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Journal of Virology, March 2008, p. 2661-2672, Vol. 82, No. 6
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.02308-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

MRC Virology Unit, Church Street, Glasgow G11 5JR, Scotland, United Kingdom,1 INSERM U522, Hôpital de Pontchaillou, Avenue Henri le Guilloux, Rennes Cedex 35033, France,2 Heinriche-Pette-Institute, Martinistrasse 52, Hamburg, Germany3
Received 24 October 2007/ Accepted 17 December 2007
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The strong correlation between the effects of ICP0 on ND10 and its requirement for lytic virus infection prompted the hypothesis that ND10 might have a repressive effect on HSV-1 gene expression and thereby constitute an intrinsic antiviral defense. Although high-level expression of PML isoforms III, IV, and VI (6, 22, 42) did not impede HSV-1 infection, recent work established that depletion of PML from human fibroblasts increased the infectivity of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 (20) and that of both wild-type (wt) human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and a mutant HCMV deficient in IE72, which has functional similarities to ICP0 (65, 66). Furthermore, hDaxx, another major ND10 protein and an interaction partner of PML, has been found to be involved in repression of HCMV IE gene expression. The repressive effects of hDaxx are relieved by the HCMV tegument protein pp71 (5, 57, 59, 72). Sp100, yet another major ND10 component, has been implicated in repression of HSV-1 gene expression (48) and in the regulation of Epstein-Barr virus transcription (40). The accumulating evidence that several ND10 proteins are involved in the repression or regulation of viral gene expression lends support to the hypothesis outlined above. However, depletion of PML by no means completely eliminates the defect of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 (20), suggesting that other factors must also be involved in the ICP0-null mutant phenotype in human fibroblasts. These could be connected with ND10 or could involve other cellular pathways, such as ICP0 interactions with histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes and their associated proteins, as suggested in a number of recent studies (25, 41, 53, 75).
This study set out to determine whether depletion of Sp100 either by itself or in combination with PML could influence the gene expression and plaque formation efficiencies of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1. We found that depletion of Sp100, like that of PML, improved ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 replication and that simultaneous depletion of both proteins further decreased repression of the mutant virus. Although simultaneous depletion of PML and Sp100 substantially increased the infectivity of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1, the mutant virus was not complemented to wt levels. Therefore, PML and Sp100 are both involved in the regulation of HSV-1 gene expression, but additional factors must be invoked to explain the full extent of the defect of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 in human fibroblasts.
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Lentiviruses, transduction, and shRNA sequences. HF cells were transduced with lentivirus vectors expressing either a control anti-luciferase short hairpin RNA (shRNA), anti-PML shRNA (19), or anti-Sp100 shRNA to produce the HF-shLuci, HF-shPML1, and HF-shSp100-2 cell lines, respectively. The anti-luciferase and anti-PML shRNA sequences were the same as those utilized to prepare the siLuci and siPML2 cells described previously (20, 65). Note that the siPML2 sequence of the 2006 studies is the same as that named shPML1 in this paper. The sense-strand DNA sequence of the anti-Sp100 shRNA was 5'-GTGAGCCTGTGATCAATAA, which corresponds to a sequence common to all Sp100 isoforms. The sequence starts within codon 350 and is preceded by the sequence AA. Processing of the transcribed shRNA results in production of a 21-bp small interfering RNA that is complementary to the above sequence and which has additional complementary U residues at its 3' end, resulting from Pol II terminating within a poly(T) tract following the hairpin sequence. The shRNA sequence was built into double-stranded oligonucleotides (using a BD Biosciences design tool) for cloning into a lentivirus plasmid vector based on pLKO.1puro, from which lentivirus stocks were derived as described previously (19, 20). Transduced cells were selected with puromycin (initially used at 1 µg/ml and then reduced to 0.5 µg/ml during subsequent passages) and maintained in medium containing puromycin. Derivatives of the above plasmid vectors that expressed neomycin resistance were also constructed. Cells transduced with lentiviruses made from these plasmids were selected with G418 (initially used at 1 mg/ml and then reduced to 0.4 mg/ml during subsequent passages).
Plaque assays with transduced cell lines. Cells were seeded into 24-well dishes at 1 x 105 cells per well and then infected the following day with appropriate sequential threefold dilutions of in1863 or dl1403/CMVlacZ. After virus adsorption, the cells were overlaid with medium containing 1% human serum, and then the cells were stained for β-galactosidase-positive plaques 24 h later, as described previously (35). Relative probabilities of plaque formation were calculated by comparing the numbers of plaques on the different cell lines at each separate dilution of virus. This approach overcomes the problem of the highly nonlinear nature (with respect to virus dilution) of plaque formation by ICP0-null mutant viruses in human fibroblasts (15, 62, 63).
Infections and Western blot analysis. Cells were seeded into 24-well dishes at 1 x 105 cells per well and then infected the following day with wt HSV-1 or mutant dl1403, as stated in the relevant figure legend. Cell monolayers were washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline before being harvested in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis loading buffer. Proteins were resolved in 7.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate gels and then transferred to nitrocellulose membranes by Western blotting. ICP0, ICP4, UL42, and actin were detected using anti-ICP0 mouse monoclonal antibody (MAb) 11060, anti-ICP4 MAb 58S, anti-UL42 MAb Z1F11, and anti-actin MAb AC-40 (Sigma-Aldrich), as previously described (13). PML was detected with MAb 5E10 (64), and Sp100 was detected with rabbit serum SpGH (28).
Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. Cells on 13-mm glass coverslips were infected with either wt or ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 at the chosen multiplicity and harvested at the times detailed in the figure legends. The cells were fixed and prepared for immunofluorescence. ICP4 was detected with MAb 58S, PML was detected with rabbit serum r8 or MAb 5E10, Sp100 was detected with rabbit serum SpGH or rat serum r26 (28), and hDaxx was detected with rabbit serum r1866 (52). The secondary antibodies used were fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated sheep anti-mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG; Sigma) or Cy3-conjugated goat anti-rabbit or goat anti-rat IgG (Amersham). The samples were examined using a Zeiss LSM 510 confocal microscope with 488-nm and 543-nm laser lines, scanning each channel separately under image capture conditions that eliminated channel overlap. The images were exported as TIFF files and then processed using Photoshop.
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Sp100 is a major ND10 component that, like PML, is extensively modified by SUMO-1 (60, 61), is expressed from an interferon-inducible gene (24, 27), and is expressed as a series of multiple isoforms as a result of alternative splicing (28). The SUMO modification status of Sp100 is dependent on PML (20). Sp100-A is the most predominant isoform, while the longer isoforms (Sp100-B, -C, and -HMG) include a SAND domain (and an HMG domain in the case of Sp100-HMG) that is likely to be involved in DNA binding (3). Sp100-B is a repressor of gene expression in transfection reporter assays (71), and Sp100 isoforms B, C, and HMG (but not A) were found to repress HSV-1 IE gene expression and to be involved in interferon-mediated repression of HSV-1 gene expression through a mechanism that requires an intact SAND domain (48). To investigate further the role of Sp100 in HSV-1 infection of human fibroblasts, we constructed lentivirus vectors that express shRNAs that target sequences common to all alternatively spliced Sp100 transcripts. Preliminary experiments established two shRNA sequences that result in depleted Sp100 expression in transfected HeLa cells and showed that such depletion allows increased ICP0-null mutant gene expression in this cell type (data not shown). The more active anti-Sp100 shRNA sequence was inserted into a lentivirus vector to enable efficient transduction of limited-passage human fibroblasts and establishment of a cell line expressing this shRNA (HF-shSp100-2 cells). Control cells expressing an shRNA sequence corresponding to the luciferase gene were established in parallel (HF-shLuci cells). HF-shSp100-2 cells exhibit substantially reduced levels of all Sp100 isoforms, as analyzed by Western blotting (Fig. 1A) and by immunofluorescence (Fig. 2, row 2). Up to 90% of the cells exhibited levels of fluorescence staining of Sp100 that were not distinguishable from nonspecific background fluorescence.
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FIG. 1. Depletion of Sp100 from human fibroblasts allows increased plaque formation and gene expression by ICP0-null mutant HSV-1. (A) HF cells were transduced with lentiviruses expressing control and anti-Sp100 shRNAs to give cell lines HF-shLuci and HF-shSp100-2, and then cell extracts were analyzed for Sp100 expression by Western blotting using anti-Sp100 rabbit serum SpGH. The positions of the molecular weight markers and the likely identities of the major Sp100 isoforms are marked. (B) HF-shLuci and HF-shSp100-2 cells were infected with wt and ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 at low MOIs suitable for plaque assays (the starting MOI was approximately 0.01 for the wt and 1.0 for the mutant, and then five further sequential threefold dilutions were used), and then the relative probability of plaque formation at a given dilution of each virus in HF-shSp100-2 cells was calculated with respect to that in HF-shLuci cells. The data represent the means for six independent repeat experiments using two different isolates of the cell lines. The error bars show the standard errors of the means (SEM). (C) HF-shLuci and HF-shSp100-2 cells were infected with wt or ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 at an MOI of 2 PFU per cell, and then samples were harvested 4, 6, and 8 h after infection for analysis of expression of ICP4 and UL42 by Western blotting. The blots were also probed for actin as a loading control.
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FIG. 2. Depletion of Sp100 does not affect the localization of PML or hDaxx within ND10 or their relocalization to sites associated with HSV-1 genomes. Each row shows the two channels of the same field of view stained as indicated. Row 1, HF cells transduced with a control lentivirus stained for PML (left) and Sp100 (right); row 2, HF-Sp100-2 cells were analyzed in parallel and stained for PML (left) and Sp100 (right) (the images in both panels were captured under identical conditions); row 3, HF-Sp100-2 cells stained for PML (left) and hDaxx (right); rows 4 and 5, HF-Sp100-2 cells infected at a low MOI with ICP0-null mutant virus dl1403 and then stained the following day for ICP4 (left) and either PML (row 4) or hDaxx (row 5). Images of cells at the edges of plaques showing typical asymmetric foci of ICP4 in early replication compartments associated with either PML or hDaxx are illustrated.
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HSV-1 gene expression was analyzed in the two cell types by infecting them with wt and ICP0-null mutant viruses at an MOI of 2 and then harvesting samples 4, 6, and 8 h after virus adsorption. The levels of ICP4 and UL42 expression (typical representatives of the IE and E classes of HSV-1 proteins) were similar after wt virus infection of the two cell lines, whereas their expression from the ICP0-null mutant virus was enhanced in the Sp100-depleted cells (Fig. 1C). These data are consistent with previous work (48) and indicate that the presence of endogenous Sp100 isoforms decreases the efficiency of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 gene expression in cells in which the ICP0-null mutant phenotype is most pronounced.
Depletion of Sp100 does not affect the localization of other major ND10 components or their relocalization to sites associated with HSV-1 genomes. It has been established that components of ND10, such as PML, Sp100, and hDaxx, relocate to establish novel ND10-like structures that are in close association with HSV-1 genomes soon after they enter the nucleus. In a wt virus infection, this process is very short-lived because expression of ICP0 leads to degradation of PML, a loss of SUMO-modified Sp100 isoforms, and dispersal of the other ND10 proteins. However, this recruitment is far more pronounced in the absence of ICP0 because PML remains stable (18, 21). Surprisingly, despite PML being required for normal ND10 assembly in uninfected cells, the ND10 proteins Sp100 and hDaxx are recruited efficiently into ND10-like foci associated with ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 genomes during infection of PML-depleted cells (20). We found that Sp100 is not required for the localization of hDaxx into ND10 in uninfected cells (Fig. 2, compare rows 1 and 3). Using the technique of detecting the locations of HSV-1 genomes and early replication compartments by staining for the viral transcriptional regulator ICP4, we observed that Sp100 was not required for the recruitment of either PML or hDaxx into the ND10-like foci that form in association with ICP4-defined viral nucleoprotein complexes (Fig. 2, rows 4 and 5).
Simultaneous depletion of both PML and Sp100 from human fibroblasts significantly enhances the replication efficiency of ICP0-null HSV-1. Depletion of either PML (20) or Sp100 (Fig. 1) independently increases the fitness of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1, but in both cases the increases are modest compared to the full extent of the defects of such viruses (increases on the order of 5-fold in both cases, compared to a total defect on the order of 1,000-fold in HF cells). Therefore, we investigated whether simultaneous depletion of both proteins further increases the probability of plaque formation by the mutant virus. Cells were first depleted of Sp100, and then these cells were transduced a second time with lentiviruses expressing a different selectable marker and either shLuci or shPML-1 shRNA to create HF-shS/L and HF-shS/P cells. In parallel, the control HF-shLuci cells were transduced with a lentivirus expressing the same control and anti-PML shRNAs (HF-shL/L and HF-shL/P cells). It proved to be difficult to establish cell lines in which both PML and Sp100 were depleted to the extents possible in the single-transduction cell lines. Because depletion of PML causes redistribution of Sp100 into a more diffuse localization pattern of reduced fluorescence intensity, it was also difficult to determine precisely the proportion of cells extensively depleted of both proteins. Several independent batches of shS/P cells were produced, with estimated proportions of doubly depleted cells varying from 25% to 70%.
HF-shL/L, HF-shS/L, HF-shL/P, and HF-shS/P cells were infected with wt and ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 to determine the relative probabilities of plaque formation. While plaque formation by the wt virus was equally efficient in the four cell lines, there was an enhancement on the order of 15-fold in the probability of plaque formation by the ICP0-null mutant at a given virus input in shS/P cells (Fig. 3). This increase was a further three- to fivefold greater than that in parallel cells depleted individually of PML or Sp100. Despite this improved probability of plaque formation, simultaneous depletion of both PML and Sp100 does not eliminate the ICP0-null mutant defect, since this is on the order of 1,000-fold in parental HF cells.
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FIG. 3. HF cells depleted of both PML and Sp100 allow a greater probability of plaque formation by ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 than do cells depleted of either protein alone. HF cells doubly transduced with lentiviruses expressing anti-luciferase control shRNAs (shL/L) or combinations of control and anti-Sp100 or anti-PML shRNAs (shL/S and shL/P) or both anti-Sp100 and anti-PML shRNAs (shS/P) were isolated using lentiviruses with either neomycin or puromycin selection cassettes. The cells were used to determine the probability of plaque formation by either wt (in1863) or ICP0-null mutant (dl1403/CMVlacZ) virus by staining for β-galactosidase activity 24 h after low-MOI infection. The experimental details of the MOIs and dilutions used were similar to those outlined in the legend to Fig. 1. The error bars represent SEM.
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FIG. 4. Effects of simultaneous or individual depletion of PML and Sp100 on HSV-1 infection in nontransformed human hepatocytes. Individual clones of HepaRG cells expressing shRNAs targeting luciferase (HAL7), PML (HAP1 and HAP2), or Sp100 (HAS9 and HAS10) were isolated. Cells depleted of both PML and Sp100 (HAP1/shS2 and HAS10/shP1) were derived by lentivirus transduction of HAP1 and HAS10 cells, respectively. (A) Western blot analysis of PML, Sp100, and an actin loading control in HAL7, HAP1, HAS10, and HAP1/shS2 cells. The various isoforms of PML and Sp100 are marked. The filter was probed sequentially for the two proteins. (B to D) The relative probability of plaque formation by either wt (in1863) or ICP0-null mutant (dl1403/CMVlacZ) virus in the complete set of cell lines was tested by staining for β-galactosidase activity 24 h after low-MOI infection. Panel C shows the plaque formation probabilities of the ICP0-null mutant virus in the cell lines depleted individually of PML or Sp100. The data in panel C are repeated in panel D, which also includes the data from plaque assays with cells depleted of both PML and Sp100. HepA, naïve HepaRG cells. The experimental details of MOIs and dilutions used were similar to those outlined in the legend to Fig. 1. The error bars represent SEM.
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FIG. 5. Western blot analysis of wt and ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 infection of HepaRG, HAL7, HAP1, and HAS10 cells. Cells were infected with wt HSV-1 strain 17 (top) or ICP0-null mutant dl1403 (bottom) at an MOI of 2 PFU per cell in both cases. Samples harvested at the indicated times were analyzed by Western blotting for ICP4, UL42, actin, and in the case of the wt virus, ICP0. m, control mock-infected lanes; hpi, hours post-virus adsorption.
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Plaque assays with these cells revealed a further increase in the probability of plaque formation of the ICP0-null mutant over that seen in the singly depleted cells (Fig. 4D), while having no effect on wt HSV-1 plaque formation (Fig. 4B). The extent of this increase was such that it was frequently not possible to compare the numbers of plaques on the control and doubly depleted cells at a given virus dilution because those giving a reliable number of plaques on the control cells resulted in far too many plaques to count on the depleted cells. Therefore, the data in Fig. 4D were calculated on the basis of the further increases in plaque numbers in the doubly depleted cells over their singly depleted parents.
To eliminate the possibility that the results were influenced by the use of clonal cell lines, the experiments were repeated by making mixed cell populations depleted of either PML, Sp100, or both by using lentivirus transduction at both stages. In this case, all singly transduced cells (HALL, HALP1, and HALS2 cells [cells transduced with lentiviruses expressing shLuci, shPML-1, and shSp100-2 shRNAs, respectively]) were transduced a second time with lentiviruses expressing a different selectable marker and each of the shRNAs. These second-generation cells were named HALL/L, HALP1/L, HALS2/L, HALP1/S2, and HALS2/P1 cells. Western blot analysis confirmed the expected high levels of depletion of either PML, Sp100, or both, depending on the presence of the shPML-1 and/or shSp100-2 shRNA (Fig. 6A). Plaque assays indicated that while the probabilities of plaque formation by the wt virus were similar for all cell lines (Fig. 6B), those of the ICP0-null mutant were enhanced in the singly depleted cells, to similar extents to those in the clonal cell lines used previously (Fig. 6C). Again, there was a further enhancement of plaque formation probability in the doubly depleted cells (Fig. 6C). Western blot experiments demonstrated that wt HSV-1 gene expression was equivalent in HepaRG, HALL, HALP1, and HALP1/S2 cells, while ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 exhibited enhanced UL42 expression in HALP1 cells compared to that in the two control cell lines, and this was greater still in HALP1/S2 cells (Fig. 7).
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FIG. 6. Effects of simultaneous or individual depletion of PML and Sp100 on HSV-1 infection in nontransformed human hepatocytes. HepaRG cells transduced with lentiviruses expressing shRNAs targeting luciferase (HALL), PML (HALP1), or Sp100 (HALS2) were isolated. These cell lines were then transduced a second time with lentiviruses with a different selectable marker expressing the same shRNAs to give cell lines HALL/L, HALP1/L, HALS2/L, HALP1/S2, and HALS2/P1 (L, S2, and P1 indicate shRNAs Luci, shSp100-2, and shPML1, respectively). (A) Western blot analysis of PML, Sp100, and an actin loading control in HepaRG, HALL, HALP1, HALS2, HALP1/S2, and HALS2/P1 cells. The various isoforms of PML and Sp100 are marked. The filter was probed sequentially for the two proteins. (B and C) The relative probability of plaque formation by either wt (in1863) (B) or ICP0-null mutant (dl1403/ CMVlacZ) (C) virus in the complete set of cell lines was tested by staining for β-galactosidase activity 24 h after low-MOI infection. HepA, naïve HepaRG cells. The experimental details of MOIs and dilutions used were similar to those outlined in the legend to Fig. 1. The error bars represent SEM.
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FIG. 7. Western blot analysis of wt and ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 infection of HepaRG, HALL, HALP1, and HALP1/S2 cells. Cells were infected with wt HSV-1 strain 17 (top) or ICP0-null mutant dl1403 (bottom) at an MOI of 5 PFU per cell in both cases. Samples harvested at the indicated times were analyzed by Western blotting for ICP4, ICP0, and UL42. 0, control mock-infected lanes; hpi, hours post-virus adsorption.
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The HAL series of cells was infected with in1374 at an MOI of 3, in either the presence or absence of virus tsK (MOI of 2), and then the cells were incubated at 38.5°C for 24 h before being stained for β-galactosidase activity. Virus tsK expresses wt ICP0 and the same ts allele of ICP4 as that in in1374, thereby disabling cell-mediated repression of viral gene expression and allowing expression of the marker lacZ gene. Therefore, the coinfection experiment indicates the total number of cells that have been infected with in1374 (56). We found that, as in human fibroblasts, repression of in1374 was very efficient in both parental and control hepatocytes, with only a small number of β-galactosidase-positive cells (0.2%) (Fig. 8), whereas coinfection with tsK resulted in over 90% of the cells being positive (data not shown). The number of cells in which the viral genome escaped repression was increased for PML-depleted cells (consistent with the situation in fibroblasts) (19) and, to a lesser extent, Sp100-depleted cells (Fig. 8). The number of β-galactosidase-positive cells was further increased by depletion of both PML and Sp100 (Fig. 8). However, it was clear that depletion of both PML and Sp100 did not render in1374 gene expression independent of ICP0, VP16, and ICP4 in the majority of cells.
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FIG. 8. The proportion of cells in which the highly defective HSV-1 mutant in1374 escapes initial repression is increased by depletion of either PML or Sp100 individually and, to a greater extent, by depletion of both proteins simultaneously. HepaRG, HALL, HALP1, HALS2, and HALP1/S2 cells were infected with in1374 (MOI of 3 PFU per cell), with or without tsK (MOI of 2 PFU per cell). All virus adsorptions were performed at 37°C, and then the cells were incubated at 38.5°C overnight. The cells were stained for β-galactosidase activity the following day. For HepaRG and HALL cells, the total number of blue cells was counted to determine the proportion of positive cells in the population. There were too many blue cells to count by this method for the other cell types. Therefore, the number of positive cells in five random fields of view, using a x25 objective lens, was counted for all cell types. The percentages of positive cells for HALP1, HALS2, and HALP1/S2 cells were determined by multiplying the total percentage of positive cells in the controls by the relative increases in cell numbers in the random fields of view for the other cell types.
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If the cellular response that leads to the accumulation of ND10 proteins in close association with parental HSV-1 genomes is indeed relevant to the repression of those genomes that occurs in the absence of ICP0, the relatively modest increases in ICP0-null mutant replication in the absence of either PML or Sp100 individually could be related to the continued recruitment of other ND10 proteins (20) (Fig. 2). Because the ICP0-null mutant is still subject to repression, albeit less efficiently, in HepaRG cells depleted of both PML and Sp100, we questioned whether recruitment of hDaxx to the sites associated with parental viral genomes and early replication compartments also occurs in these cells. We used the approach of examining the locations of ND10 proteins in cells asymmetrically infected at the edges of developing plaques of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 in relation to the sites of viral genomes identified by binding of the HSV-1 transcriptional activator ICP4, as described above and in previous studies (18, 21). We found that even in the apparent absence of both PML and Sp100, hDaxx was still recruited to the sites of parental HSV-1 genomes and to early replication compartments in the absence of ICP0 (Fig. 9). Recruitment of hDaxx to ICP4-defined HSV-1 nucleoprotein complexes also occurred in HALP1 and HALS2 cells, as efficiently as that in the parental HepaRG cells (data not shown). Whether recruitment of hDaxx or other ND10 proteins contributes to repression of HSV-1 gene expression in the absence of ICP0 is currently under study.
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FIG. 9. The major ND10 component hDaxx is recruited to the sites of parental HSV-1 genomes in the absence of PML and Sp100. Each row shows the two channels of the same field of view stained as indicated. Row 1, hDaxx was present in ND10 structures in HepaRG cells; rows 2 and 3, HepaRG cells were infected with ICP0-null mutant virus dl1403 at a low MOI and then stained the following day for ICP4 (left) and either PML (row 2) or hDaxx (row 3). Images of cells at the edges of plaques showing typical asymmetric foci of ICP4 in early replication compartments associated with either PML or hDaxx are illustrated. Row 4, HALP1/S2 cells were stained for PML (left) and hDaxx (right); row 5, HALP1/S2 cells were infected with ICP0-null mutant virus dl1403 at a low MOI and then stained the following day for ICP4 (left) and hDaxx (right). An image of a cell at the edge of a plaque showing typical asymmetric foci of ICP4 in early replication compartments associated with hDaxx is illustrated.
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Surprisingly, TSA treatment did not stimulate ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 plaque formation in either human fibroblasts or HepaRG cells, although it did increase plaque numbers in Vero cells (Fig. 10B). In fact, TSA had a slight inhibitory effect on plaque formation in fibroblasts when it was present in the medium throughout the assay. Furthermore, TSA treatment did not increase ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 replication in any of the HepaRG-derived cell lines depleted of PML and/or Sp100 (Fig. 10C). Similarly, there was no evidence that ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 could be complemented by inhibition of HDAC activity using either TSA or sodium butyrate in either normal or PML-depleted human fibroblasts (data not shown). In all of the above experiments, the cells were pretreated with TSA for 30 min before the addition of the virus, and then the drug was maintained in the medium throughout the assay. However, in the case of IE1-deficient HCMV, although the presence of TSA in the medium during the actual infection could be inhibitory to virus replication (M. Nevels and C. Paulus, personal communication), pretreatment of cells with TSA or other HDAC inhibitors was found to overcome the IE1 defect (49). Accordingly, we tested the effect of pretreatment of cells for times of between 2 and 24 h with TSA at concentrations from 50 to 500 nM on plaque formation by ICP0-null mutant HSV-1. The drug was removed immediately prior to virus infection. Preliminary experiments indicated that the effects seen were not increased further by using TSA concentrations of >200 nM or pretreatments of longer than 2 h. Using this approach, the inhibitory effect of TSA did not occur, and instead, there was a slight increase, on the order of twofold, in ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 in human fibroblasts (Fig. 10D). This increase did not occur in either PML-depleted fibroblasts or HepaRG cells (Fig. 10D). Pretreatment with sodium butyrate for 2 h prior to virus infection, followed by removal of the drug, caused a similar slight increase in ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 plaque formation in HF cells while not affecting that of the wt (data not shown).
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FIG. 10. Inhibition of HDACs does not increase plaque formation by ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 in human fibroblasts and hepatocytes or in hepatocytes depleted of PML, Sp100, or both proteins simultaneously. (A) HF, HepaRG, U2OS, and Vero cells were either pretreated or not treated with TSA (50 nM) for 30 min and then infected at a low MOI with wt HSV-1 for plaque assays. TSA was present in the treated samples throughout virus adsorption and subsequent incubation. Plaques were counted 48 h after infection. The results show relative plaque counts in the presence and absence of TSA. (B) The experiment described for panel A was conducted in parallel with ICP0-null mutant dl1403. (C) A similar experiment was conducted with ICP0-null mutant dl1403 in HALL, HALP1, HALS2, and HALP1/S2 cells, and plaques were counted 38 h after infection. (D) The indicated cell types were pretreated with 200 nM TSA for 2 h prior to plaque assays of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1. The drug was washed out at the time of infection. The error bars represent standard deviations.
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Simultaneous depletion of both PML and Sp100 does not restore ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 plaque formation to wt virus levels in either human fibroblasts or hepatocytes. The remaining defect of the ICP0-null mutant in such cells could be due to factors either related to or independent of other ND10 proteins. An obvious candidate cellular protein that could be involved in HSV-1 gene expression is hDaxx, which binds to PML (34) and is involved in repression of gene expression (39, 46, 68) and chromatin modification (33, 73). Furthermore, high-level expression of hDaxx inhibits the HCMV major IE promoter, while depletion of hDaxx increases HCMV IE gene expression (72). The repressive effect of hDaxx is targeted by the HCMV tegument protein pp71, and the defect in IE gene expression of pp71-deficient HCMV can be overcome by depletion of hDaxx (5, 57, 59). However, our preliminary data indicate that depletion of hDaxx has only a small effect on ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 in human fibroblasts. It would be interesting to test whether depletion of hDaxx in combination with other ND10 proteins, such as PML and Sp100, or depletion of other ND10 proteins involved in chromatin metabolism also impacts the phenotype of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1.
The mechanism by which ND10 proteins accumulate at sites associated with HSV-1 genomes is unknown. It is not dependent on either PML or Sp100, yet it occurs rapidly in an infected cell. The speed at which this process takes place and the fact that it is counteracted by ICP0 are highly suggestive of its biological significance. Elucidation of the proteins and mechanisms that are required for these events could be extremely important. Whatever the cellular factors involved in this recruitment, we know that neither de novo viral protein synthesis nor transcription is required (19). These observations point to the conclusion that it is entry into the nucleus of the viral genome itself that triggers the process. Although the viral genome may be coated with the small polyamines that are present within the viral capsid, it will otherwise be naked until chromatin assembly begins to take place. It is likely that chromatin assembly begins rapidly once the viral genome is in the nucleus, and the recruitment of ND10 proteins may be one aspect of this process. Indeed, several ND10 proteins are known to be involved directly in chromatin metabolism (13).
Given the obvious importance of chromatin assembly on viral genomes and the highly likely scenario that repression of the genomes reflects their assembly into a repressed chromatin structure, it is surprising that HDAC inhibitors do not complement the ICP0-null mutant defect, at least in the human cell types used here (Fig. 10). This is in apparent contrast to observations that TSA stimulates reactivation of latent or quiescent wt and ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 or enhances ICP0-null mutant viral gene expression in a variety of neuronal cell types (2, 7, 47, 53, 67). A failure of TSA to significantly stimulate HSV-1 gene expression in human fibroblasts infected with ICP0-null mutants was also noted in a recent study, although this work clearly demonstrated an effect of the drug on a subset of murine neurons, particularly within 24 h of infection (67). The authors proposed a very interesting model in which the degree of repression of the HSV-1 genome in latently or quiescently infected neurons varies considerably, such that in some cells reactivation can be achieved by TSA treatment but, with time, an increasing proportion of cells become refractory to TSA and can be reactivated only by ICP0 (67). They proposed that the mechanisms of reactivation induced by TSA and ICP0 may differ or, at least, that histone deacetylation is but one step in the process of reactivation (67).
We note that there is a distinction between the events of reactivation from latency, during which a repressed chromatin structure including hypoacetylated histones (37, 38, 70) must be reversed, and the formation of a viral chromatin structure during the early stages of infection. It is not necessary to invoke a direct role for HDACs in the assembly of a repressed chromatin state. The histones that are initially loaded onto viral chromatin may be unmodified, so it is feasible that they are subsequently modified with the epigenetic markers of repressed chromatin without the need for deacetylation. The demonstrated presence of acetylated histones on transcriptionally active viral genomes (32, 36) could be explained as easily by inhibition of repressive histone modifications by viral activators as by inhibition of histone deacetylation. An important future goal is to determine whether the response of ND10 proteins to the entry of HSV-1 genomes into the nucleus is related to regulation through chromatin assembly and, if so, how.
We thank Roel van Driel (Amsterdam) and Hans Will (Hamburg) for generous provision of anti-PML and anti-Sp100 antibodies, respectively. Thomas Stamminger (Erlangen) developed the retroviral anti-PML shRNA technology on which the lentiviral system used here is based. Chris Preston supplied viruses in1863, dl1403/CMVlacZ, and in1374. Susann Cordes and Karine Pradeau contributed to the early stages of this work. All members of the R.D.E. laboratory (Chris Boutell, Jill Murray, Amanda Sykes, and Vera Lukashchuk) also contributed during the development of this work.
Published ahead of print on 26 December 2007. ![]()
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