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Journal of Virology, October 2006, p. 10274-10280, Vol. 80, No. 20
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00995-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Institut für Klinische und Molekulare Virologie der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
Received 15 May 2006/ Accepted 20 July 2006
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In this regard, we previously unraveled the molecular mechanism of pUL84 nuclear trafficking and could demonstrate that a nonconventional nuclear targeting domain comprising 282 amino acids within pUL84 mediates its interaction with importin alpha proteins (20). Interestingly, sequence inspection of the amino acid sequence of this nonconventional nuclear localization signal (NLS) revealed the presence of two small, leucine-rich regions that exactly match the consensus sequence of a classical nuclear export signal (NES) (20) (Fig. 1A). Both motifs could be aligned to confirmed NESs of other proteins (Fig. 1B), and one of the two motifs, UL84-NES2, yielded a positive NES motif score when we analyzed the HCMV UL84 primary sequence using an NES prediction server (16). In order to determine whether one of the putative pUL84 NESs is able to direct nuclear export of a heterologous protein, we performed microinjection experiments exactly as described previously (19). For this, we fused amino acids 228 to 237 and 359 to 366 of pUL84 to the C terminus of glutathione S-transferase (GST) (Fig. 1C), which served as a carrier protein. GST was used, since previous experiments showed that this protein on its own does not relocalize into the cytoplasm upon microinjection into the nucleus due to its capacity to form high-molecular-weight dimers (6, 25). The resulting recombinant fusion proteins were purified from Escherichia coli (Fig. 1D) and microinjected into the nuclei of HeLa cells in combination with rabbit immunoglobulin G (IgG) as a marker for the injection site (Fig. 1E, a to d). One hour after injection, the cells were fixed and double immunostained for GST and IgG (19). As shown in Fig. 1E, a to d, the coinjected rabbit IgG was detected exclusively within the nucleus, whereas GST-UL84-NES1 or GST-UL84-NES2 was translocated from the nuclear injection site to the cytoplasm in significant amounts. To exclude passive diffusion, we also injected the fusion proteins into the cytoplasm of HeLa cells. No nuclear accumulation of the respective proteins could be detected (Fig. 1E, e to h). This indicates that each transport signal is sufficient to target the GST protein for nuclear export and thus functions as an autonomous NES. Furthermore, it suggests that pUL84 may be capable of nucleocytoplasmic shuttling.
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FIG. 1. pUL69 contains two active leucine-rich NESs. (A) Schematic representation of the UL84 protein showing the NLS/importin alpha binding domain (20). Two putative leucine-rich NES motifs located within the nonconventional NLS/importin alpha binding domain of pUL84 are highlighted. (B) Alignment and comparison of the two putative pUL84 NES motifs with known leucine-rich NESs and with the consensus sequence for leucine-rich NESs. The indicated pUL84 motifs are compared with the NES of the protein kinase inhibitor (PKI) (31) or the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) (11). Additionally, the NES of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev protein (HIV1-REV) (8) and a derived consensus NES are listed. Conserved residues in the NESs are shown in boldface. The numbers refer to the positions of the amino acid sequences within each protein. (C) Schematic representation of the UL84 coding sequence showing the two putative NESs fused to the C terminus of GST to produce GST-UL84-NES1 and GST-UL84-NES2. (D) Procaryotic expression and purification of GST-UL84-NES1 and GST-UL84-NES2. Shown is a Coomassie blue-stained gel: extracts from E. coli cells grown without isopropyl-ß-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) (lanes 1 and 4) and grown in the presence of IPTG (lanes 2 and 5) are shown; lanes 3 and 6, purified GST fusion proteins. (E) GST fusion proteins were microinjected into the nuclei (a to d) or the cytoplasm (e to h) of HeLa cells, together with rabbit IgG as a marker for the injection site. At 1 h after injection, the cells were fixed and immunostained for GST-UL84-NES1 or GST-UL84-NES2 and the coinjected IgG control.
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FIG. 2. Nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of pUL84 in infected and transfected cells. (A) Heterokaryons were generated by fusion of HCMV-infected primary HFF and murine NIH 3T3 cells. Prior to and following heterokaryon formation, de novo protein synthesis was inhibited using cycloheximide. At 3.5 h after fusion, the cells were fixed, and a double-immunofluorescence analysis was performed with a polyclonal antiserum directed against pUL84 (b) and a monoclonal antibody against the IE1 protein (c). Staining with Hoechst 33258 (a) was used to differentiate between human and murine nuclei within the heterokaryon. Murine nuclei display a characteristic punctate pattern, whereas human nuclei are diffusely stained with the reagent; murine nuclei are indicated by arrows. Panel d shows the phase-contrast image of the heterokaryons; the cytoplasmic edge is highlighted by a broken line. (B) HeLa cells were cotransfected with expression plasmids for pUL84 and one of the internal control plasmids, ß-Gal-NLS/NES or ß-Gal-NLS, as indicated (a to d, UL84 and ß-Gal-NLS/NES; e to h, UL84 and ß-Gal-NLS). The transfected cells were subsequently analyzed in heterokaryon assays as described in the legend to panel A. Double-immunofluorescence analysis with polyclonal anti-pUL84 serum and a monoclonal antibody against ß-Gal was performed in order to detect the expressed proteins. (C) pUL84 shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm in a CRM1-dependent manner. Expression constructs for pUL84 and pUL69 were cotransfected into HeLa cells, and the transfected cells were subjected to heterokaryon assays. Three hours prior to fusion and throughout the experiment, the cells were incubated in the absence () (a to d) or presence (+) (e to h) of LMB. The indicated proteins were detected by double-label immunofluorescence using a polyclonal pUL84 antiserum and a monoclonal antibody directed against pUL69 (19).
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The nuclear export of proteins bearing a leucine-rich NES is usually mediated by the export receptor CRM1/exportin1 (18). The antibiotic leptomycin B (LMB) specifically blocks CRM1-mediated nuclear export by disrupting the interaction of NESs with the receptor (10, 14, 15, 32). To investigate the contribution of the CRM1 pathway to the nuclear export of pUL84, HeLa cells were cotransfected with a pUL84 expression plasmid and a control plasmid encoding the CRM1-independent nucleocytoplasmic shuttling protein pUL69 (19). Subsequently, heterokaryon assays were performed as described above, with the exception that 3 h prior to and following heterokaryon formation, the cells were treated with 2.5 ng/ml LMB to inhibit CRM1 function. In the absence of LMB, both proteins, pUL84 and pUL69, could be detected in murine nuclei after fusion with transfected HeLa cells (Fig. 2C, a to d). In contrast, treatment with LMB completely blocked shuttling of pUL84 but did not prevent the translocation of pUL69 in the same heterokaryon (Fig. 2C, e to h), indicating that pUL84 uses the CRM1-mediated nuclear export pathway.
pUL84 encodes two NESs that are equally capable of mediating the nuclear export of a heterologous protein (Fig. 1). Although the physiological significance of two NESs in pUL84 is presently unclear, this finding is not without precedent, since multiple leucine-rich NESs have been uncovered in a series of proteins of cellular or viral origin (7, 23, 29). In order to analyze whether the two identified NESs represent the only export signals within pUL84, we next aimed at inactivating these signals in the context of the wild-type protein. It has been demonstrated that substitution of alanine for any leucine within the core motif of the NES abrogates export activity (12, 29). Thus, we generated eukaryotic expression plasmids that contained the mutant UL84 sequences indicated in Fig. 3. However, since both export signals are located within the pUL84 importin alpha binding domain (20), we were concerned that mutations at these sites might affect the nuclear import of the protein. Therefore, we initially determined the subcellular localization of each of the mutants in transfected HeLa cells. Figure 3A summarizes the results of immunolocalization experiments. It shows that all pUL84 mutants carrying mutations in UL84-NES1 showed nuclear localization, as did the wild-type protein (Fig. 3A, a to h). In contrast, when leucine residues at positions 359/361 or 364/366 within UL84-NES2 were replaced by alanines, the respective mutants displayed a partial cytoplasmic localization (Fig. 3A, k and l, and m and n). In light of these results, we generated plasmid LLL228/30/59AAA, encoding pUL84 with mutations at key residues in both UL84-NES1 and UL84-NES2 that were predicted to inhibit nuclear export but not nuclear import (Fig. 3A, o and p). When we subjected this mutant to the interspecies heterokaryon assay, we observed that the nuclear-export capability of the pUL84 mutant was completely abolished, excluding the existence of other, unrecognized NESs (Fig. 4, i to l). However, when heterokaryon assays were performed with mutants LL228/30AA and L359A, which inactivated only one of the two NESs, weak pUL84 staining was detected in murine nuclei (Fig. 4, a to d and e to h). This indicates that both signals contribute independently to the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling activity of the wild-type protein.
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FIG. 3. Subcellular localization of UL84 mutants carrying mutated nuclear export signals. (A) A series of pUL84 mutants carrying alanine replacement mutations either in NES1 or NES2 was generated, and the subcellular localization of the resulting mutants was analyzed via indirect immunofluorescence analysis. The mutants indicated on the left were transiently expressed in HeLa cells, which were subsequently fixed and immunostained (right) using an anti-pUL84 antiserum ( UL84); DAPI, DNA staining of the transfected HeLa cells. (B) Western blot analysis of expression levels of the indicated UL84 mutants in transfected HeLa cell cultures.
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FIG. 4. Nucleocytoplasmic shuttling activities of pUL84 mutants carrying alanine substitutions within NES1, NES2, or NES1 and NES2. (Left) Schematic representation of the respective pUL84 mutants and ß-Gal-NLS/NES, which was used as an internal shuttling control in the interspecies heterokaryon analysis. (Right) Heterokaryon experiments (as described in the legend to Fig. 2) were performed to visualize the nuclear-export activities of the indicated proteins.
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This work was supported by the Wilhelm Sander Stiftung, the DFG (SFB473), and the IZKF Erlangen.
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