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Journal of Virology, October 2006, p. 10117-10127, Vol. 80, No. 20
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00744-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461
Received 12 April 2006/ Accepted 1 August 2006
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The tegument proteins serve a variety of essential functions. Early in infection, they regulate viral and cellular gene expression. Later, the tegument proteins assemble with the capsid and envelope to form mature progeny virions. The innermost layer of tegument is believed to correspond to the largest tegument protein, VP1/2, the product of the UL36 gene, which directly contacts the capsid proteins, hence exhibiting icosahedral symmetry (33), and is also known to interact with the product of the UL37 gene (18, 19). In the outer layer of tegument, multiple interactions are thought to occur among the tegument proteins and between tegument proteins and cytoplasmic tails of envelope glycoproteins. Recently we have demonstrated interactions between Glycoprotein H (gH) and VP16 (14, 17) and gD and VP22 (4), while in pseudorabies virus, VP22 has been shown to interact with gE and gM (13). The tegument protein UL11 has also been shown to bind to UL16 (23). It is to be expected that many of the proteins forming the outer layer of tegument either need to associate with membrane proteins or are membrane associated themselves. Indeed, the tegument proteins VP22 (3), UL11 (1), UL51 (27), and Vhs (21) have all recently been found to be membrane associated. Moreover the tegument proteins UL51 (27), UL11 (22), and US2 (6), have been found to be modified with acyl or prenyl groups, a modification thought to be important for their localization to membranes.
The tegument protein Vhs (virion host shutoff) is a 58-kDa tegument phosphoprotein encoded by UL41. Early in infection, Vhs forms a complex with the cellular translation initiation factors eIF4H, -4B, and -4A (8, 12) to form an active RNase that indiscriminately cleaves mRNA to suppress host cell protein synthesis (10, 24). Upon initiation of viral protein synthesis, Vhs continues to cleave viral mRNA and hence ensures an efficient switch from early to late gene expression. However, at this time accumulating VP16 binds to Vhs (29) and suppresses its RNase activity (20). Vhs is conserved among alphaherpesviruses, suggesting a role in establishing infection in neuronal cells (30). In fact, the role of Vhs is critically important in pathogenesis as loss of UL41 impairs the virus' ability to establish infection and reactivate from latency in the trigeminal ganglia, brain, and cornea (31). UL41-null viruses are, however, viable in tissue culture, although they exhibit slower growth and yield lower titers than the wild type (16). There is emerging evidence that the impaired ability of Vhs mutant viruses to establish disease is due to their reduced effectiveness in disarming the host's immune system, particularly by interfering with production of interferons (9, 26).
In contrast to the more extensively studied RNase properties of Vhs, almost nothing is known about assembly of Vhs into tegument. We have previously reported that Vhs is largely insoluble in HSV-1-infected cells in the presence of a high salt concentration and Triton X-100 (21). Furthermore, a considerable proportion of Vhs is stably membrane associated, and some of it partitions into Triton X-100-resistant lipid complexes or lipid rafts, although Vhs in the mature virus is not raft associated (21). The primary amino acid sequence of Vhs does not reveal any amino-terminal signal sequence, an apparent membrane-spanning domain, or any known motifs for fatty acylation or isoprenylation. Hence the mechanism of association of Vhs with membranes remains unknown.
The aim of the present study was to better understand the membrane association properties of Vhs and its role in tegument assembly. We found that Vhs membrane association was largely HSV infection dependent, with some limited membrane association in the absence of infection, which could be eliminated by disrupting electrostatic interactions. By mutational analysis, we discovered that the amino-terminal 42 residues of Vhs are sufficient for both membrane association and tegument incorporation of Vhs. Hence, we have identified a 42-amino-acid sequence in Vhs that is capable of targeting fusion proteins to membranes at which HSV undergoes assembly and into the tegument of the particle itself.
(Data in this paper are from a thesis to be submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Division of Medical Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University.)
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Generation of vhs mutants. The UL41 gene was amplified from the genome of the HSV strain SC16 by PCR using upstream oligonucleotide 5' GTATAAGCTTGTCGACATGGGTTTGTTCGGGATGATGAAG, which introduces a HindIII site upstream of the initiation codon, and downstream oligonucleotide 5' GGACGGCGGCGGCTCGTCCCAGAATTTGGCCAG, which introduces a SacII site immediately before the stop codon. The PCR product was cloned into the HindIII and SacII sites of pEGFP-N1 (BD Biosciences Clontech, Palo Alto, CA). Subsequently three stop codons were inserted downstream of the SacII site. The Thr 214-to-Ile Vhs1 point mutation was introduced by mutagenic PCR using upstream primer 5' ACGGTCGCGTACGTGTACACCACGGACATCGATCTCCTGTTGATGGGCTGT and downstream primer 5' TAAAAGTACTTTAGTATATCG to generate a 120-bp fragment. The PCR product was inserted into wild-type Vhs using the sites BsiWI and ScaI. To prepare VhsHA, the hemagglutinin (HA) epitope tag was amplified by PCR and introduced at the carboxy terminal to Vhs using SacII and AgeI restriction sites.
The C-terminally-truncated mutant 274HA was prepared by amplifying the first 274-amino-acid coding region of Vhs1 using the oligonucleotides 5' TTTAGTGAACCGTCAGATCC and 5' GCGTAACCGCGGCACATCCTCCACGGAGGC, which introduces a SacII site downstream of the stop codon. D1+
274 was initially prepared as a deletion of the first 274-amino-acid region of Vhs, and then the amino-terminal domain 1 region (2) of Vhs was reintroduced. To do this, the last 212 codons of Vhs were amplified by PCR using the oligonucleotides 5' CTGTAAGCTTGACATGCTGCGCGAATGTCACTGG and 5' CGTCCCAGAATTTGGCCAGGACGTCCTTG. Subsequently the domain 1 region of Vhs was amplified using oligonucleotides 5' CTAACTCGAGCTAGCGTCGACATGGGTTTGTTCGGG and 5' CGTGTCAAGCTTCAACGTGTACATGACGTTCCACAG. This domain I region was inserted upstream of the fragment encoding amino acids 212 to 484 using the restriction sites XhoI and HindIII. The
Sma mutant was created by digesting VhsHA with SmaI, which cuts vhs at codons 147 and 343, and then religating to create an in-frame fusion.
For in vitro translation experiments, Vhs1 was inserted into pcDNA3.1+ (Invitrogen) using the restriction sites HindIII and EcoRI. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) from pEGFP-C1 (BD Biosciences Clontech) was inserted into pcDNA3.1+ at the restriction sites NheI and BamHI.
D1(42)GFP was created by amplifying domain 1 of Vhs as described previously. Subsequently, the amplified product was inserted into XhoI- and HindIII-digested pEGFP-N1, hence creating a fusion protein with GFP. D1(42)DsRed2 was also created similarly by amplifying domain 1 of Vhs and inserting the product into pDsRed2-N1 (BD Biosciences Clontech).
Western blotting and antibodies. Western blotting for Vhs was performed using anti-Vhs antibody as previously described (21). The following antibodies were obtained commercially: mouse anti-HA monoclonal (Roche, IN), rabbit anti-GFP polyclonal (eBioscience, San Diego, CA), mouse anti-GFP monoclonal (BD Biosciences, CA), mouse anti-VP16 monoclonal (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.), Alexa Fluor 488 goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin G (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR), goat anti-mouse 10-nm gold-conjugated antibody (Electron Microscopy Sciences, Fort Washington, PA), Alkaline phosphatase-conjugated goat anti-rabbit (Chemicon, Pittsburgh, PA), and alkaline phosphatase-conjugated goat anti-mouse (Antibodies Incorporated, Davis, CA).
Subsequent to primary and secondary antibody incubation followed by washing in Tris-buffered saline (150 mM NaCl, 10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.4], 0.5% Tween 20), the membranes were immersed in alkaline Tris buffer (100 mM Tris-HCl [pH 9.5], 100 mM NaCl). Bound secondary antibodies were detected by nitroblue tetrazolium and BCIP (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-phosphate) (Promega, Madison, WI), diluted, and used according to the manufacturer's instructions. Quantitation of bands was performed using Image J software (version 1.34s).
Transfection, infection, and preparation of PNS. COS cells were transfected using the Lipofectamine PLUS reagent (Invitrogen/Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA) following the manufacturer's protocol. Twenty-four hours after transfection, cells were infected with Vhs-null virus at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 10. Eighteen hours postinfection, the cells were washed twice with HBA (0.25 M sucrose, 2 mM MgCl2, 10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.6]) and finally resuspended in HBA with protease inhibitors (Complete Mini EDTA-free protease inhibitor cocktail tablets; Roche, Germany). Cells were lysed by passage through a 25G5/8 syringe. The postnuclear supernatant (PNS) was obtained after nuclei were pelleted by centrifugation at 2,000 x g for 10 min at 4°C.
In vitro translation of Vhs/GFP. [35S]methionine-labeled Vhs and GFP were in vitro translated from pcDNA 3.1+ using TNT coupled reticulocyte lysate systems (Promega, WI). The in vitro-translated product was precleared by centrifugation at 12,500 x g for 20 min.
Isolation of detergent-insoluble complexes. The PNS prepared as described above was treated with 1% Triton X-100 for 30 min on ice and then centrifuged at 100,000 x g for 30 min at 4°C to pellet insoluble materials, membrane fractions, and cytoskeletal elements. Proteins from the supernatant were trichloroacetic acid (TCA) precipitated, and both supernatant and pellet were analyzed by Western blotting.
Isolation of membrane and membrane-associated proteins. A 2 M concentration of sucrose in TNE buffer (150 mM NaCl, 5 mM EDTA, 25 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.4]) was added to the postnuclear supernatant of transfected and/or infected cells to achieve a final concentration of 1.4 M sucrose. This was overlaid with 1.2 M sucrose in TNE buffer followed by 0.25 M sucrose (HBA). This was subjected to centrifugation at 100,000 x g for 2 h at 4°C in a swinging bucket rotor. A membrane fraction was collected from the 0.25-1.2 M interface. The rest of the gradient was collected either as a single fraction or as three fractions. Proteins from each fraction were TCA precipitated before being analyzed by Western blotting.
Isolation of extracellular virions. Extracellular virions were purified by a method adapted from Szilagyi and Cunningham (32). COS cells were transfected and infected as previously described. Eighteen hours postinfection, medium and cells were collected and the cells were removed by centrifugation at 1,200 x g for 15 min at 4°C. The virus was then pelleted from the medium by centrifugation at 23,000 x g for 2 h at 4°C. The viral pellet was resuspended in STE (10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.5], 50 mM NaCl, 5 mM EDTA) overnight at 4°C. The suspension was sonicated to disperse viral aggregates, and insoluble material was removed by pelleting at 10,000 x g for 5 min at 4°C. This was then gently layered on top of a 30-ml 5 to 15% Ficoll-400 gradient and subjected to centrifugation at 26,000 x g for 2 h at 4°C. Five fractions of 5 ml each and a final 6-ml fraction were collected, and each fraction was diluted six times in STE. The virus from each fraction was pelleted by centrifugation at 80,000 x g for 2 h at 4°C. The pellet was resuspended in STE and used for plaque assay as well as Western blotted for VP16 and GFP.
Immunocytochemistry. COS cells were grown on coverslips in six-well plates. The cells were transfected as previously described and then infected with virus at an MOI of 10. Eighteen hours postinfection, medium was aspirated from the plates and the cells were washed twice in room temperature phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The cells were then fixed for 10 min in 4% paraformaldehyde (Electron Microscopy Sciences) in PBS. The cells were again washed in PBS and permeabilized in 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS for 10 min, washed twice in PBS, and then incubated with 1 mg/ml sodium borohydride for 15 min. The cells were again washed twice in PBS and blocked in NATS (20% newborn calf serum, 0.5% Tween 20 in PBS) for 30 min. The samples were incubated with anti-HA antibody (1:100) for 2 h, washed four times in PBS, and then incubated with Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated secondary antibody (1:300) for 1 h. The cells were finally washed four times in PBS, dried, and then mounted using a Prolong Antifade kit (Molecular Probes). Images were taken on an Olympus I x81 microscope (Melville, NY) with x60 N.A. 1.4 plano optics with a Cooke Sensicam QE air-cooled charge-coupled device camera. Images were collected with IPLab Spectrum 3.6.1 and analyzed, pseudocolored, and merged using NIH Image J (1.34s) software.
Immunogold electron microscopy. COS cells were transfected and infected as previously described. Eighteen hours postinfection, medium was aspirated, and the cells were fixed using 4% paraformaldehyde plus 0.05% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate buffer, dehydrated through a graded series of ethanol, and embedded in LR White resin (London Resin Company).
Samples on grids were blocked on the surface using 5% bovine serum albumin-1% cold water fish gelatin (BSA-c) for 2 h and then incubated overnight at 4°C with anti-GFP polyclonal antibody (eBioseciences) diluted 1:100 in PBS-0.1% BSA-c, pH 7.4. Labeling was performed with goat anti-mouse 10-nm gold-conjugated secondary antibodies for 2 h at 4°C, and the samples were finally stained with 8% uranyl acetate. Images were taken on a JEOL 1200EX transmission electron microscope at 80 kV.
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Vhs in the absence of infection was found to be expressed at lower levels than in the presence of infection (Fig. 1A, lanes 1 and 2). The reason for this observation is unknown. Although it maybe possible that Vhs in the absence of infection becomes degraded due to residual RNase activity in Vhs1, there is no evidence for this. It may also be possible that Vhs mRNA is translationally activated by a viral protein or that Vhs is stabilized when directed into the virion assembly pathway. The control GFP was expressed at similar levels in both the presence and absence of infection (Fig. 1B, lanes 1 and 2). In the absence of infection, Vhs was equally distributed between the supernatant and pellet (compare lane 3 containing supernatant and lane 4 containing pellet, Fig. 1A), while in the presence of infection, the majority of Vhs was insoluble (compare lane 5 containing supernatant and lane 6 containing pellet, Fig. 1A). Upon quantitation of the bands, 39% of Vhs was insoluble in the absence of infection, in contrast to 78% in the presence of infection (Fig. 1C). GFP was soluble in both the presence and absence of infection (lanes 3 and 4 containing supernatant and pellet, respectively, in the absence of infection and lanes 5 and 6 containing supernatant and pellet in the presence of infection, Fig. 1B). Hence the insolubility of Vhs was observed to be largely infection dependent.
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FIG. 1. Detergent insolubility of Vhs is largely infection dependent. COS cells were transfected with plasmids to express either Vhs1 or GFP and subsequently infected with Vhs-null virus or mock infected. The postnuclear supernatant was treated with Triton X-100 and subjected to centrifugation at 100,000 x g for 30 min. Proteins were TCA precipitated from the supernatant, and both pellet and supernatant were analyzed by Western blotting for Vhs or GFP. The distribution of (A) Vhs and (B) GFP in the detergent-soluble and -insoluble fractions is shown in the presence (lanes 2, 5, and 6) and absence (lanes 1, 3, and 4) of infection. Shown are results for total lysate (lanes 1 and 2), supernatant (lanes 3 and 5), and pellet (lanes 4 and 6). Lane 7 contained untransfected and mock-infected cell PNS demonstrating specificity of Vhs antisera. (C) Graphical representation of quantitation of the bands in panel A. Gray bars indicate supernatant, and black bars indicate pellet. Inf, mock infected; +Inf, infected.
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Vhs in the presence of infection (Fig. 2A, lane 5) was observed to be more efficiently membrane associated than Vhs expressed in uninfected cells (Fig. 2A, lane 3). GFP was not membrane associated under either condition (Fig. 2B, lanes 3 and 5). Vhs or GFP in both the membrane fraction and the rest of the gradient was quantitated, and the amount which was membrane associated was expressed as a percentage of the total protein present in the gradient. It was observed that 60% of total Vhs was membrane associated during infection, whereas only 21% was membrane associated in the absence of infection (Fig. 2C). These data are averages of three independent experiments. We conclude that membrane association of Vhs is largely dependent on HSV infection-specific factors.
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FIG. 2. Membrane association of Vhs is largely infection dependent. (A and B) COS cells were transfected with plasmids to express either Vhs1 or GFP and subsequently infected with Vhs-null virus (+Inf) or mock infected (Inf). The postnuclear supernatant was adjusted to 1.4 M sucrose and loaded at the bottom of a 1.4 M-1.2 M-0.25 M sucrose step gradient. Membranes and membrane-associated proteins at the 0.25 M-1.2 M sucrose interface and also the rest of the gradient were TCA precipitated, and analyzed by Western blotting for Vhs (A) or GFP (B). Lane 1, total lysate in absence of infection; lane 2, total lysate in the presence of infection; lane 3, membrane-associated protein in the absence of infection; lane 4, protein in the rest of the gradient in the absence of infection; lane 5, membrane-associated protein in the presence of infection; lane 6, protein in the rest of the gradient in the presence of infection. (C) Graphical representation of quantitation of the bands in panels A and B. Bands were quantitated by NIH Image J, and the amount of membrane associated is expressed as a percentage of the total. The results are the average of three independent experiments. (D) A similar experiment to those in panels A to C, but prior to gradient centrifugation, the samples were treated with either 0.5 M NaCl or 100 mM Na2CO3 as indicated. Results are the average of three independent experiments.
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To further dissect the membrane association properties of Vhs, an assay was developed in which in vitro-translated Vhs1 or GFP was incubated with PNS obtained from infected and uninfected cells for 1 h at 37°C, followed by sucrose step gradient centrifugation as described above. It was observed that as expected, in the absence of added PNS, in vitro-translated Vhs1 does not partition into the low-density sucrose interface (Fig. 3A, lanes 1 and 3). Vhs1 with infected cell-derived PNS (Fig. 3B) floated to the membrane-containing fraction and did so slightly more efficiently than when mixed with PNS from uninfected cells (Fig. 3C). Control GFP was not membrane associated under either condition (Fig. 3D and E). It should be noted that these experiments were carried out under the optimal binding conditions determined below (Fig. 4). The amount of Vhs membrane association was quantitated, and 3% was membrane associated when mixed with infected-cell PNS and 2% was membrane associated when mixed with uninfected-cell PNS. The low efficiency can be attributed to the fact that this is an in vitro system where possibly many essential interactions and modifications necessary for Vhs membrane association have not been reconstituted.
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FIG. 3. Membrane association of in vitro-translated Vhs. [35S]methionine-labeled Vhs1 or GFP was prepared by in vitro translation. (A) In duplicate experiments, in vitro-translated Vhs1 was subjected to sucrose density flotation and the interface fraction (lanes 1 and 3) and the rest of the gradient (lanes 2 and 4) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. (B to E) In vitro-translated Vhs1 (B and C) or GFP (D and E) was incubated with PNS obtained from infected (B and D) and uninfected (C and E) cells and subjected to sucrose density gradient flotation. Fractions were collected and analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Lane 1 corresponds to the membrane fraction, and lane 8 is the bottom of the gradient.
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FIG. 4. Determination of optimal conditions for membrane association of in vitro-translated Vhs. (A to C) In duplicate experiments, in vitro-translated Vhs1 was incubated with infected-cell PNS for 1 h at 4°C (A), room temperature (B), and 37°C (C) before being subjected to sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The membrane fractions (lanes 1 and 3) and the rest of the gradient (lanes 2 and 4) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. (D) In vitro-translated Vhs1 was incubated with infected-cell PNS at 37°C for various times before separation of membranes by flotation. The membrane fractions obtained were analyzed by SDS-PAGE.
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The N-terminal 42 amino acids of Vhs are sufficient for membrane association.
To attempt to identify which specific regions of Vhs were important for membrane association, several mutant forms of Vhs1 were created, as illustrated in Fig. 5A. Four domains (marked as I, II, III, and IV) have been found to be conserved among Vhs in different alphaherpesviruses (2). The Vhs1 mutant 274HA lacks all residues after amino acid 274 and thus retains only domains I, II, and III. A second mutant,
Sma, carries a deletion from amino acids 147 to 343 and retains domains I, II, and IV only. The third mutant, D1+
274, carries a deletion from amino acids 42 to 274 and hence retains domains I and IV. All of the mutants carried a carboxy-terminal HA tag. Upon transfection, each of these mutants expressed similar amounts of protein (data not shown).
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FIG. 5. Membrane association of Vhs mutants. (A) Schematic representation of Vhs1 mutants. I, II, III, and IV represent conserved domains of Vhs. (B) Graphical representation of membrane association of Vhs1 mutants in the presence of infection. The results are the average of three independent experiments.
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FIG. 6. Membrane association of D1(42)GFP in the presence and absence of infection. (A) Schematic representation of the D1(42)GFP construct used to analyze domain 1 of Vhs. (B and C) Membrane association, in duplicate, of (B) GFP or (C) D1(42)GFP in the presence (lanes 5 to 8) and absence (lanes 1 to 4) of infection. Lanes 1, 3, 5, and 7 represent the membrane fraction, whereas the corresponding rest of the gradient is in lanes 2, 4, 6, and 8.
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FIG. 7. Membrane association of D1(42)GFP after NaCl or Na2CO3 treatment. Graphical representation of D1(42)GFP membrane association in the presence (+Inf) or absence (Inf) of infection when treated with either 0.5 M NaCl or 100 mM Na2CO3. Results are the average of two independent experiments. Lanes labeled GFP correspond to membrane association of a GFP control.
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Colocalization of D1(42)DsRed2 with endogenous Vhs. We wished to test whether the biochemical membrane association properties of D1(42)GFP meant that it was also subjected to the same intracellular localization as wild-type Vhs. For reasons of antibody availability, these studies were conducted using a red variant of D1(42) made by fusing the amino-terminal 42 residues of Vhs with DsRed2. COS cells were grown on coverslips and transfected to express D1(42)DsRed2 and infected with the HSV strain N138HA (16). The N138HA virus has an HA tag in its vhs gene which is known not to affect its function (16), and hence Vhs could be detected subsequently by immunostaining. Control cells were infected with PAAR5, which expresses wild-type Vhs and hence should not be stained with anti-HA antibody. Eighteen hours postinfection, the cells were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and immunostained for HA as described in Material and Methods.
As can be seen in Fig. 8, D1(42)Dsred2 displayed punctate structures in the cytoplasm (Fig. 8A) with hardly any fluorescence present in the nucleus. In contrast, DsRed2 alone had diffuse staining throughout the cytoplasm and nucleus (Fig. 8B). Vhs in N138HA-infected cells was visible in the cytoplasm (Fig. 8C) as both diffuse and punctate staining. The PAAR5-infected control cells (Fig. 8E) showed no staining, demonstrating that all of the staining seen in panel C is Vhs specific. In cells expressing D1(42)DsRed2 and infected with N138HA virus, visualization of Vhs (Fig. 8G) and D1(42)DsRed2 (Fig. 8H) revealed areas of colocalization (arrowheads in panels G and H and yellow regions in merged image, panel I). Interestingly, D1(42)DsRed2 colocalized with punctate Vhs, not the diffuse population of Vhs. This will be discussed later.
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FIG. 8. D1(42)DsRed2 colocalizes with endogenous Vhs. COS cells grown on coverslips were either transfected with D1(42)DsRed2 (A and G to J) or DsRed2 (B) or were mock transfected (C to F) and subsequently infected with virus strain N138HA (C, D, and G to J) or PAAR5 (E and F). The cells were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and immunostained for HA as described in Materials and Methods. The images were merged and pseudocolored using Image J software. Panels G and H are the separate green and red channel images of the same field, which has been merged in panel I. Panels D, F, and J are the phase-contrast images of panels C, E, and I, respectively.
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The distribution of VP16 and D1(42)GFP peaked towards the bottom of the gradient (Fig. 9A), whereas GFP mainly stayed at the top of the gradient (Fig. 9B). As shown in Fig. 9C, the plaque assay titer peaked at fraction 5. Similarly upon quantitation of the Western blots, VP16 also peaked in fraction 5, consistent with this portion of the gradient containing the majority of the viral particles. The profile of D1(42)GFP closely followed that of VP16 and the viral titer, whereas the GFP control was quite different. Most GFP was found at the top of the gradient and trailed off towards the bottom. These results suggest that the first 42 residues of Vhs are sufficient for targeting of GFP into the viral particle.
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FIG. 9. D1(42)GFP cofractionates with extracellular virions. Extracellular virus was isolated from D1(42)GFP or GFP-transfected and infected cells by a method adapted from Szilagyi and Cunningham (32 [described in Materials and Methods]). Six fractions were collected, the titer was determined for PFU, and the fractions were analyzed by Western blotting. (A and B) Western blot of VP16 and D1(42)GFP (A) and VP16 and GFP (B) in each fraction. Lane 1 represents the top of the gradient (fraction 1), and lane 6 represents the bottom (fraction 6). (C) The amount of VP16, D1(42)GFP, or GFP was quantitated in each fraction. Data from three independent experiments are plotted, representing PFU (triangles), VP16 (diamonds), D1(42)GFP (squares), and GFP (circles).
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As expected, we saw many virus particles in the cytoplasm labeled with gold in the K26GFP-infected cells (Fig. 10A to C). Cells which had been transfected to express GFP and then infected with Vhs-null virus displayed gold scattered throughout the cytoplasm, which was not associated with virus particles (Fig. 10D and E). In cells expressing D1(42)GFP and subsequently infected, we observed numerous examples of cytoplasmic virus particles labeled with gold (Fig. 10G to M). The no-primary-antibody control (Fig. 10F) represents the specificity of the antibody. Only cytoplasmic particles were studied in each case to facilitate comparison with our earlier immunocytochemical studies (Fig. 8).
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FIG.10. Immunogold electron microscopy confirms assembly of D1(42)GFP into the HSV particle. COS cells were transfected to express D1(42)GFP or GFP and subsequently infected with vhs-null virus. As a positive control, mock-transfected COS cells were infected with K26GFP virus. The cells were fixed and processed for electron microscopy as described in Materials and Methods. GFP and D1(42)GFP were detected using an anti-GFP antibody followed by a secondary antibody conjugated to 10-nm gold particles. (A to C) Cells infected with K26GFP virus. (D and E) Cells transfected with GFP and then infected. (F to M) Cells transfected with D1(42)GFP and then subsequently infected. Panel F represents a control to which no primary antibody was added. Scale bars in panels A, E, F, and M indicate 0.11 µm. Panels B to D and G to L have been enlarged fivefold relative to panels A, E, F, and M.
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FIG. 11. Graphical representation of percentage of viruses labeled with one to six gold particles when infection proceeded in the presence of plasmid-expressed D1(42)GFP (black bars) or GFP (gray bars) or during infection by the virus strain K26GFP (white bars). These data are from a total of 79, 114, and 129 virus particles, respectively.
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Through a combination of deletion analysis and preparation of GFP fusion proteins, we have identified a 42-amino-acid region at the N terminus of Vhs that is sufficient for membrane association, intracellular trafficking, and particle incorporation. These 42 residues lie in conserved domain 1 of many alphaherpesvirus Vhs molecules, including those of HSV-2, cercopithecine herpesviruses 1 and 2, bovine herpesvirus 2, suid herpesvirus 1, pseudorabies virus, and equine herpesvirus 4. In contrast, the C-terminal conserved region of VP22 has been identified as important for membrane association, virion incorporation, and interaction with VP16 (3, 15). We observed that D1(42)GFP had similar properties to full-length Vhs. D1(42)GFP was more efficiently and stably associated with membranes from infected rather than uninfected cells, and membrane binding in the absence of infection could be disrupted by NaCl treatment. The biochemical membrane binding data correlated with the observation that D1(42)DsRed2 colocalized with a subpopulation of virally expressed Vhs. We propose that partial colocalization is a consequence of the fact that full-length Vhs has a variety of functions: it is an RNase, binds to cellular translation factors, binds to VP16, and also must be assembled into tegument. We propose that the first 42 amino acids mediate tegument incorporation and that other functions of Vhs have been eliminated. Hence the regions of colocalization that we see are either mature viral particles or regions where viral assembly is taking place. Consistent with this, immunogold electron microscopy confirmed the incorporation of D1(42)GFP into the viral particle. Since our immunocytochemical studies suggest that the subcellular localization of D1(42)DsRed2 is similar in both infected and uninfected cells, our current working model is that the amino terminus of Vhs is sufficient for the correct subcellular localization of the protein, but during the course of an infection additional HSV-encoded factors stimulate or stabilize membrane binding and guide Vhs into the viral assembly pathway. This is consistent both with the increased membrane association and steady-state level of Vhs during an infection. Nevertheless, at the moment this is highly speculative.
It is also interesting to note that as a further test of importance of domain 1 in membrane association and tegument incorporation, a Vhs mutant lacking the first 42 amino acids was created. This mutant failed to be expressed (data not shown), indicating that the first conserved domain of Vhs also plays a role in the stability of the protein.
A small domain able to direct molecules into the tegument could be useful in the field of drug delivery and may also enable the tegument targeting of factors able to disrupt HSV assembly. Further work in our laboratory is being carried out to identify the smallest sequence capable of directing efficient targeting into the HSV tegument.
The HSV Vhs-null, PAAR5, and N138HA strains were kind gifts from James Smiley, and strain K26GFP was kindly provided by Prashant Desai. We thank Lily Huang for excellent technical assistance.
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(immediate early) viral polypeptides. J. Virol. 46:498-512.This article has been cited by other articles:
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