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Journal of Virology, February 2009, p. 1416-1421, Vol. 83, No. 3
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.01276-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Gene Expression and Regulation Program, The Wistar Institute,1 Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennysylvania2
Received 19 June 2008/ Accepted 5 November 2008
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Within all eukaryotes, nuclear DNA is associated with histone proteins in a protein/DNA complex called chromatin (20). Chromatin modulation plays a central role in the regulation of DNA processes, such as replication, transcription, and repair (2). Chromatin can be divided into two higher-order classes, the relatively open euchromatin, where most transcription occurs, and the more compact heterochromatin. Numerous mechanisms alter the structure of chromatin, including ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling, posttranslational modification of the histones, and substitution of the canonical histones with histone variants (7). Transcriptionally active euchromatin is associated with a number of active chromatin marks, such as acetylation on histone H3 (e.g., at H3 lysine-9 and lysine-14), while heterochromatin is enriched in "inactive" chromatin marks (e.g., H3 lysine-9 methylation) (30).
Recent studies on the histone variant H3.3 has shed new light on mechanisms that alter chromatin content and structure (for a review, see references 9 and 31). Canonical histones, such as H3.1, are expressed concomitantly with DNA synthesis, whereas histone variants are expressed throughout the cell cycle and appear to play specific roles in chromatin dynamics. The histone variant H3.3 is a highly conserved protein. For example, in mammals it contains only four amino acid substitutions compared to the major form of histone H3. H3.3 is associated with actively transcribed regions of the genome (1, 3), and activation of transcription leads to replacement of H3.1 with H3.3 over transcribed genes (14, 32). A further indication of the importance of H3.3 in transcription is that the pattern of H3.3 deposition correlates with sites of abundant RNA polymerase II and with histone modifications that are associated with gene activation, such as histone H3 acetylation and H3 K4 methylation (5, 16, 26). Indeed, H3.3 itself is enriched in posttranslational modifications that correlate with active chromatin (e.g., H3K9ac, K14ac, and K4me3 [K4 trimethylation]), whereas, the canonical histone H3.1 is enriched in modifications correlating with repressive chromatin, such as H3K9me (25). Thus, the transcriptional state of chromatin may be altered via exchange of the canonical histone H3.1 with histone variant H3.3.
We use HSV-1 lytic infection as a model to examine the regulatory role of chromatin (13, 18). The viral particle is devoid of histone proteins (8, 28, 29), and prior to infection the viral DNA is uncoated and is apparently "naïve" with respect to chromatin structure. It is thus important to investigate how the naked HSV-1 genome becomes initially incorporated into chromatin. In this study we determined whether H3.1 and H3.3 are differentially deposited during the early stages of lytic infection and whether incorporation of H3.3 leads to higher levels of transcription. Our results reveal that H3.1 and H3.3 have distinct incorporation profiles and different functions during HSV-1 lytic infection.
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siRNA treatment. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) against human HIRA was purchased from Dharmacon RNA Technologies. The target sequence for HIRA was as follows: 5'-GAAGGACUCUCGUCUCAUGUU-3'. siRNA was transfected into cells at a final concentration of 10 nM using Dharmafect 1 Transfection Reagent (Dharmacon RNA Technologies) according to the manufacturer's specifications. A control siRNA that targets the luciferase gene was also purchased from Dharmacon RNA Technologies, and the sequence was 5'-UAAGGCUAUGAAGAGAUAC-3'.
PAA treatment. Phosphonoacetic acid (PAA) was used to inhibit viral DNA polymerase. The final concentration of PAA was 400 µg/ml (12).
Nucleic acid analysis. Genomic DNA was isolated using a QIAamp DNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen), and RNA was isolated using an RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) according to the manufacturer's protocol. A reverse transcription reaction was carried out using TaqMan reverse transcription reagents (Applied Biosystems). Sybr Green reagent (Sigma) was used to determine the relative amount of double-stranded DNA products with an ABI Prism 7700 Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems). Primer sequences and data analysis were described previously (18).
Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays. Cells mock infected and infected with the F strain of HSV-1 were processed as described previously (18). Briefly, cells were cross-linked with 1% formaldehyde for 15 min at room temperature. The cross-linking reaction was stopped by the addition of 0.125 M glycine. Cells were resuspended in lysis buffer (50 mM HEPES, 140 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 0.1% Triton, pH 7.5). Cells were lysed, and the DNA was sheared by sonication into fragments between 200 and 500 bp. Prior to immunoprecipitation 1/10 of the extract was saved as the input. After immunoprecipitation the DNA was reverse cross-linked and subjected to real-time PCR analysis.
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FIG. 1. HeLa cells stably expressing human Flag-tagged H3.1 and H3.3. Cell extracts were collected; inputs and Flag-immunoprecipitated samples were probed with monoclonal antibody to the Flag epitope. β-Actin was used as a loading control. All further experiments were carried out using clone 13 (Flag-H3.1) and clone 1 (Flag-H3.3). IP, immunoprecipitation; Western, Western blotting.
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FIG. 2. Flag-tagged H3.1 and H3.3 are differentially incorporated into the HSV genome during acute infection. In all cases cells were infected at an MOI of 1 with HSV-1 and harvested at the indicated time postinfection. Data for the promoter and transcribed regions of the ICP0 (A), tK (B), and VP16 (C) genes are presented. The data are presented as percentages of input signals. All data represent the average of three independent experiments, and error bars represent 1 standard deviation of the data.
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FIG. 3. Effect of PAA treatment on H3.1 and H3.3 incorporation. (A) The genome copy numbers for untreated and PAA-treated cells are shown. Genome copy number was quantified by real-time PCR and normalized to the number of cells. (B) The effect of PAA treatment on H3.1 incorporation in control cells and Flag-H3.1 cells. (C) PAA effect on H3.3 incorporation in control cells and Flag-H3.3 cells. All data represent the average of three independent experiments, and error bars represent 1 standard deviation of the data.
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HIRA siRNA decreases incorporation of H3.3 and HSV-1 gene expression. As described above, H3.3 deposition is independent of DNA replication and is linked to the histone chaperone HIRA (34). To investigate whether HIRA plays a role in the deposition of H3.3 during HSV-1 infection, siRNA knockdown was used to reduce HIRA expression. Cells treated with HIRA siRNA showed a significant decrease in HIRA mRNA (Fig. 4A) and lowered HIRA protein levels (Fig. 4B) compared to cells treated with control siRNA.
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FIG. 4. siRNA directed to the human HIRA transcript reduces the level of HIRA mRNA and protein. (A) Effect of siRNA treatment on mRNA levels for HIRA. Cells were transfected twice with siRNA at 48 and 24 h prior to infection. mRNA was isolated at 1, 3, 6, and 10 h after infection at an MOI of 1 with HSV-1. Relative mRNA levels were determined by quantitative PCR and normalized to 28S rRNA. All data represent the average of three independent experiments, and error bars represent 1 standard deviation of the data. (B) Western blot analysis was performed with HIRA-specific antibody; β-actin was used as a loading control. RT-PCR, reverse transcription-PCR.
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FIG. 5. HIRA knockdown lowers the incorporation of Flag-H3.3 within the HSV-1 genome. Flag-H3.3 incorporation was compared in control siRNA- and HIRA siRNA-treated cells stably expressing Flag-H3.3. Promoter and transcribed regions of ICP0 (A), tK (B), and VP16 (C) genes were examined by ChIP. Values are expressed as a percentage of input, and all data represent the average of three independent experiments; error bars represent 1 standard deviation of the data.
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FIG. 6. Lowered H3.3 at HSV-1 genes leads to a decrease in gene expression and genome copy number. (A) HeLa cells were treated with control siRNA or HIRA siRNA. Cells were transfected twice with siRNAs at 48 and 24 h prior to infection. mRNA was isolated at 1, 3, 6, and 10 h after infection at an MOI of 1 with HSV-1. Relative mRNA levels for ICP0, tK, and VP16 (A) and cyclin-G-associated kinase (B) were determined by quantitative PCR and normalized to 28S rRNA. (C) Genome copy number was quantified by real-time PCR and normalized to the number of cells. All data represent the average of three independent experiments, and error bars represent 1 standard deviation of the data. RT-PCR, reverse transcription-PCR.
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During lytic infection the HSV-1 genome becomes associated with histone proteins (10, 18), presenting a unique situation where a naïve genome, apparently completely devoid of chromatin, can be assessed for association of histone variants. In this report we examined incorporation of H3.1 and H3.3 into the HSV-1 genome at early times of infection using cell lines expressing similar amounts of Flag-tagged H3.1 or H3.3; thus, any observed differences between their incorporation will be due to intrinsic mechanisms of deposition rather than differences in their levels or antibody detection. Our results lead to the following conclusions regarding the role of H3 variants in HSV-1 acute infection: (i) H3.3 becomes associated with the genome earlier than H3.1 and before viral replication; (ii) reducing the levels of the H3.3 chaperone HIRA partially and selectively inhibits incorporation of H3.3, resulting in an overall decrease in gene expression and replication of the HSV-1 genome; (iii) incorporation of the canonical histone H3.1, but not H3.3, is dependent on the activity of the HSV-1 DNA polymerase and genome replication.
Our results suggest the existence of a mechanism for selective deposition of H3.3 onto the HSV-1 genome at early times of infection. While it is extremely difficult to assess the overall levels of endogenous H3.1 and H3.3 because their protein sequences are nearly identical, it is likely that the level of H3.1 is higher than that of H3.3 prior to infection; i.e., since the cells were not synchronized, there must be a distribution of the population through the cell cycle, and H3.1 is expressed at very high levels during S phase. Since the infection was carried out such that there were five times more infectious virus particles than cells, it is assumed that each cell is infected. Thus, at the onset of infection, it appears that H3.3 is predominantly deposited at all HSV-1 regions examined.
What mechanism could be responsible for the selective deposition of H3.3 at early infection times? It has previously been hypothesized that RNA polymerase may displace nucleosomes, leading to naked DNA at actively transcribed genes (27, 32). This naked DNA is then the template for replication-independent nucleosome assembly utilizing H3.3. However, our results indicate that "naked" HSV-1 DNA, devoid of histones upon entering the cell, is a sufficient template for nucleosome assembly utilizing the replication-independent pathway. Thus, active transcription appears not to be required for deposition of H3.3; for example, H3.3 is present in the promoter and transcribed regions of the VP16 gene, and this is many hours prior to transcription of VP16, which occurs concomitantly with DNA replication (13). This raises the possibility that there is a mechanism to initiate active recruitment of H3.3 to the HSV-1 genome. One possibility is through binding of VP16 to the IE genes, which in turn recruit a number of host transcription factors (10), and these could trigger H3.3 association, which is then spread throughout the genome.
Our results show that deposition of H3.3 is important for full expression of the HSV-1 genes. Reducing expression of HIRA using siRNA inhibited H3.3 incorporation throughout the genome, and this correlated with a significant decrease in the expression of HSV-1 genes and with reduced genome replication. This supports a hypothesis that H3.3 deposited at actively transcribed genes helps to increase the transcription of those genes. This view is supported by results using a different approach, which showed that expression of exogenous H3.3 led to increased gene expression of folate receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor D while expression of exogenous H3 reduced the expression of folate receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor D (15).
This increase in transcription caused by H3.3 deposition could be due to a number of factors. First, it is possible that deposition of H3.3 at actively transcribed genes could maintain this region of the genome in an open or transcriptionally primed state. This open state could allow for multiple rounds of transcription by allowing more polymerase to bind. Second, it has been demonstrated previously that H3.3 is enriched in active chromatin marks, such as K4 methylation and K9 and K14 acetylation (25). These active modifications may facilitate the recruitment of a host of cellular and viral transcription factors, which lead to an increase in transcription.
Our data indicate that the histone variant H3.3 plays an important role in HSV-1 lytic infection. While specific mechanisms need to be determined, it appears that HSV-1 harnesses the unique properties of H3.3 to achieve maximal transcription of its genes. Whether the deposition of H3.3 is a passive process, occurring primarily because the naked HSV-1 genome is an appropriate template for replication-independent nucleosome assembly, or an active process, occurring through a mechanism that may be enabled by the virus itself, has yet to be determined. However, we note that cells expressing an epitope-tagged H3.1 protein (which is available throughout the cell cycle unlike the endogenous protein, which is only available during the S phase) show incorporation only at later time points when the genome is being replicated. Thus, H3.1 deposition occurs at a specific time in the viral infection cycle, and this incorporation is not simply due to the availability of the protein. In fact, deposition of H3.1 appears to be coupled to DNA replication because when the cells are treated with PAA, a potent inhibitor of the viral DNA polymerase, H3.1 incorporation is reduced. We cannot eliminate the possibility that the decrease in H3.1 incorporation after PAA treatment might be due to the lack of true late gene transcription caused by the PAA treatment. True late genes are HSV genes that require DNA replication for their full transcription (4, 11, 17). It is possible that one of these genes might be required for H3.1 deposition; this question will require further study.
It has previously been reported that the HSV-1 genome is associated with histones and that these histones bear specific chromatin modifications (6, 10, 13, 18, 21, 22, 35). Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the HSV-1 genome is associated with a histone variant, H3.3, that has an important regulatory role for the virus and, thus, further elucidates the role of chromatin in the life cycle of HSV-1.
Published ahead of print on 12 November 2008. ![]()
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