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Journal of Virology, April 2006, p. 4147-4156, Vol. 80, No. 8
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.80.8.4147-4156.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
and
Julian A. Hiscox1,4*
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom,1 School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AJ, United Kingdom,2 School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AJ, United Kingdom,3 Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom4
Received 6 October 2005/ Accepted 2 February 2006
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Alteration of the host cell cycle by RNA viruses has not been described as extensively in the literature when compared to DNA viruses or retroviruses. For example, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Vpr arrests cells in the G2 phase (16, 20, 44, 51), resulting in an increase in transcription (22) and virus production (11). In the case of positive-strand RNA viruses the possible relationship between virus-induced cell cycle perturbations and the concomitant effects on virus replication are not well understood. Coronaviruses are a group of positive-strand RNA viruses which replicate in the cytoplasm of infected cells. Coronaviruses, together with the closely related arteriviruses, belong to the Nidovirales. Several coronaviruses and/or their proteins have been shown to alter cell signaling, in some cases with implications for cell growth (6, 17, 60). In this study we tested the hypothesis that infection with the avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) could perturb the cell cycle and that this would promote favorable conditions for progeny virus synthesis, which has not previously been established.
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IBV infection of Vero cells. Flasks (75 cm2) were seeded with 1 x 106 Vero or BHK-21 cells. At 60% confluence, cells were mock infected, exposed to UV-inactivated virus or infected with IBV with a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 1, and then incubated for 1 h at 37°C, after which the cells were incubated in maintenance media. Cells were processed at various times p.i. for Western blot and cell cycle flow-cytometric analysis and, at 24 h p.i., for confocal analysis.
UV inactivation of IBV. IBV was exposed to 120,000 mJ/cm2 of 254-nm shortwave UV radiation for 10 min within a CL-1000 cross-linker (UVP). To demonstrate that IBV had been inactivated, Western blotting and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) were used to determine the presence or absence of viral proteins in cells infected with UV-inactivated virus. Total protein for Western blot analysis was prepared as described below, and total cellular RNA for RT-PCR was extracted using the RNeasy method (QIAGEN). RT-PCR amplification of a 415-bp IBV nucleocapsid (N) gene and 624-bp GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase)-derived fragments was performed with Taq polymerase (Invitrogen).
G0/G1, G1/S, and G2/M Vero cell synchronization. Flasks (75 cm2) were seeded with 1 x 106 Vero cells. Vero cells were G0/G1 phase synchronized using serum deprivation by maintenance of cells in DMEM containing no FCS supplementation for 72 h. Vero cells were synchronized at the G1/S phase border using double-thymidine treatment (15) by incubation for 12 h in maintenance media supplemented with 2 mM thymidine (Sigma). Cells were then washed three times with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and incubated for 12 h in maintenance media, followed by an additional 12-h incubation in maintenance media supplemented with 2 mM thymidine. Vero cells were G2/M phase synchronized using nocodazole treatment by incubation of cells in maintenance media supplemented with 60 ng/ml nocodazole (Sigma) for 16 h. Immediately prior to mock infection and IBV infection of synchronized cells, serum-deprived cells were treated with DMEM supplemented with 10% FCS. Both thymidine- and nocodazole-treated cells were washed three times with PBS, and then the cell number per flask was determined and used to ensure an MOI of 0.1 or 1 between separate treatments. At various times p.i., cells were processed for Western blot and flow-cytometric analysis.
BrdU incorporation and flow cytometry analysis. Two-color flow-cytometric analysis was used to accurately determine the cell cycle profile of both mock-infected and infected cell populations. The principle of the technique is to use propidium iodide (PI) to stain DNA and thus measure those cells in G0/G1 (2N) and G2/M (4N). Prior to staining, the thymidine analogue bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) is incorporated into actively replicating DNA and thus accurately determines the proportion of cells in S phase. Two-color flow-cytometric analysis is advantageous when studying induced cell cycle perturbations, which can skew cell cycle data if profiles are determined using PI only (8, 9, 38, 40, 41). BrdU was added to cell medium within each flask to give a concentration of 10 µM BrdU, and medium was incubated at 37°C for 30 min to allow BrdU incorporation. Cells were washed once with PBS and then detached by the addition of 2 ml EDTA/trypsin and incubated for 5 min at 37°C. Vero cell growth medium was added to neutralize the trypsin, and cells were pelleted by centrifugation at 950 x g for 5 min and then fixed in 1 ml of 70% ethanol. BrdU-labeled cell samples in 70% ethanol solution were pelleted by centrifugation at 800 x g for 5 min and then incubated in 1 ml of 0.1 M HCl in PBS at 37°C for 10 min before addition of 3 ml of PBS. Samples were then pelleted by centrifugation at 800 x g for 5 min before addition of 100 µl of anti-BrdU solution (anti-BrdU antibody [BD Biosciences] diluted 1:5 in PBS, 0.5% Tween 20, and 1% fetal bovine serum [FBS]) and incubated for 60 min at 20°C. Samples were then washed in PBS, pelleted by centrifugation at 800 x g for 5 min before addition of 100 µl of anti-mouse fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled solution (antibody diluted 1:10 in PBS, 0.5% Tween 20, and 1% FBS) and incubated for 30 minutes in the dark at 20°C. Samples were washed twice in PBS before addition of 1 ml of PI staining solution (PBS, 50 µg/ml PI, 200 µg/ml RNase). Labeled cells were analyzed for PI staining and BrdU incorporation using a FACSCalibur analyzer (Becton Dickinson), and percentages of cells in the G0/G1, S, and G2/M phases in each sample were determined by gating using CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson).
Preparation of protein lysates, Western blot analysis, and antibodies. Cells were lysed in radioimmunoprecipitation assay buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl, 1% Nonidet P-40, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS]), supplemented with complete protease cocktail inhibitor (Roche), and the amount of protein in each sample was determined by bicinchoninic acid assay (Pierce). Ten or 20 µg of total cellular protein from each sample was separated on a 10% Novex Bis-Tris polyacryamide precast gel in MES (morpholineethanesulfonic acid)-SDS running buffer (Invitrogen). Western blotting was performed using ECL (Amersham/Pharmacia) as described in the manufacturer's instructions. Rabbit anti-IBV polyclonal antisera (diluted 1:10,000) were used for the detection of IBV N protein (kindly donated by Dave Cavanagh, Institute for Animal Health, Compton, United Kingdom). Antibodies for the detection of p21 (C-19), p53 (D0-1), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) (PC-10), cyclin A (H-432), cyclin E (M-20), cyclin D1 (M-20), cyclin D2 (M-20), cyclin D3 (M-10), and cyclin B1 (M-10) (all diluted 1:500) were obtained from Santa Cruz Biotechnology. Anti-GAPDH (6C5) antibody (diluted 1:40,000) was obtained from AbCam. Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-rabbit and rabbit anti-mouse secondary antibodies (diluted 1:1,000) (Sigma) were used as appropriate.
Confocal microscopy. Mock-infected and IBV-infected (MOI of 1) Vero cells were fixed at 24 h p.i., and confocal sections were captured on an LSM510 META microscope (Carl Zeiss Ltd.). IBV-infected cells were labeled with rabbit anti-IBV polyclonal sera (1:300) and detected with mouse anti-rabbit FITC (1:300) (green). The cell nucleus and nucleoli were stained with fluorescence grade PI (Molecular Probes), and where appropriate p53 was labeled with mouse anti-p53 monoclonal antibody (D01; Santa Cruz) and detected with Alexa Fluor goat anti-mouse 633 antibody (1:300; Molecular Probes) (red).
Statistical analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student t test; a P value <0.05 was considered significant.
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FIG.1. IBV-induced G2/M phase arrest is dependent upon the presence of replication-competent virus. Histogram of the mean percentage of mock-infected (gray), UV-inactivated-virus-infected (white), and IBV-infected (black) cells in the G0/G1, S, and G2/M phases of the cell cycle after 24 h postinfection (±standard deviations). Significant differences between the numbers of IBV-infected G2/M cells and the corresponding numbers of mock-infected and UV-inactivated-virus-infected cell controls for Vero (P < 0.001, n = 3) and BHK (P < 0.05, n = 3) are indicated by an asterisk. Similar results were obtained from three independent experiments. Representative dual-stained BrdU/PI cell cycle profiles are shown for mock-infected, UV-inactivated-virus-infected, and IBV-infected Vero (A) and BHK (B) cells at 24 p.i. (the x axis is the intensity of PI staining, and the y axis is the intensity of BrdU staining). (C and D) To ensure UV-inactivated IBV was incapable of replication or protein synthesis, cellular RNA and protein were isolated from mock-infected (lane 1), UV-inactivated-virus-infected (lane 2), and IBV-infected Vero cells (lane 3) and examined by (C) RT-PCR and (D) Western blotting for the presence of IBV N protein. The detection of GAPDH mRNA (C) and protein (D) was used as a control. Lane 4 in panel C is a negative control for RT-PCR.
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FIG. 2. Representative dual-stained BrdU/PI cell cycle profiles for mock- and IBV-infected Vero cells at 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 h postinfection. Representative cell cycle profiles for mock- and IBV-infected Vero cells are shown to the left (the x axis is the intensity of PI staining, and the y axis is the intensity of BrdU staining).
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FIG. 3. IBV induces a G2/M phase arrest in Vero cells. Cell cycle profiles for dual-stained BrdU/PI cells were analyzed by CellQuest software. Histogram bars represent the mean percentages of cells in the G0/G1, S, and G2/M phases of the cell cycle at 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 h postinfection in mock-infected (gray) and IBV-infected (black) cells (±standard deviations). Significant differences (P < 0.01, n = 3) between data sets are indicated by an asterisk.
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FIG. 4. Western blot analysis of total cellular protein isolated from mock (M)- and IBV-infected (I) Vero cells at 0, 4, 8, 16, and 24 h postinfection. Protein amounts were standardized as shown with GAPDH. Viral protein accumulation was confirmed by the detection of N protein, and several different proteins involved in various aspects of cell cycle control were analyzed, including G1 cyclins (cyclins D1 and D2), a protein involved in G1-to-S-phase progression (cyclin E), S phase (cyclin A and PCNA) and G2/M (cyclin B1) proteins, and regulatory factors p21 and p53. This experiment was repeated three times, and representative blots are shown.
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Analysis of the morphology of virus-infected cells. Previously we have shown that IBV N protein causes aberrant cytokinesis in transfected cells. We examined the morphology of infected cells at 24 h postinfection using confocal microscopy to visualize viral proteins and the cell nucleus and nucleoli (16). Our analysis of several different fields of view and replicate infection with IBV indicated that approximately 15% of infected cells had undergone aberrant cytokinesis; two examples of these cells are presented in Fig. 5A to D and F to I. This was evidenced by the presence of a cleavage furrow, binucleate cells, and the nucleolus in each nucleus, which is visible using PI staining and also phase-contrast microscopy (Fig. 5J and K). To demonstrate that the cleavage furrow was present throughout the cell, we used the confocal microscope to construct a z section through the cell as shown in Fig. 5C; the cross section clearly shows the presence of the furrow though the axis of the cell (Fig. 5E). Nucleoli are absent in normally dividing cells. To confirm these results, we used a marker protein for the nucleus, p53, rather than a postfixation stain. Detection of p53 (red) and IBV proteins (green) (Fig. 5L and M) also shows the presence of the cleavage furrow. Interestingly these merged images indicate that p53 was predominately located in the cytoplasm and had a punctate appearance in infected cells and that p53 and IBV proteins colocalize (as seen by the yellow signal). However, the IBV protein(s) which colocalizes with p53 could not be identified, as the anti-IBV antibody used was a polyclonal antibody raised against the virus particle. In mock-infected cells p53 localized to the nucleolus, nucleus, and cytoplasm (data not shown).
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FIG. 5. Vero cells were infected with IBV and imaged using confocal microscopy. Two examples of infected cells displaying aberrant cytokinesis are shown (A to D and F to I). Viral proteins were labeled with the appropriate antibody and FITC and are shown in green (A and F), corresponding nuclei and nucleoli are stained with PI (red) (B and G), and the two images were superimposed (C and H). In addition, the corresponding bright-field images for the cells are depicted underneath (D and I). For orientation, in panels F and G, the nucleoli are denoted No and the cleavage furrow CF. Z-phase reconstruction was used to generate a section through the cell shown in panel C (E). For reference, the boundary of the nuclei is denoted B1 and B2, with the cleavage furrow as CF. The horizontal white line bisectioning the cell shown in panel C denotes the focal plane of the section. Magnification of all images is x340. (J) PI staining of a cell undergoing normal nuclear division. (K) Corresponding bright-field image. (L and M) IBV-infected cells displaying aberrant cytokinesis, with IBV proteins labeled in green and p53 in red. CF, cleavage furrow.
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FIG. 6. (A) Cell cycle profiles of cells arrested in either the G1 phase using serum starvation or the M phase using nocodazole. Following synchronization (time zero) cells were released from block and simultaneously mock infected and infected, and cell cycle profiles were analyzed 16 h later (mock 16 and inf 16, respectively). The y axis is the percentage of cells in the indicated phase of the cell cycle. The histograms show the means of three samples; similar results were obtained from three independent experiments. (B) Western blot analysis of viral proteins 16 h postinfection and release in asynchronously replicating cells (Asyn) and cells in G0/G1 and G2/M blocked using serum starvation and nocodazole, respectively. Using the polyclonal anti-IBV antibody the N protein can be readily identified as well as the S protein.
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FIG. 7. Cell cycle profiles of cells arrested at the G1/S phase border using double-thymidine treatment (n = 3). Following synchronization (time zero) cells were released from block and simultaneously mock infected and infected, and cell cycle profiles were analyzed at 12, 16, and 19 h p.i. (indicated below the appropriate bar). There was a significant increase in the number of IBV-infected cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle compared to mock-infected cells at 12 h p.i. (P < 0.05, n = 3) and both 16 and 19 h p.i. (P < 0.01, n = 3). The y axis is the percentage of cells in the indicated phase of the cell cycle. Similar results were obtained from three independent experiments.
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In virus-infected Vero cells we observed apparent aberrant cytokinesis and reduced BrdU labeling, indicating potentially perturbed DNA synthesis. If DNA was damaged in virus-infected cells, rather than there being a reduced level of synthesis, then we may have predicted an increase in the levels of p53 and p21; however, we observed no increase in the levels of these proteins between virus-infected and mock-infected cells. We hypothesize that the reduction of BrdU uptake could be due to down-regulation of cellular DNA synthesis induced by infection, which could, subsequently, contribute to aberrant cytokinesis. Reduced DNA synthesis has been reported in cells infected with mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) (4). While binucleate cells can occur in continuously cultured cells, the frequency of this is approximately 3% (60), whereas in virus-infected cells it is on average 15%. These structures are not to be misinterpreted as small syncytia, which are visible as multinucleate cells; the structures we identify as evidence of aberrant cytokinesis are binucleate with the nuclei still fused together, albeit separated by a cleave furrow. The observation of aberrant cytokinesis and reduced DNA synthesis in virus-infected cells is very similar to results described in experiments investigating the function of eukaryotic origin recognition complex proteins 2 and 6, which are required for the initiation of DNA replication. RNA silencing studies showed a reduction of DNA synthesis, reduced BrdU staining of S phase cells, and various cytokinesis aberrations, as well as an accumulation of G2/M phase cells (45-47).
Cell cycle perturbations have been reported for other coronaviruses. Chau et al. (3) conducted a morphological analysis of hepatocytes derived from liver specimens obtained from individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and observed an increase in the number of hepatocytes undergoing mitosis. Chen and Makino (4) have shown that the murine coronavirus MHV can induce a G0/G1 phase arrest in virus-infected cells and that host cell DNA synthesis was down-regulated, although a different strain of MHV grew better in cells in the S phase (56). Our results are in similar agreement with Chen and Makino (4), except we observed an accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase rather than the G0/G1 phase. In a subsequent analysis Chen et al. (5) reported that p21 levels appeared to be up-regulated in cells overexpressing the MHV replicase protein p28, although there appeared to be no significant difference in p21 levels in actual MHV-infected cells (4). The differences between our study and that of Chen and Makino (4) might be attributable to an inherent difference in the two coronaviruses or cell types or might partly reflect the difference in cell cycle analysis. Chen and Makino (4) determined cell cycle profiles using PI staining and the algorithm Modfit to assign the different cell cycle phases. This algorithm provides an estimate of the number of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle, whereas we measured this population directly using metabolic incorporation of BrdU.
The possible reason why coronaviruses in particular and positive-strand RNA viruses in general affect the cell cycle is not clearly understood. In the case of IBV this effect might consist of both altering host cell function and creating favorable conditions for virus replication. Several hypotheses have been advanced as to how arresting the cell cycle at a specific stage may promote RNA virus infection; these include increasing the efficiency of replication, translation, and virus assembly. Scholle et al. (53) demonstrated that, while expression of the HCV polyprotein did not cause arrest in any particular stage of the cell cycle, HCV RNA synthesis was enhanced in S phase compared to serum-starved, contact-inhibited, or poorly proliferating cells. In the case of those positive-strand RNA viruses whose protein synthesis is under the control of a defined internal ribosomal entry site (IRES), there might be an advantage for the virus to arrest cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, in which IRES-dependent translation of some (but not all) cellular (7, 49, 50, 59) and certain viral mRNAs (19) has been reported to be optimal compared to other stages of the cell cycle. While the translation of one coronavirus, including IBV, protein is thought to be dependent on IRES-like activity (21, 25, 30, 31, 39), this is not true for the remainder of the viral proteins, which are thought to be translated via cap-dependent mechanisms (23). Lin and Lamb (28) proposed that enveloped RNA viruses could arrest the cell cycle before mitosis to prevent disruption of the Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum (ER), favoring viruses whose assembly occurs in these structures. Certainly coronaviruses such as IBV utilize the Golgi apparatus and ER for protein processing and assembly (1, 27, 32, 33).
To specifically investigate whether a particular stage of the cell cycle favored virus replication, we arrested cells in various stages of the cell cycle and compared efficiencies of virus infection. We showed that IBV efficiency as determined by increased protein accumulation and progeny virus production is greater in cells enriched in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle at 16 h postinfection when compared to either cells enriched in the G0/G1 phase or asynchronously replicating cells. Both of these markers are larger in asynchronously replicating cells compared to cells enriched in the G0/G1 phase and may be a reflection of the greater number of cells in the G2/M phase found in asynchronously replicating cells compared to cells arrested by serum starvation. These data indicated protein synthesis was greater in G2/M phase, which most likely had a knock-on effect for virus assembly and hence increased virus output. Curiously, cap-dependent translation has been reported to be down-regulated in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, suggesting either that IBV may use a cellular factor(s) which is optimally expressed in G2/M to enhance virus translation or that the coronavirus N protein or leader sequence might carry out this role (54, 55). HIV infection is also favored in the G2/M phase, and Groschel and Bushman (12) observed a three- to fivefold increase in HIV transduction compared to other stages of the cell cycle. In contrast, coxsackievirus (B3) production was 10- to 100-fold lower in cells arrested in G2/M when compared to cells arrested either in G1 or at the G2/S phase boundary (10). This is in contrast to the hypothesis that IRES-dependent translation in favored in the G2/M phase.
While we observed an increase in virus growth (in terms of virus protein accumulation and progeny virus production) in cells enriched in the G2 phase of the cell cycle using treatment with nocodazole, we did not observe a corresponding delay of infected cells leaving the G2/M phase. This observation was unexpected because based on the data generated from asynchronously replicating cells we would have predicted this. However, nocodazole arrests cells at the G2/M boundary/early M phase, and therefore if the mechanism of IBV-induced block/delay is initiated before this point in the cell cycle then we would not observe any difference in the G2/M phase populations between mock-infected and infected cells (Fig. 8). To further investigate this, we synchronized cells at the G1/S phase border using a double-thymidine block. Infection of cells blocked and released at this point indicated an accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase compared to mock-infected cells. Overall our data show that IBV induces a G2/M phase perturbation in both asynchronously and synchronously replicating cells, and therefore we favor the hypothesis that IBV induces a G2/M phase cell cycle arrest in order to promote conditions for progeny virus production.
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FIG. 8. Diagrammatic representation of the length of each cell cycle stage in asynchronously cycling Vero cells. G1 phase (white) takes approximately 12 h), S phase (gray) takes approximately 6 h, and G2 and M phases (black) take approximately 2 and 1 h to complete, respectively. The points in the cell cycle where serum starvation (S), the double-thymidine block (T), and nocodazole (N) block the cell cycle are indicated. On the outside is indicated where in the cell cycle synchronously replicating cells reach when released from their appropriate block.
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We thank Gareth Howell for his help in using the confocal microscope facility. We acknowledge the help and expertise of Graham Botley of the University of Leeds and Carmen Coxon and Jane Harper of the University of Reading with the flow cytometry.
Present address: Institute for Molecular Virology and McArdle Cancer Research Facility, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis. ![]()
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