scholarly journals Murine Cytomegalovirus Capsid Assembly Is Dependent on US22 Family Gene M140 in Infected Macrophages

2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (15) ◽  
pp. 7449-7456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura K. Hanson ◽  
Jacquelyn S. Slater ◽  
Victoria J. Cavanaugh ◽  
William W. Newcomb ◽  
Lisa L. Bolin ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Macrophages are an important target cell for infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV). A number of viral genes that either are expressed specifically in this cell type or function to optimize CMV replication in this host cell have now been identified. Among these is the murine CMV (MCMV) US22 gene family member M140, a nonessential early gene whose deletion (RVΔ140) leads to significant impairment in virus replication in differentiated macrophages. We have now determined that the defect in replication is at the stage of viral DNA encapsidation. Although the rate of RVΔ140 genome replication and extent of DNA cleavage were comparable to those for revertant virus, deletion of M140 resulted in a significant reduction in the number of viral capsids in the nucleus, and the viral DNA remained sensitive to DNase treatment. These data are indicative of incomplete virion assembly. Steady-state levels of both the major capsid protein (M86) and tegument protein M25 were reduced in the absence of the M140 protein (pM140). This effect may be related to the localization of pM140 to an aggresome-like, microtubule organizing center-associated structure that is known to target misfolded and overexpressed proteins for degradation. It appears, therefore, that pM140 indirectly influences MCMV capsid formation in differentiated macrophages by regulating the stability of viral structural proteins.

2016 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Filomena Grosso ◽  
Peter Stoilov ◽  
Clifford Lingwood ◽  
Martha Brown ◽  
Alan Cochrane

ABSTRACT The dependence of adenovirus on the host pre-RNA splicing machinery for expression of its complete genome potentially makes it vulnerable to modulators of RNA splicing, such as digoxin and digitoxin. Both drugs reduced the yields of four human adenoviruses (HAdV-A31, -B35, and -C5 and a species D conjunctivitis isolate) by at least 2 to 3 logs by affecting one or more steps needed for genome replication. Immediate early E1A protein levels are unaffected by the drugs, but synthesis of the delayed protein E4orf6 and the major late capsid protein hexon is compromised. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses revealed that both drugs altered E1A RNA splicing (favoring the production of 13S over 12S RNA) early in infection and partially blocked the transition from 12S and 13S to 9S RNA at late stages of virus replication. Expression of multiple late viral protein mRNAs was lost in the presence of either drug, consistent with the observed block in viral DNA replication. The antiviral effect was dependent on the continued presence of the drug and was rapidly reversible. RIDK34, a derivative of convallotoxin, although having more potent antiviral activity, did not show an improved selectivity index. All three drugs reduced metabolic activity to some degree without evidence of cell death. By blocking adenovirus replication at one or more steps beyond the onset of E1A expression and prior to genome replication, digoxin and digitoxin show potential as antiviral agents for treatment of serious adenovirus infections. Furthermore, understanding the mechanism(s) by which digoxin and digitoxin inhibit adenovirus replication will guide the development of novel antiviral therapies. IMPORTANCE Despite human adenoviruses being a common and, in some instances, life-threating pathogen in humans, there are few well-tolerated therapies. In this report, we demonstrate that two cardiotonic steroids already in use in humans, digoxin and digitoxin, are potent inhibitors of multiple adenovirus species. A synthetic derivative of the cardiotonic steroid convallotoxin was even more potent than digoxin and digitoxin when tested with HAdV-C5. These drugs alter the cascade of adenovirus gene expression, acting after initiation of early gene expression to block viral DNA replication and synthesis of viral structural proteins. These findings validate a novel approach to treating adenovirus infections through the modulation of host cell processes.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (22) ◽  
pp. 14004-14016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Liu ◽  
Anna Shevchenko ◽  
Andrej Shevchenko ◽  
Arnold J. Berk

ABSTRACT Results reported here indicate that adenovirus 5 exploits the cellular aggresome response to accelerate inactivation of MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complexes that otherwise inhibit viral DNA replication and packaging. Aggresomes are cytoplasmic inclusion bodies, observed in many degenerative diseases, that are formed from aggregated proteins by dynein-dependent retrograde transport on microtubules to the microtubule organizing center. Viral E1B-55K protein forms aggresomes that sequester p53 and MRN in transformed cells and in cells transfected with an E1B-55K expression vector. During adenovirus infection, the viral protein E4orf3 associates with MRN in promyelocytic leukemia protein nuclear bodies before MRN is bound by E1B-55K. Either E4orf3 or E4orf6 is required in addition to E1B-55K for E1B-55K aggresome formation and MRE11 export to aggresomes in adenovirus-infected cells. Aggresome formation contributes to the protection of viral DNA from MRN activity by sequestering MRN in the cytoplasm and greatly accelerating its degradation by proteosomes following its ubiquitination by the E1B-55K/E4orf6/elongin BC/Cullin5/Rbx1 ubiquitin ligase. Our results show that aggresomes significantly accelerate protein degradation by the ubiquitin-proteosome system. The observation that a normal cellular protein is inactivated when sequestered into an aggresome through association with an aggresome-inducing protein has implications for the potential cytotoxicity of aggresome-like inclusion bodies in degenerative diseases.


Author(s):  
M.B. Braunfeld ◽  
M. Moritz ◽  
B.M. Alberts ◽  
J.W. Sedat ◽  
D.A. Agard

In animal cells, the centrosome functions as the primary microtubule organizing center (MTOC). As such the centrosome plays a vital role in determining a cell's shape, migration, and perhaps most importantly, its division. Despite the obvious importance of this organelle little is known about centrosomal regulation, duplication, or how it nucleates microtubules. Furthermore, no high resolution model for centrosomal structure exists.We have used automated electron tomography, and reconstruction techniques in an attempt to better understand the complex nature of the centrosome. Additionally we hope to identify nucleation sites for microtubule growth.Centrosomes were isolated from early Drosophila embryos. Briefly, after large organelles and debris from homogenized embryos were pelleted, the resulting supernatant was separated on a sucrose velocity gradient. Fractions were collected and assayed for centrosome-mediated microtubule -nucleating activity by incubating with fluorescently-labeled tubulin subunits. The resulting microtubule asters were then spun onto coverslips and viewed by fluorescence microscopy.


Genetics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
E A Vallen ◽  
W Ho ◽  
M Winey ◽  
M D Rose

Abstract KAR1 encodes an essential component of the yeast spindle pole body (SPB) that is required for karyogamy and SPB duplication. A temperature-sensitive mutation, kar1-delta 17, mapped to a region required for SPB duplication and for localization to the SPB. To identify interacting SPB proteins, we isolated 13 dominant mutations and 3 high copy number plasmids that suppressed the temperature sensitivity of kar1-delta 17. Eleven extragenic suppressor mutations mapped to two linkage groups, DSK1 and DSK2. The extragenic suppressors were specific for SPB duplication and did not suppress karyogamy-defective alleles. The major class, DSK1, consisted of mutations in CDC31. CDC31 is required for SPB duplication and encodes a calmodulin-like protein that is most closely related to caltractin/centrin, a protein associated with the Chlamydomonas basal body. The high copy number suppressor plasmids contained the wild-type CDC31 gene. One CDC31 suppressor allele conferred a temperature-sensitive defect in SPB duplication, which was counter-suppressed by recessive mutations in KAR1. In spite of the evidence for a direct interaction, the strongest CDC31 alleles, as well as both DSK2 alleles, suppressed a complete deletion of KAR1. However, the CDC31 alleles also made the cell supersensitive to KAR1 gene dosage, arguing against a simple bypass mechanism of suppression. We propose a model in which Kar1p helps localize Cdc31p to the SPB and that Cdc31p then initiates SPB duplication via interaction with a downstream effector.


2008 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 2025-2028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam C. Smith ◽  
Kathy L. Poulin ◽  
Robin J. Parks

ABSTRACT Replication-defective adenovirus (Ad) vectors can vary considerably in genome length, but whether this affects virion stability has not been investigated. Helper-dependent Ad vectors with a genome size of ∼30 kb were 100-fold more sensitive to heat inactivation than their parental helper virus (>36 kb), and increasing the genome size of the vector significantly improved heat stability. A similar relationship between genome size and stability existed for Ad with early region 1 deleted. Loss of infectivity was due to release of vertex proteins, followed by disintegration of the capsid. Thus, not only does the viral DNA encode all of the heritable information essential for virus replication, it also plays a critical role in maintaining capsid strength and integrity.


1979 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Schliwa ◽  
U Euteneuer ◽  
W Herzog ◽  
K Weber

Melanophores of the angelfish, pterophyllum scalare, have previously been shown to display approximately 2,400 microtubules in cells wih pigment dispersed; these microtubules radiate from a presumptive organizing center, the central apparatus (CA), and their number is reduced to approximately 1,000 in the state with aggregated pigment (M. Schliwa and U. Euteneuer, 1978, J. Supramol. Struct. 8:177-190). In an attempt to elucidate the factors controlling this rapid reorganization of the microtubule apparatus, structure and function of the CA have been investigated under different physiological conditions. As a function of the state of pigment distribution, melanophores differ markedly with respect to CA organization. A complex of dense amorphous aggregates and associated fuzzy material, several micrometers in diameter, surrounds the centrioles in cells with pigment dispersed, and numerous microtubules emanate from this complex in a radial fashion. In the aggregated state, on the other hand, few microtubules are observed in the pericentiolar region, and the amount of fibrous material is greatly reduced. These changes in CA morphology as a function of the state of pigment distribution are associated with a marked difference in its capacity to initiatiate the assembly of microtubules from exogenous pure porcine brain tubulin in lysed cell preparations. After complete removal of preexisting microtubules, cells lysed in the dispersed state into a solution of 1-2 mg/ml pure tubulin have numerous microtubules associated with the CA in radial fashion, while cells lysed in the aggregated state nucleate the assembly of only a few microtubules. We conclude that it is the activity of the CA that basically regulates the expression of microtubules. This regulation is achieved through a variation in the capacity to initiate microtubule assembly. Increase or decrease in the amount of dense material, as readily observed in the cell system studied here, seems to be a morphologic expression of such a physiologic function.


2015 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. S114
Author(s):  
Sana Khan ◽  
Faten Shaeib ◽  
Mili Thakur ◽  
Roohi Jeelani ◽  
Husam M Abu-Soud

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