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Journal of Virology, April 2008, p. 4159-4163, Vol. 82, No. 8
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.02657-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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Dennis Webb,2,
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Marianna Hösel,2,||
Werner Seidel,3
Sabrina Auerochs,1 and
Walter Doerfler1,2*
Institute for Virology, Erlangen University Medical School, Schlossgarten 4, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany,1 Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Strasse 47, D-50674 Cologne, Germany,2 Friedrich Loeffler Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Lutherstrasse 6, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany3
Received 14 December 2007/ Accepted 25 January 2008
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Adenoviruses enter cells by endocytosis (15, 17), in part via the coxsackie- and adenovirus receptor (CAR) (1, 18), a 46-kDa transmembrane protein with high affinity for both viruses. CAR is expressed in many cell lines. Its function in the cell involves regulation of cell proliferation or differentiation (19, 26) and cell-cell adhesion. Adenovirus-cell interactions involve additional cellular factors, among them the
vβ3 and
vβ5-based integrins (17). Adenoviruses interact with cells through the elongated fiber protein, a homotrimer consisting of an N-terminal tail, a long shaft, and a C-terminal knob region with high affinity to the receptor (14, 27).
Previous analyses of the Ad12-BHK21 cell system revealed an early block in Ad12 replication, with minimal early viral gene transcription, complete absence of viral DNA replication (6, 7, 10), and chromosomal integration of Ad12 DNA into the hamster genome (5). Ad12 DNA persists integrated in Ad12-transformed and Ad12-induced hamster tumor cells (8, 12, 21). Ad5 E1 functions in cell line BHK279-C131 (20) or overexpression of the Ad2 or Ad12 E1A or pTP gene in BHK21 cells (11) facilitate limited Ad12 DNA replication but no virion production. We have now investigated whether a critical threshold concentration of Ad12 DNA in the hamster cell nucleus might trigger Ad12 DNA replication in nonpermissive BHK21 hamster cells.
Standard techniques were described elsewhere (6, 11, 16, 20). The BHK21 cell line transgenic for the human CAR (hCAR) gene (BHK21-hCAR cells) (22) was a gift of Silvio Hemmi and Urs Greber, Zürich University, Switzerland.
Methods employed for the detection of hCAR expression by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, for immunofluorescent cell staining, for the isolation of nuclei from infected cells, for fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and for the quantification of viral DNA in nuclei of infected cells are described in the supplemental material.
Metabolic labeling of newly synthesized DNA with [3H]thymidine in HeLa, BHK21, or BHK21-hCAR cells after infection with Ad12 followed by velocity sedimentation in alkaline sucrose gradients was described elsewhere (2, 6).
Continued expression of the hCAR gene in BHK21-hCAR cells was documented by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (Fig. 1A). Human HeLa and BHK21-hCAR cells, the latter cultured in the presence of 1 mg/ml G418, expressed the hCAR protein; BHK21 cells did not.
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FIG. 1. (A) Surface expression of hCAR in human HeLa cells, in hamster BHK21 cells, or in BHK21-hCAR cells. Continued expression of the hCAR protein was determined by fluorescence-activated cell sorting as described in the supplemental material. Fluorescence was measured in arbitrary units and plotted against the number of cells. The BHK21-hCAR cells were screened periodically for stable hCAR expression. (B) Ad12 infection elicits progressive CPE in BHK21-hCAR cells. Ad12-infected HeLa cells served as positive controls and nontransgenic BHK21 cells as negative controls. Mock-infected cells were treated with phosphate-buffered saline devoid of virus. Photographs were taken at 30 h p.i. with 500 PFU of Ad12 per cell in a Zeiss Axiovert 10 microscope. (C) Adsorption and penetration of Ad12 in different cell systems as determined by immunofluorescence. Ad12 virions were adsorbed at 4°C to human HeLa (a and b), hamster BHK21 (c and d), or BHK21-hCAR (e and f) cells. The cells either were fixed directly after 30 min of incubation with Ad12 at 4°C (a, c, and e) or were shifted to 37°C for 2 h (b, d, and f). Ad12 virions were detected by immunofluorescence staining with rabbit polyclonal antiserum against Ad12 protein IX (green channel), and nucleic acids were counterstained with 20 nM propidium iodide (red channel).
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The adsorption and entry of Ad12 virions into HeLa, BHK21, or BHK21-hCAR cells were compared by immunofluorescence with an antiserum against Ad12 protein IX (Fig. 1C). Adsorption of Ad12 to human HeLa cells was by far more efficient than that to uncomplemented BHK21 hamster cells (Fig. 1C, panels a and c). At 2 h after inoculation, intracellular Ad12 virions were hardly detectable in nontransgenic BHK21 cells (Fig. 1C, panel d), whereas in human cells penetration had proceeded effectively (Fig. 1C, panel b). Ad12 virions adsorbed to BHK21-hCAR cells (Fig. 1C, panel e), and at 2 h p.i., most cells contained Ad12 in distinct perinuclear areas of the cytoplasm (Fig. 1C, panel f), a distribution pattern not observed in permissive human HeLa cells. Thus, the expression of the hCAR in BHK21-hCAR cells enables Ad12 virions to enter the cytoplasm.
Nuclear uptake of Ad12 DNA was next determined by FISH in Ad12-infected HeLa, BHK21, or BHK21-hCAR cells. Nuclei of Ad12-infected cells were isolated 2, 24, or 48 h p.i., and Ad12 DNA was visualized by FISH (Fig. 2). At 2 h p.i., most Ad12-infected HeLa nuclei carried viral DNA, and at 24 or 48 h p.i., intranuclear centers of Ad12 DNA replication were apparent (Fig. 2A to C). Only very few nuclei from uncomplemented BHK21 cells contained minute amounts of Ad12 DNA (Fig. 2D to F). In contrast, nuclear uptake of Ad12 DNA in BHK21-hCAR cells was enhanced; about half of the nuclei showed multiple Ad12 DNA signals (Fig. 2G to I). There were occasional nuclei (1 in
200) with very high Ad12 signal intensities (Fig. 2G to I, insets), perhaps due to high Ad12 DNA uptake by individual BHK21-hCAR cells. We conclude that BHK21-hCAR cells are capable of Ad12 DNA nuclear uptake which is far above that in uncomplemented BHK21 cells.
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FIG. 2. Analyses of the nuclei of Ad12-infected cells by FISH. HeLa, BHK21, or BHK21-hCAR cells were infected with Ad12 at an MOI of 500 PFU/cell. At the indicated times, nuclei were prepared and Ad12 genomes were visualized by FISH as described in the supplemental material (green channel). Photographs were taken with a Zeiss LSM4 confocal laser scan microscope. Nuclei were counterstained with 20 nM propidium iodide (red channel). The insets show magnifications of selected cells.
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FIG. 3. Quantitative time course analyses of Ad12 DNA in the nuclei or cytoplasm of Ad12-infected HeLa, BHK21, or BHK21-hCAR cells. Cells were infected with Ad12 at an MOI of 500 PFU/cell for time periods of 2, 24, and 48 h. Nuclear or cytoplasmic DNA was then isolated, and 100 ng was used in quantitative PCR. PCR primers were selected for a 78-bp fragment within the MLP region of Ad12 DNA.
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FIG. 4. [3H]thymidine labeling of newly synthesized DNA in Ad12-infected HeLa, BHK21, or BHK21-hCAR cells. Analysis of newly synthesized DNA at 80 h p.i. from cells infected with Ad12 (200 PFU/cell) by velocity sedimentation in alkaline sucrose density gradients is shown. Experimental details were as described previously (2).
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There are multiple blocks for Ad12 replication in nonpermissive BHK21 cells (6, 7, 10, 11), and we have tried to overcome them by individually supplying the viral E1 and/or pTP functions of Ad12 or Ad2 (11) or the cellular hCAR function in hCAR-transgenic cells (this study). In the Ad5-transformed BHK297-C131 hamster cell line, which carries the left terminal 18.7% and the 32.4- to 42.4-map-unit fragment of the Ad5 genome chromosomally integrated and constitutively expresses it (25), Ad12 DNA and late Ad12 RNAs are synthesized in limited amounts, but virion proteins are not made (11, 20). None of these gene products suffices to allow Ad12 virion production in BHK21 hamster cells. This tight block renders each Ad12-infected hamster cell susceptible to oncogenic transformation, as Ad12 virions cannot replicate and destroy the infected hamster cells. In the present study, adsorption, import, and nuclear entry of Ad12 DNA were enhanced in BHK21-hCAR cells (Fig. 2 and 3). However, markedly increased levels of intranuclear Ad12 DNA templates did not lead to Ad12 DNA replication (Fig. 3 and 4). The FISH data (Fig. 2H and I), show isolated BHK21-hCAR cells with distinct centers of Ad12 DNA; however, there is no evidence for Ad12 DNA replication.
Ad2 infection of hamster BHK21 cells leads to a productive cycle that is less efficient than in human HeLa cells (6, 23). Ad2 seems to be capable of utilizing the hamster CAR or, perhaps more likely, might enter hamster cells primarily through a CAR-independent pathway. In contrast, Ad12 enters BHK21 cells extremely inefficiently and fails to replicate. Ad12 adsorption, entry, and nuclear import are markedly improved in BHK21-hCAR cells. The majority of amino acid residues necessary for the interaction between fiber and human CAR are conserved between Ad2, Ad5, and Ad12 (13). However, there must still be essential differences in the ways that the Ad12 and Ad2 fiber structures interact with proteins on the hamster cell surface. The replication machinery of Ad2 has been able to exploit cellular mechanisms for transcription, translation, and replication in hamster cells, whereas Ad12, due to inefficient entry, has not. Thus, even when Ad12 virion entry and nuclear Ad12 DNA import are assisted by artificially supplying the hCAR product, essential hamster host factors cannot be utilized by the Ad12 replication machinery even in the presence of above-threshold amounts of imported Ad12 DNA. We have not yet investigated whether BHK21-hCAR cells could be more efficiently transformed by Ad12.
D.W. and N.H. received stipends from Amaxa GmbH, Cologne, Germany. This research was supported by Amaxa GmbH and by the Institute for Virology, Erlangen University Medical School.
Published ahead of print on 6 February 2008. ![]()
Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jvi.asm.org/. ![]()
These authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
Present address: Department of Genetics and Pathology, Rudbeck Laboratory, Uppsala University, S-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden. ![]()
¶ Present address: NewLab BioQuality AG, Max-Planck-Str. 15A, D-40699 Erkrath, Germany. ![]()
|| Present address: Department of Molecular Infectiology at the Center for Molecular Medicine, University of Cologne, D-50931 Cologne, Germany. ![]()
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