scholarly journals Imaging HIV-1 Genomic DNA from Entry through Productive Infection

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan D. Stultz ◽  
Jennifer J. Cenker ◽  
David McDonald

ABSTRACT In order to track the fate of HIV-1 particles from early entry events through productive infection, we developed a method to visualize HIV-1 DNA reverse transcription complexes by the incorporation and fluorescent labeling of the thymidine analog 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) into nascent viral DNA during cellular entry. Monocyte-derived macrophages were chosen as natural targets of HIV-1, as they do not divide and therefore do not incorporate EdU into chromosomal DNA, which would obscure the detection of intranuclear HIV-1 genomes. Using this approach, we observed distinct EdU puncta in the cytoplasm of infected cells within 12 h postinfection and subsequent accumulation of puncta in the nucleus, which remained stable through 5 days. The depletion of the restriction factor SAMHD1 resulted in a markedly increased number of EdU puncta, allowing efficient quantification of HIV-1 reverse transcription events. Analysis of HIV-1 isolates bearing defined mutations in the capsid protein revealed differences in their cytoplasmic and nuclear accumulation, and data from quantitative PCR analysis closely recapitulated the EdU results. RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization identified actively transcribing, EdU-labeled HIV-1 genomes in productively infected cells, and immunofluorescence analysis confirmed that CDK9, phosphorylated at serine 175, was recruited to RNA-positive HIV-1 DNA, providing a means to directly observe transcriptionally active HIV-1 genomes in productively infected cells. Overall, this system allows stable labeling and monitoring of HIV genomic DNA within infected cells during cytoplasmic transit, nuclear import, and mRNA synthesis. IMPORTANCE The fates of HIV-1 reverse transcription products within infected cells are not well understood. Although previous imaging approaches identified HIV-1 intermediates during early stages of infection, few have connected these events with the later stages that ultimately lead to proviral transcription and the production of progeny virus. Here we developed a technique to label HIV-1 genomes using modified nucleosides, allowing subsequent imaging of cytoplasmic and nuclear HIV-1 DNA in infected monocyte-derived macrophages. We used this technique to track the efficiency of nuclear entry as well as the fates of HIV-1 genomes in productively and nonproductively infected macrophages. We visualized transcriptionally active HIV-1 DNA, revealing that transcription occurs in a subset of HIV-1 genomes in productively infected cells. Collectively, this approach provides new insights into the nature of transcribing HIV-1 genomes and allows us to track the entire course of infection in macrophages, a key target of HIV-1 in infected individuals.

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (10) ◽  
pp. 5486-5493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan C. Burdick ◽  
Chenglei Li ◽  
MohamedHusen Munshi ◽  
Jonathan M. O. Rawson ◽  
Kunio Nagashima ◽  
...  

HIV-1 capsid core disassembly (uncoating) must occur before integration of viral genomic DNA into the host chromosomes, yet remarkably, the timing and cellular location of uncoating is unknown. Previous studies have proposed that intact viral cores are too large to fit through nuclear pores and uncoating occurs in the cytoplasm in coordination with reverse transcription or at the nuclear envelope during nuclear import. The capsid protein (CA) content of the infectious viral cores is not well defined because methods for directly labeling and quantifying the CA in viral cores have been unavailable. In addition, it has been difficult to identify the infectious virions because only one of ∼50 virions in infected cells leads to productive infection. Here, we developed methods to analyze HIV-1 uncoating by direct labeling of CA with GFP and to identify infectious virions by tracking viral cores in living infected cells through viral DNA integration and proviral DNA transcription. Astonishingly, our results show that intact (or nearly intact) viral cores enter the nucleus through a mechanism involving interactions with host protein cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor 6 (CPSF6), complete reverse transcription in the nucleus before uncoating, and uncoat <1.5 h before integration near (<1.5 μm) their genomic integration sites. These results fundamentally change our current understanding of HIV-1 postentry replication events including mechanisms of nuclear import, uncoating, reverse transcription, integration, and evasion of innate immunity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Thomas Gremminger ◽  
Zhenwei Song ◽  
Juan Ji ◽  
Avery Foster ◽  
Kexin Weng ◽  
...  

The reverse transcription of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) initiates upon annealing of the 3′-18-nt of tRNALys3 onto the primer binding site (PBS) in viral RNA (vRNA). Additional intermolecular interactions between tRNALys3 and vRNA have been reported, but their functions remain unclear. Here, we show that abolishing one potential interaction, the A-rich loop: tRNALys3 anticodon interaction in the HIV-1 MAL strain, led to a decrease in viral infectivity and reduced the synthesis of reverse transcription products in newly infected cells. In vitro biophysical and functional experiments revealed that disruption of the extended interaction resulted in an increased affinity for reverse transcriptase (RT) and enhanced primer extension efficiency. In the absence of deoxyribose nucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs), vRNA was degraded by the RNaseH activity of RT, and the degradation rate was slower in the complex with the extended interaction. Consistently, the loss of vRNA integrity was detected in virions containing A-rich loop mutations. Similar results were observed in the HIV-1 NL4.3 strain, and we show that the nucleocapsid (NC) protein is necessary to promote the extended vRNA: tRNALys3 interactions in vitro. In summary, our data revealed that the additional intermolecular interaction between tRNALys3 and vRNA is likely a conserved mechanism among various HIV-1 strains and protects the vRNA from RNaseH degradation in mature virions.


2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (17) ◽  
pp. 7925-7933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Canki ◽  
Janice Ngee Foong Thai ◽  
Wei Chao ◽  
Anuja Ghorpade ◽  
Mary Jane Potash ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Human astrocytes can be infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in vitro and in vivo, but, in contrast to T lymphocytes and macrophages, virus expression is inefficient. To investigate the HIV-1 life cycle in human fetal astrocytes, we infected cells with HIV-1 pseudotyped with envelope glycoproteins of either amphotropic murine leukemia virus or vesicular stomatitis virus. Infection by both pseudotypes was productive and long lasting and reached a peak of 68% infected cells and 1.7 μg of viral p24 per ml of culture supernatant 7 days after virus inoculation and then continued with gradually declining levels of virus expression through 7 weeks of follow-up. This contrasted with less than 0.1% HIV-1 antigen-positive cells and 400 pg of extracellular p24 per ml at the peak of astrocyte infection with native HIV-1. Cell viability and growth kinetics were similar in infected and control cells. Northern blot analysis revealed the presence of major HIV-1 RNA species of 9, 4, and 2 kb in astrocytes exposed to pseudotyped (but not wild-type) HIV-1 at 2, 14, and 28 days after infection. Consistent with productive infection, the 9- and 4-kb viral transcripts in astrocytes infected by pseudotyped HIV-1 were as abundant as the 2-kb mRNA during 4 weeks of follow-up, and both structural and regulatory viral proteins were detected in infected cells by immunoblotting or cell staining. The progeny virus released by these cells was infectious. These results indicate that the major barrier to HIV-1 infection of primary astrocytes is at virus entry and that astrocytes have no intrinsic intracellular restriction to efficient HIV-1 replication.


2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 1483-1494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Arnold ◽  
Catie Small Brownback ◽  
Zenobia F. Taraporewala ◽  
John T. Patton

The rotavirus (RV) non-structural protein NSP3 forms a dimer that has binding domains for the translation initiation factor eIF4G and for a conserved 3′-terminal sequence of viral mRNAs. Through these activities, NSP3 has been proposed to promote viral mRNA translation by directing circularization of viral polysomes. In addition, by disrupting interactions between eIF4G and the poly(A)-binding protein (PABP), NSP3 has been suggested to inhibit translation of host polyadenylated mRNAs and to stimulate relocalization of PABP from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Herein, we report the isolation and characterization of SA11-4Fg7re, an SA11-4F RV derivative that contains a large sequence duplication initiating within the genome segment (gene 7) encoding NSP3. Our analysis showed that mutant NSP3 (NSP3m) encoded by SA11-4Fg7re is almost twice the size of the wild-type protein and retains the capacity to dimerize. However, in comparison to wild-type NSP3, NSP3m has a decreased capacity to interact with eIF4G and to suppress the translation of polyadenylated mRNAs. In addition, NSP3m fails to induce the nuclear accumulation of PABP in infected cells. Despite the defective activities of NSP3m, the levels of viral protein and progeny virus produced in SA11-4Fg7re- and SA11-4F-infected cells were indistinguishable. Collectively, these data are consistent with a role for NSP3 in suppressing host protein synthesis through antagonism of PABP activity, but also suggest that NSP3 functions may have little or no impact on the efficiency of virus replication in widely used RV-permissive cell lines.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 475-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas B. LaThangue ◽  
David S. Latchman

A monoclonal antibody defines an antigen, p68, related to hsp70, which is located in nuclei of uninfected exponential cells. Nuclear p68 is released by DNase but not RNase treatment suggesting an association with DNA. Lytic productive infection of confluent quiescent BHK 21 cells with herpes simplex virus type-2 causes p68 to accumulate in nuclei. The effect is specific for HSV-2, and does not occur in HSV-1 infected cells. Maximum nuclear accumulation of p68 requires virus DNA synthesis although a significant accumulation occurs in the absence of such synthesis. It is suggested that the nuclear accumulation of p68 is an aspect of a cellular stress response to lytic infection with HSV-2.


Virology ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 176 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Rooke ◽  
Michel Tremblay ◽  
Mark A. Wainberg
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anabel Guedán ◽  
Callum D Donaldson ◽  
Ophélie Cosnefroy ◽  
Ian A Taylor ◽  
Kate N. Bishop

The capsid (CA) lattice of the HIV-1 core plays a key role during infection. From the moment the core is released into the cytoplasm, it interacts with a range of cellular factors that, ultimately, direct the pre-integration complex to the integration site. For integration to occur, the CA lattice must disassemble. Early uncoating or a failure to do so has detrimental effects on virus infectivity, indicating that an optimal stability of the viral core is crucial for infection. Here, we introduced cysteine residues into HIV-1 CA in order to induce disulphide bond formation and engineer hyper-stable mutants that are slower or unable to uncoat, and then followed their replication. From a panel of mutants, we identified three with increased capsid stability in cells and found that, whilst the M68C/E212C mutant had a 5-fold reduction in reverse transcription, two mutants, A14C/E45C and E180C, were able to reverse transcribe to approximately WT levels. Moreover, these mutants only had a 5-fold reduction in 2-LTR circle production, suggesting that not only could reverse transcription complete in hyper-stable cores, but that the nascent viral cDNA could enter the nuclear compartment. Furthermore, we observed significant levels of A14C/E45C mutant capsid in nuclear and chromatin-associated fractions implying that the hyper-stable cores themselves entered the nucleus. Immunofluorescence studies revealed that although the A14C/E45C mutant capsid reached the nuclear pore with the same kinetics as wild type capsid, it was then retained at the pore in association with Nup153. Crucially, infection with the hyper-stable mutants did not promote CPSF6 re-localisation to nuclear speckles, despite the mutant capsids being competent for CPSF6 binding. These observations suggest that hyper-stable cores are not able to uncoat, or remodel, enough to pass through or dissociate from the nuclear pore and integrate successfully. This, is turn, highlights the importance of capsid lattice flexibility for nuclear entry. In conclusion, we hypothesise that during a productive infection, a capsid remodelling step takes place at the nuclear pore that releases the core complex from Nup153, and relays it to CPSF6, which then localises it to chromatin ready for integration.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (18) ◽  
pp. 8324-8334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Ohi ◽  
Jared L. Clever

ABSTRACT The genome of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) contains two direct repeats (R) of 97 nucleotides at each end. These elements are of critical importance during the first-strand transfer of reverse transcription, during which the minus-strand strong-stop DNA (−sssDNA) is transferred from the 5′ end to the 3′ end of the genomic RNA. This transfer is critical for the synthesis of the full-length minus-strand cDNA. These repeats also contain a variety of other functional domains involved in many aspects of the viral life cycle. In this study, we have introduced a series of mutations into the 5′, the 3′, or both R sequences designed to avoid these other functional domains. Using a single-round infectivity assay, we determined the ability of these mutants to undergo the various steps of reverse transcription utilizing a semiquantitative PCR analysis. We find that mutations within the first 10 nucleotides of either the 5′ or the 3′ R sequence resulted in virions that were markedly defective for reverse transcription in infected cells. These mutations potentially introduce mismatches between the full-length −sssDNA and 3′ acceptor R. Even mutations that would create relatively small mismatches, as little as 3 bp, resulted in inefficient reverse transcription. In contrast, virions containing identically mutated R elements were not defective for reverse transcription or infectivity. Using an endogenous reverse transcription assay with disrupted virus, we show that virions harboring the 5′ or the 3′ R mutations were not intrinsically defective for DNA synthesis. Similarly sized mismatches slightly further downstream in either the 5′, the 3′, or both R sequences were not detrimental to continued reverse transcription in infected cells. These data are consistent with the idea that certain mismatches within 10 nucleotides downstream of the U3-R junction in HIV-1 cause defects in the stability of the cDNA before or during the first-strand transfer of reverse transcription leading to the rapid disappearance of the −sssDNA in infected cells. These data also suggest that the great majority of first-strand transfers in HIV-1 occur after the copying of virtually the entire 5′ R.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (14) ◽  
pp. 9081-9087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Wei ◽  
Shan Cen ◽  
Meijuan Niu ◽  
Fei Guo ◽  
Lawrence Kleiman

ABSTRACT \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(tRNA_{3}^{Lys}\) \end{document} , the primer for reverse transcriptase in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), anneals to the primer binding site (PBS) in HIV-1 RNA. It has been shown that altering the PBS and U5 regions upstream of the PBS in HIV-1 so as to be complementary to sequences in tRNAMet or tRNAHis will allow these tRNA species to be stably used as primers for reverse transcription. We have examined the replication of these mutant viruses in Sup-T1 cells. When Sup-T1 cells are infected by cocultivation with HIV-1-transfected 293T cells, viruses using tRNAHis or tRNAMet are produced at rates that are approximately 1/10 or 1/100, respectively, of rates for wild-type virions that use \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(tRNA_{3}^{Lys}\) \end{document} . When Sup-T1 cells are directly infected with equal amounts of these different viruses isolated from the culture supernatant of transfected 293T cells, virions using tRNAMet are produced at 1/100 the rate of wild-type viruses, and production of virions using tRNAHis is not detected. Both wild-type and mutant virions selectively package tRNALys only, and examination of the ability of total viral RNA to prime reverse transcription in vitro indicates a >80% reduction in the annealing of tRNAHis or tRNAMet to the mutant viral RNAs. PCR analysis of which of the three primer tRNAs is used indicates that only \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(tRNA_{3}^{Lys}\) \end{document} is detected as primer in wild-type virions and only tRNAHis is detected as primer in virions containing a PBS complementary to tRNAHis, while the mutant viruses containing a PBS complementary to tRNAMet use both tRNAMet and \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(tRNA_{1,2}^{Lys}\) \end{document} as primer tRNAs.


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