intron-dependent gene, more than 30-fold (38, 88). This is very similar to the magnitude of the ICP27-mediated translational enhancement of the VP16 transcript. These considerations may give some clues as to how ICP27 stimulates the translation of VP16 mRNA. Being intronless, the VP16 transcript could not acquire EJC proteins via splicing. Perhaps ICP27 binds to VP16 mRNA and recruits the translation-stimulatory EJC proteins in a splicing-independent manner, possibly through its documented interaction with REF. Indeed, the VP16 transcript is one of several HSV-1 mRNAs that have been shown to contain a binding site for ICP27 protein (78). However, the ICP8 mRNA also carries an ICP27 binding site (78), yet we saw no alterations in the polyribosomal distribution profiles of ICP8 mRNA in the presence or absence of ICP27. Thus, it is not clear to what extent, if any, the translational effects of ICP27 are mediated through direct binding to RNA.
Other links between the EJC, splicing, and translation have recently been uncovered. A protein termed eIF4AIII, which is highly similar to translation initiation factors eIFAI and eIFAII, has been shown to be an integral part of the EJC (2, 13, 53, 76). eIF4AIII is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling protein, interacts with Y14 and Magoh, and has been shown to inhibit translation in vitro by binding eIF4G (35). It is interesting to speculate that ICP27 could modulate the function of this protein in HSV-infected cells and thereby influence the translational efficiencies of either viral or cellular transcripts. A further example that illustrates how nuclear events can regulate translation is the recent finding that shuttling SR proteins, which play important roles in constitutive and alternative splicing, associate with polyribosomes and stimulate translation when tethered to a reporter RNA (73). This observation is intriguing in view of the many known interactions between ICP27 and the splicing machinery: (i) ICP27 colocalizes with and redistributes splicing factors (55, 70, 71); (ii) ICP27 binds the SAP145 splicing factor (1); and (iii) extracts of infected cells containing ICP27 show defective splicing in vitro (1, 20, 36). Recently, Sciabica et al. showed that ICP27 interacts with and alters the phosphorylation of some SR proteins (74). Thus, it is conceivable that ICP27 might modulate translation via alterations in the activity of shuttling SR proteins.
Our data suggest that VP16 mRNA encounters a barrier to translational initiation in infected cells in the absence of ICP27. Since the translational inhibition is mRNA specific (ß-actin, GAPDH, TK, and ICP8 transcripts are exempt), it seems possible that VP16 mRNA bears specific cis-acting sequences that hinder translation, and that ICP27 acts to overcome this negative effect. Such cis-acting sequences might be structural features that act as a translational impediment or might correspond to binding sites for trans-acting factors that repress translation. In the latter scenario, ICP27 could act to antagonize the function of the factors that bind the repression element. One example of this type of regulation is the control of translational silencing of the cellular 15-lipoxygenase (LOX) and human papillomavirus type 16 L2 mRNAs (6, 51, 52). These RNAs are silenced at the level of translational initiation in undifferentiated erythroid and epithelial cells, respectively, by binding of cellular hnRNP proteins K and E1/E2 to negative elements located in their 3' untranslated regions (6, 51). This repression system is inactivated during differentiation, in part through phosphorylation of hnRNP K by src-family kinases, leading to translational activation (52). Perhaps a similar type of silencing reversal is the mechanism by which ICP27 promotes the translation of VP16 mRNA. Indeed, ICP27 has been shown to bind hnRNP K (85). Furthermore, the block to the translational initiation of the LOX and L2 mRNAs occurs after recruitment of the 40S ribosomal subunit to the mRNAs but prior to joining of the 60S subunit (51). Our data are consistent with a similar block to VP16 translation in cells infected with d27-1, because most of the mRNA sediments with the 40S subunit.
Another mechanism by which ICP27 might act to regulate the translation of VP16 mRNA is correct localization of the RNA to a subcellular compartment that is highly active in translation. A precedent for this idea comes from the HIV Rev protein, which promotes the cytoplasmic accumulation of unspliced and partially spliced HIV RNAs that possess a Rev binding site. Rev interacts with a cellular protein, termed hRIP, and it has recently been shown that this interaction is necessary for releasing the HIV RNAs from the nuclear periphery into the cytoplasm (68). While this study did not address whether the movement of the HIV RNAs from the nuclear periphery to the cytoplasm correlated with an enhanced translational yield, it raises the possibility that VP16 mRNA could be similarly mislocalized in the absence of ICP27, resulting in sequestration away from the translational apparatus.
Our data have not addressed whether the translation of VP16 mRNA is impaired in uninfected cells or whether, instead, HSV infection induces a translational barrier that is overcome by the expression of ICP27. The best-documented virus-induced translational repression system is triggered by PKR-mediated phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor eIF2
(14, 15). This translational inhibition is counteracted in HSV infection by the action of the
134.5 gene product, which binds to protein phosphatase 1
and redirects it to dephosphorylate eIF2
(21). Because
134.5 is encoded by a late gene, it seemed possible that its expression would be reduced during infection with d27-1, leading to increased accumulation of phosphorylated eIF2
. However, we did not detect an increase in phospho-Ser51 eIF2
levels in cells infected with d27-1 (Fig. 5). Thus, it is very unlikely that phosphorylation of eIF2
underlies the ICP27-dependent translational regulation that we have uncovered. Consistent with this conclusion, the phenotype of
134.5 mutants is characterized by global translational arrest (5), while the effects of deleting ICP27 are mRNA specific. In addition, Vero cells are fully permissive for
134.5 mutants (5, 59).
We find that the cellular mRNAs for GAPDH and ß-actin are associated with polyribosomes in cells infected with the ICP27-null mutant, a distribution similar to that in uninfected cells. This observation is interesting because it has been recognized for several years that translational control plays an important role in the down-regulation of cellular gene expression during HSV-1 infection. Simonin et al. (77) and Greco et al. (18) reported that while the levels of the cellular mRNAs encoding actin and ribosomal proteins decrease in parallel in HSV-infected cells, the translation rates of these RNAs are differentially controlled, such that the synthesis of ribosomal proteins persists while actin synthesis is strongly inhibited. These authors also reported that the actin mRNA is progressively shifted from polyribosomes to an association with the 40S ribosomal subunit, indicating that translation is inhibited at a step prior to binding of the 60S subunit. Our data suggest that this shift does not occur in cells infected with viruses lacking ICP27, implying that ICP27 or an ICP27-dependent gene product is responsible. These observations raise the possibility that ICP27 impairs the translation of cellular mRNAs, contributing to the ICP27-dependent shutoff of host protein synthesis.
Finally, it is clear that not all HSV mRNAs require ICP27 in order to be translated efficiently. The TK and ICP8 transcripts exhibited no obvious changes in their polyribosomal association in the presence and absence of ICP27. Preliminary data suggest that the same is true for the UL30 and gB mRNAs (K. S. Ellison, R. M. Maranchuk, and J. R. Smiley, unpublished data). Thus, it remains to be seen which other HSV transcripts, if any, are targets for this function of ICP27. Interestingly, our polysomal analysis of VP16, TK, and ICP8 RNAs suggests that the translation rates of all three decline at late times of infection, and this decline appears to be independent of ICP27. This finding is consistent with those of Laurent et al. (31), who showed that the rates of synthesis of several viral proteins from all three temporal classes decline progressively, even though the corresponding mRNAs are maintained at high levels. The transcripts encoding these proteins were shown to be partially displaced from polyribosomes to particles that cosediment with the 40S ribosomal subunit, exactly as we find for the VP16, TK, and ICP8 mRNAs. Thus, our results, in combination with those of Laurent et al., suggest that the shutoff of viral protein synthesis results from a mechanism that represses translation at the initiation step. Unlike the shutoff of cellular proteins, however, the down-regulation of viral protein synthesis apparently does not require ICP27.
In summary, we have uncovered a previously unknown role for ICP27 in the translational regulation of gene expression and have identified a natural viral target for this activity. Not surprisingly, many questions remain outstanding. First, are the effects of ICP27 on translation direct or, instead, mediated by another ICP27-induced viral protein? Second, what is the mechanism that restricts the translation of VP16 mRNA in the absence of ICP27, and is it induced by virus infection? Third, which other HSV mRNAs require ICP27 for efficient translation? Fourth, what domains of the ICP27 protein are required for this activity? The answers to these and other questions will generate many important insights into the complex interactions between HSV-1 and the host cell.
This research was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to J.R.S.
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