Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, July 2008, p. 6772-6777, Vol. 82, No. 13
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00410-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Rockefeller University, New York, New York,1 Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama2
Received 25 February 2008/ Accepted 8 April 2008
|
|
|---|
proteins from other primates exhibited distinct restriction specificities for primate lentivirus capsids. Finally, we identified novel primate lentiviral capsids that are targeted by TRIMCyp proteins. |
|
|---|
do not inhibit human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication in humans, yet rhesus TRIM5
is a major barrier to HIV-1 replication in rhesus macaque cells (10, 12, 14, 20, 24, 32). To explore whether TRIM5
is a general barrier to cross-species primate lentivirus transmission, we determined the abilities of TRIM5 proteins from various primate species to restrict divergent primate lentiviruses.
A limiting factor in undertaking studies of diverse primate lentiviruses is that the complete genome sequence and infectious molecular clones are not yet available for a number of these lentiviruses. Furthermore, the generation of virus isolates and infectious molecular clones often involves passage in human cells, which might lead to the selection of mutations that alter sensitivity to human restriction factors such as TRIM5
. However, TRIM5 proteins target the viral CA pro-tein (6, 9-11, 25), and the replacement of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) CA by that of simian immunodeficiency virus strain MAC239 (SIVMAC) generates a recombinant virus that displays the TRIM5
sensitivity of SIVMAC rather than HIV-1 (12). Therefore, we employed the same strategy and introduced CA-coding sequences from various primate lentiviruses (Fig. 1) into an HIV-1 GagPol expression plasmid (9). Where possible, we used Gag sequences obtained without in vitro cultivation in human cells. A second advantage of this approach is that the GagPol chimeras package HIV-1 vector genomes expressing reporter genes, and therefore, chimeric virion infectivity can be easily measured in the absence of variables that might arise due to other viral proteins. This approach has thus far been successful for the following chimeras (Fig. 1): HIV-Gb1 expressing CA from SIVcpzGab1 derived from a human peripheral blood mononuclear cell-cultured isolate (13), HIV-Gb2 expressing CA from SIVcpzGab2 derived from uncultured lymphocyte DNA from a naturally infected Pan troglodytes troglodytes ape (3), HIV-TN1B expressing CA from the TAN1.910 clone constructed based on the consensus of viral sequences from fecal RNA of a naturally infected Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ape (27), HIV-MAC expressing CA from SIVMAC (12), HIV-SAB expressing CA from SIVagmSAB (9), HIV-GSN expressing CA from SIVgsn71 amplified from uncultured lymphocyte DNA of a wild-caught greater spot-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans) (5), and HIV-DEB expressing CA sequences from SIVdebCNE40 amplified from uncultured lymphocytes of a naturally infected De Brazza's monkey (Cercopithecus neglectus) (2).
![]() View larger version (51K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. Generation of lentiviral CA chimeras. Shown is an amino acid sequence alignment of CA proteins from the indicated lentiviruses. Sequence identities are shaded. Three regions defined as loops 1, 2, and 3 are indicated. The double arrow indicates the boundary of the N- and C-terminal domains. The second arrow indicates the C-terminal junction between HIV-1 and the other lentiviral CAs used in the generation of the chimeric GagPol constructs.
|
![]() View larger version (31K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. Characterization of lentiviral CA chimeras. (A) 293T cells (10-cm dishes) were transfected with wild-type or chimeric HIV-1 GagPol (5 µg), HIV-1 GFP vector (5 µg), and vesicular stomatitis virus G (1 µg) expression plasmids and harvested 2 days posttransfection. Virions were purified by ultracentrifugation through a 20% sucrose cushion. Cell and virion lysates were analyzed by immunoblotting with an antibody against HIV-1 matrix (p17). The RT activity of viral supernatants, measured using a commercial RT kit (Cavidi), is indicated (representative of two independent experiments). (B) Infectivity of viruses generated in A was measured using hamster CHO cells. Infected cells were enumerated by fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis. A representative of three independent experiments is shown.
|
, TRIM5
, and TRIMCyp proteins, we isolated chimpanzee TRIM5
(cpzTRIM5
) and gorilla TRIM5
(gorTRIM5
) cDNAs from Pan troglodytes verus peripheral blood mononuclear cells and Gorilla gorilla fibroblasts, respectively. The cpzTRIM5
amino acid sequence was identical to previously published sequences, whereas gorTRIM5
differed in a single amino acid position in the coiled coil (Fig. 3A) (18, 22, 23). Both proteins were closely related to each other and to human TRIM5
(huTRIM5
), from which they differed only at 9 to 10 amino acid positions (Fig. 3A). We generated single-cell clones of CHO cells expressing C-terminally hemagglutinin (HA) epitope-tagged versions of these proteins as previously described (11). Protein expression levels were comparable for all TRIM5
proteins, and only pigtailed macaque TRIM5
(pgtTRIM5
) was expressed at somewhat lower levels (Fig. 3B).
![]() View larger version (68K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 3. Restriction specificities of primate TRIM5 proteins. (A) Amino acid alignment of primate TRIM5 proteins. Functional domains are indicated. The asterisk indicates the position of the amino acid difference with the published variants of gorTRIM5 . Numbers indicate the three residues that differ in the gorTRIM5 SPRY domain compared to huTRIM5 and cpzTRIM5 . (B) Expression of primate TRIM5 HA-tagged proteins in stable CHO-derived cell lines as determined by Western blot analysis using an anti-HA antibody (Covance). (C to H) Infection of CHO cells that were unmodified (white bars) or that stably expressed the indicated primate TRIM5 proteins (black bars) by wild-type and chimeric HIV-1 or NMLV or B-tropic murine leukemia virus (BMLV). Infected cells were enumerated by FACS analysis. The dose of each virus was selected to infect 15% to 30% of unmodified CHO cells.
|
nor cpzTRIM5
inhibited the infectivity of any of the chimeric lentiviruses viruses tested, but both inhibited N-tropic murine leukemia virus (NMLV) infection by 100-fold (Fig. 3C and D). gorTRIM5
was also inactive against most chimeric viruses but did inhibit HIV-MAC infectivity by about 10-fold (Fig. 3E), in agreement with a previous study showing that chimeric huTRIM5
expressing the gorTRIM5
SPRY domain inhibits SIVMAC infection (18). Additionally, like huTRIM5
and cpzTRIM5
, gorTRIM5
strongly inhibited NMLV infection (Fig. 3E). Rhesus macaque TRIM5
(rhTRIM5
) and African green monkey (agmTRIM5
) inhibited HIV-Gb1 and HIV-Gb2 infection as strongly, about 50- and 10-fold, respectively, as they inhibited wild-type HIV-1 (Fig. 2F and G). This was somewhat expected, given the extensive amino acid sequence homology between the HIV-1, Gab1, and Gab2 CAs (Fig. 1A). Surprisingly, however, the inhibition of HIV-TN1B by the Old World monkey TRIM5 proteins was significantly less potent, fivefold by rhTRIM5
and negligible by agmTRIM5
(Fig. 2F and G). SIVagmSab has been shown to be susceptible to rhTRIM5
but resistant to agmTRIM5
(9), and HIV-SAB recapitulated this phenotype (Fig. 3F and G). rhTRIM5
and agmTRIM5
exhibited opposing specificities in terms of the restriction of HIV-GSN and HIV-DEB. Specifically, rhTRIM5
reduced HIV-GSN infectivity moderately (threefold) and reduced HIV-DEB infectivity considerably (10-fold) (Fig. 3F). In contrast, agmTRIM5
strongly inhibited HIV-GSN infection (10-fold) but had only marginal effects (less than twofold) on the infectivity of HIV-DEB (Fig. 3G). Finally, pgtTRIM5
did not significantly inhibit any of the chimeric viruses tested (Fig. 3H). Of note, the addition of cyclosporine A (CsA) during infection had either no or marginal (twofold) effects on lentivirus restriction by the various TRIM5 proteins shown in Fig. 3 (data not shown). Recently, we and others have shown that a TRIMCyp fusion protein has arisen independently in pigtailed macaques and owl monkeys (4, 16, 29, 30), and remarkably, unlike owl monkey TRIMCyp (omkTRIMCyp), pgtTRIMCyp is completely inactive against HIV-1 even though it can restrict other lentiviruses, including feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) (29). Furthermore, we identified a single amino acid change (R69H) in pgtTRIMCyp, compared to pgtCypA or omkTRIMCyp, that results in a loss of the interaction with the HIV-1 CA but a "gain" of interaction with the FIV CA, insofar as it became more difficult to abolish FIV restriction with CsA (29). These observations suggest that some ancient retroviral infection led to the selection of H69 in pgtTRIMCyp, because H69 enhances the restriction of some as-yet-unknown (perhaps FIV-like) virus.
Like the HIV-1 CA, the SIVcpz (SIV from chimpanzees) CAs were strongly inhibited by omkTRIMCyp (100-fold) but not by pgtTRIMCyp (Fig. 4B and C). However, both omkTRIMCyp and pgtTRIMCyp inhibited HIV-GSN. Notably, a single amino acid change in pgtTRIMCyp, H69R, which reverses a change in CypA that was acquired after its LINE-mediated retrotransposition into pgtTRIM5, was able to confer the ability to restrict SIVcpz as well as HIV-1 CAs (Fig. 4D). The reversal of a second postretrotransposition change, N66D, had no significant effects (data not shown).
![]() View larger version (23K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. Restriction specificity of wild-type and mutant TRIMCyp proteins. Unmodified hamster CHO cells (A) or CHO cells stably expressing the TRIMCyp protein indicated (B to D) were infected with wild-type or chimeric HIV-1 in the absence (white bars) or presence (black bars) of 5 µM CsA. Infected cells were enumerated by FACS analysis. The expression of each TRIMCyp protein in these stable cell lines was previously described (29).
|
proteins did not appear to restrict the majority of lentiviruses tested. Indeed, gorTRIM5
was the only higher primate protein capable of restricting a primate lentivirus (SIVMAC). The C-terminal TRIM5
SPRY domain, which determines restriction specificity (18, 19, 26, 33) differs at only three positions in gorTRIM5
compared to huTRIM5
and cpzTRIM5
that are presumably responsible for this phenotype (Fig. 2A).
SIVcpz, the immediate ancestor of HIV-1, has been transmitted to humans from chimpanzees of the P. t. troglodytes subspecies on three occasions, yet there is no evidence for SIVcpz transmission from P. t. schweinfurthii to humans (15, 31). Interestingly, the CA sequences of these viruses are rather different (Fig. 1), particularly in the regions predicted to lie on the exposed surface of the three-dimensional CA structure, and affect its ability to be recognized by various TRIM5 proteins (10). These differences probably account for the ability of HIV-TN1B to resist rhTRIM5
while maintaining its ability to bind CypA. However, because both SIVcpz P. t. troglodytes- and SIVcpz P. t. schweinfurthii-derived CAs were resistant to huTRIM5
, it is unlikely that huTRIM5
is responsible for the absence of SIVcpz P. t. schweinfurthii strains in humans. Indeed, huTRIM5
did not inhibit any of the CAs tested, suggesting that it does not impose a major barrier to colonization of humans by nonhuman primate lentiviruses in general. Similarly, it was previously shown that huAPOBEC3 activity does not completely account for the inability of certain simian immunodeficiency viruses to infect humans (8), suggesting that these intrinsic antiviral factors are not the sole determinants of primate lentivirus cross-species transmissibility.
SIVcpz is itself a recombinant virus that derives its 5' half, including CA, from SIV from red-capped mangabeys and its 3' half from SIVgsn (1). Since SIVgsn CA was not sensitive to cpzTRIM5
, it is unlikely that TRIM5
drove the selection against SIVgsn CA sequences during the genesis of SIVcpz. Rather, the inability of higher-primate TRIM5
proteins to inhibit infection by lower-primate lentiviruses would, predictably, facilitate the coinfection of chimpanzees by multiple lentiviruses. Such permissiveness likely facilitated the birth of a recombinant lentivirus (SIVcpz/HIV-1) that has become well adapted to a close relative of humans, ultimately leading to the initiation of the current pandemic.
Published ahead of print on 16 April 2008. ![]()
|
|
|---|
B30.2 domain can contribute to the specificity of retrovirus restriction. J. Virol. 80:8554-8565.
domains responsible for retrovirus restriction activity and specificity. J. Virol. 79:8969-8978.
exhibits lineage-specific length and sequence variation in primates. J. Virol. 79:6111-6121.
determines the potency of human immunodeficiency virus restriction. J. Virol. 79:3139-3145.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»