scholarly journals Stable Formation of Compositionally Unique Stress Granules in Virus-Infected Cells

2009 ◽  
Vol 84 (7) ◽  
pp. 3654-3665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Piotrowska ◽  
Spencer J. Hansen ◽  
Nogi Park ◽  
Katarzyna Jamka ◽  
Peter Sarnow ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Stress granules are sites of mRNA storage formed in response to a variety of stresses, including viral infections. Here, the mechanisms and consequences of stress granule formation during poliovirus infection were examined. The results indicate that stress granules containing T-cell-restricted intracellular antigen 1 (TIA-1) and mRNA are stably constituted in infected cells despite lacking intact RasGAP SH3-domain binding protein 1 (G3BP) and eukaryotic initiation factor 4G. Fluorescent in situ hybridization revealed that stress granules in infected cells do not contain significant amounts of viral positive-strand RNA. Infection does not prevent stress granule formation in response to heat shock, indicating that poliovirus does not block de novo stress granule formation. A mutant TIA-1 protein that prevents stress granule formation during oxidative stress also prevents formation in infected cells. However, stress granule formation during infection is more dependent upon ongoing transcription than is formation during oxidative stress or heat shock. Furthermore, Sam68 is recruited to stress granules in infected cells but not to stress granules formed in response to oxidative stress or heat shock. These results demonstrate that stress granule formation in poliovirus-infected cells utilizes a transcription-dependent pathway that results in the appearance of stable, compositionally unique stress granules.

2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Borghese ◽  
Frédéric Sorgeloos ◽  
Teresa Cesaro ◽  
Thomas Michiels

ABSTRACT Leader (L) proteins encoded by cardioviruses are multifunctional proteins that contribute to innate immunity evasion. L proteins of Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV), Saffold virus (SAFV), and encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) were reported to inhibit stress granule assembly in infected cells. Here, we show that TMEV L can act at two levels in the stress granule formation pathway: on the one hand, it can inhibit sodium arsenite-induced stress granule assembly without preventing eIF2α phosphorylation and, thus, acts downstream of eIF2α; on the other hand, it can inhibit eucaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 2 (PKR) activation and the consequent PKR-mediated eIF2α phosphorylation. Interestingly, coimmunostaining experiments revealed that PKR colocalizes with viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in cells infected with L-mutant viruses but not in cells infected with the wild-type virus. Furthermore, PKR coprecipitated with dsRNA from cells infected with L-mutant viruses significantly more than from cells infected with the wild-type virus. These data strongly suggest that L blocks PKR activation by preventing the interaction between PKR and viral dsRNA. In infected cells, L also rendered PKR refractory to subsequent activation by poly(I·C). However, no interaction was observed between L and either dsRNA or PKR. Taken together, our results suggest that, unlike other viral proteins, L indirectly acts on PKR to negatively regulate its responsiveness to dsRNA. IMPORTANCE The leader (L) protein encoded by cardioviruses is a very short multifunctional protein that contributes to evasion of the host innate immune response. This protein notably prevents the formation of stress granules in infected cells. Using Theiler’s virus as a model, we show that L proteins can act at two levels in the stress response pathway leading to stress granule formation, the most striking one being the inhibition of eucaryotic translation initiation factor 2 alpha kinase 2 (PKR) activation. Interestingly, the leader protein appears to inhibit PKR via a novel mechanism by rendering this kinase unable to detect double-stranded RNA, its typical activator. Unlike other viral proteins, such as influenza virus NS1, the leader protein appears to interact with neither PKR nor double-stranded RNA, suggesting that it acts indirectly to trigger the inhibition of the kinase.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanjot Singh ◽  
Arvind Reddy Kandi ◽  
Deepa Jayaprakashappa ◽  
Guillaume Thuery ◽  
Devam J Purohit ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCells respond to stress with translational arrest, robust transcriptional changes, and transcription-independent formation of mRNP assemblies termed stress granules (SGs). Despite considerable interest in the role of SGs in oxidative, unfolded-protein, and viral stress responses, whether and how SGs contribute to stress-induced transcription has not been rigorously examined. To address this issue, we characterized transcriptional changes in Drosophila S2 cells induced by acute oxidative-stress and assessed how these were altered under conditions that disrupted SG assembly. Sodium-arsenite stress for 3 hours predominantly resulted in the induction or upregulation of stress-responsive mRNAs whose levels peaked during cell recovery after stress cessation. The stress-transcriptome is enriched in mRNAs coding for protein chaperones, including HSP70 and low molecular-weight heat shock proteins, glutathione transferases, and several non-coding RNAs. Oxidative stress also induced prominent cytoplasmic stress granules that disassembled 3-hours after stress cessation. As expected, RNAi-mediated knockdown of the conserved G3BP1/ Rasputin protein inhibited stress-granule assembly. However, this disruption had no significant effect on the stress-induced transcriptional response or stress-induced translational arrest. Thus, SG assembly and stress-induced effects on gene expression appear to be driven by distinctive signaling processes. We suggest that while SG assembly represents a fast, transient mechanism, the transcriptional response enables a slower, longer-lasting mechanism for adaptation to and recovery from cell stress.


2006 ◽  
Vol 281 (43) ◽  
pp. 32870-32878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjun Dang ◽  
Nancy Kedersha ◽  
Woon-Kai Low ◽  
Daniel Romo ◽  
Myriam Gorospe ◽  
...  

Stress granules are aggregates of small ribosomal subunits, mRNA, and numerous associated RNA-binding proteins that include several translation initiation factors. Stress granule assembly occurs in the cytoplasm of higher eukaryotic cells under a wide variety of stress conditions, including heat shock, UV irradiation, hypoxia, and exposure to arsenite. Thus far, a unifying principle of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α phosphorylation prior to stress granule formation has been observed from the majority of experimental evidence. Pateamine A, a natural product isolated from marine sponge, was recently reported to inhibit eukaryotic translation initiation and induce the formation of stress granules. In this report, the protein composition and fundamental progression of stress granule formation and disassembly induced by pateamine A was found to be similar to that for arsenite. However, pateamine A-induced stress granules were more stable and less prone to disassembly than those formed in the presence of arsenite. Most significantly, pateamine A induced stress granules independent of eukaryotic initiation factor 2α phosphorylation, suggesting an alternative mechanism of formation from that previously described for other cellular stresses. Taking into account the known inhibitory effect of pateamine A on eukaryotic translation initiation, a model is proposed to account for the induction of stress granules by pateamine A as well as other stress conditions through perturbation of any steps prior to the rejoining of the 60S ribosomal subunit during the entire translation initiation process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. e0009072
Author(s):  
Ana-Belén Blázquez ◽  
Miguel A. Martín-Acebes ◽  
Teresa Poderoso ◽  
Juan-Carlos Saiz

Usutu virus (USUV) is an African mosquito-borne flavivirus closely related to West Nile, Japanese encephalitis, Zika, and dengue viruses. USUV emerged in 1996 in Europe, where quickly spread across the continent causing a considerable number of bird deaths and varied neurological disorders in humans, including encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, or facial paralysis, thus warning about USUV as a potential health threat. USUV replication takes place on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of infected cells, inducing ER stress and resulting in the activation of stress-related cellular pathways collectively known as the integrated stress response (ISR). The alpha subunit of the eukaryotic initiation factor eIF2 (eIF2α), the core factor in this pathway, is phosphorylated by stress activated kinases: protein kinase R (PKR), PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), heme-regulated inhibitor kinase (HRI), and general control non-repressed 2 kinase (GCN2). Its phosphorylation results, among others, in the downstream inhibition of translation with accumulation of discrete foci in the cytoplasm termed stress granules (SGs). Our results indicated that USUV infection evades cellular stress response impairing eIF2α phosphorylation and SGs assembly induced by treatment with the HRI activator ArsNa. This protective effect was related with oxidative stress responses in USUV-infected cells. Overall, these results provide new insights into the complex connections between the stress response and flavivirus infection in order to maintain an adequate cellular environment for viral replication.


2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (23) ◽  
pp. 12274-12284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Lindquist ◽  
Aaron W. Lifland ◽  
Thomas J. Utley ◽  
Philip J. Santangelo ◽  
James E. Crowe

ABSTRACT Mammalian cell cytoplasmic RNA stress granules are induced during various conditions of stress and are strongly associated with regulation of host mRNA translation. Several viruses induce stress granules during the course of infection, but the exact function of these structures during virus replication is not well understood. In this study, we showed that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) induced host stress granules in epithelial cells during the course of infection. We also showed that stress granules are distinct from cytoplasmic viral inclusion bodies and that the RNA binding protein HuR, normally found in stress granules, also localized to viral inclusion bodies during infection. Interestingly, we demonstrated that infected cells containing stress granules also contained more RSV protein than infected cells that did not form inclusion bodies. To address the role of stress granule formation in RSV infection, we generated a stable epithelial cell line with reduced expression of the Ras-GAP SH3 domain-binding protein (G3BP) that displayed an inhibited stress granule response. Surprisingly, RSV replication was impaired in these cells compared to its replication in cells with intact G3BP expression. In contrast, knockdown of HuR by RNA interference did not affect stress granule formation or RSV replication. Finally, using RNA probes specific for RSV genomic RNA, we found that viral RNA predominantly localized to viral inclusion bodies but a small percentage also interacted with stress granules during infection. These results suggest that RSV induces a host stress granule response and preferentially replicates in host cells that have committed to a stress response.


2019 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanda Christ ◽  
Janne Tynell ◽  
Jonas Klingström

ABSTRACT Virus infection frequently triggers host cell stress signaling resulting in translational arrest; as a consequence, many viruses employ means to modulate the host stress response. Hantaviruses are negative-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses known to inhibit host innate immune responses and apoptosis, but their impact on host cell stress signaling remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated activation of host cell stress responses during hantavirus infection. We show that hantavirus infection causes transient formation of stress granules (SGs) but does so in only a limited proportion of infected cells. Our data indicate some cell type-specific and hantavirus species-specific variability in SG prevalence and show SG formation to be dependent on the activation of protein kinase R (PKR). Hantavirus infection inhibited PKR-dependent SG formation, which could account for the transient nature and low prevalence of SG formation observed during hantavirus infection. In addition, we report only limited colocalization of hantaviral proteins or RNA with SGs and show evidence indicating hantavirus-mediated inhibition of PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum (ER) kinase (PERK). IMPORTANCE Our work presents the first report on stress granule formation during hantavirus infection. We show that hantavirus infection actively inhibits stress granule formation, thereby escaping the detrimental effects on global translation imposed by host stress signaling. Our results highlight a previously uncharacterized aspect of hantavirus-host interactions with possible implications for how hantaviruses are able to cause persistent infection in natural hosts and for pathogenesis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Khong ◽  
Craig H. Kerr ◽  
Clarence H. L. Yeung ◽  
Kathleen Keatings ◽  
Arabinda Nayak ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Stress granules (SGs) are cytosolic ribonucleoprotein aggregates that are induced during cellular stress. Several viruses modulate SG formation, suggesting that SGs have an impact on virus infection. However, the mechanisms and impact of modulating SG assembly in infected cells are not completely understood. In this study, we identify the dicistrovirus cricket paralysis virus 1A (CrPV-1A) protein that functions to inhibit SG assembly during infection. Moreover, besides inhibiting RNA interference, CrPV-1A also inhibits host transcription, which indirectly modulates SG assembly. Thus, CrPV-1A is a multifunctional protein. We identify a key R146A residue that is responsible for these effects, and mutant CrPV(R146A) virus infection is attenuated in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells and adult fruit flies and results in increased SG formation. Treatment of CrPV(R146A)-infected cells with actinomycin D, which represses transcription, restores SG assembly suppression and viral yield. In summary, CrPV-1A modulates several cellular processes to generate a cellular environment that promotes viral translation and replication. IMPORTANCE RNA viruses encode a limited set of viral proteins to modulate an array of cellular processes in order to facilitate viral replication and inhibit antiviral defenses. In this study, we identified a viral protein, called CrPV-1A, within the dicistrovirus cricket paralysis virus that can inhibit host transcription, modulate viral translation, and block a cellular process called stress granule assembly. We also identified a specific amino acid within CrPV-1A that is important for these cellular processes and that mutant viruses containing mutations of CrPV-1A attenuate virus infection. We also demonstrate that the CrPV-1A protein can also modulate cellular processes in human cells, suggesting that the mode of action of CrPV-1A is conserved. We propose that CrPV-1A is a multifunctional, versatile protein that creates a cellular environment in virus-infected cells that permits productive virus infection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Beauclair ◽  
Felix Streicher ◽  
Maxime Chazal ◽  
Daniela Bruni ◽  
Sarah Lesage ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Yellow fever virus (YFV) is an RNA virus primarily targeting the liver. Severe YF cases are responsible for hemorrhagic fever, plausibly precipitated by excessive proinflammatory cytokine response. Pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs), such as the cytoplasmic retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs), and the viral RNA sensor protein kinase R (PKR), are known to initiate a proinflammatory response upon recognition of viral genomes. Here, we sought to reveal the main determinants responsible for the acute cytokine expression occurring in human hepatocytes following YFV infection. Using a RIG-I-defective human hepatoma cell line, we found that RIG-I largely contributes to cytokine secretion upon YFV infection. In infected RIG-I-proficient hepatoma cells, RIG-I was localized in stress granules. These granules are large aggregates of stalled translation preinitiation complexes known to concentrate RLRs and PKR and are so far recognized as hubs orchestrating RNA virus sensing. Stable knockdown of PKR in hepatoma cells revealed that PKR contributes to both stress granule formation and cytokine induction upon YFV infection. However, stress granule disruption did not affect the cytokine response to YFV infection, as assessed by small interfering RNA (siRNA)-knockdown-mediated inhibition of stress granule assembly. Finally, no viral RNA was detected in stress granules using a fluorescence in situ hybridization approach coupled with immunofluorescence. Our findings suggest that both RIG-I and PKR mediate proinflammatory cytokine induction in YFV-infected hepatocytes, in a stress granule-independent manner. Therefore, by showing the uncoupling of the cytokine response from the stress granule formation, our model challenges the current view in which stress granules are required for the mounting of the acute antiviral response. IMPORTANCE Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne acute hemorrhagic disease caused by yellow fever virus (YFV). The mechanisms responsible for its pathogenesis remain largely unknown, although increased inflammation has been linked to worsened outcome. YFV targets the liver, where it primarily infects hepatocytes. We found that two RNA-sensing proteins, RIG-I and PKR, participate in the induction of proinflammatory mediators in human hepatocytes infected with YFV. We show that YFV infection promotes the formation of cytoplasmic structures, termed stress granules, in a PKR- but not RIG-I-dependent manner. While stress granules were previously postulated to be essential platforms for immune activation, we found that they are not required for the production of proinflammatory mediators upon YFV infection. Collectively, our work uncovered molecular events triggered by the replication of YFV, which could prove instrumental in clarifying the pathogenesis of the disease, with possible repercussions for disease management.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 2014-2027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison B. Herman ◽  
Milessa Silva Afonso ◽  
Sheri E. Kelemen ◽  
Mitali Ray ◽  
Christine N. Vrakas ◽  
...  

Objective: Stress granules (SGs) are dynamic cytoplasmic aggregates containing mRNA, RNA-binding proteins, and translation factors that form in response to cellular stress. SGs have been shown to contribute to the pathogenesis of several human diseases, but their role in vascular diseases is unknown. This study shows that SGs accumulate in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and macrophages during atherosclerosis. Approach and Results: Immunohistochemical analysis of atherosclerotic plaques from LDLR − /− mice revealed an increase in the stress granule-specific markers Ras-G3BP1 (GTPase-activating protein SH3 domain-binding protein) and PABP (poly-A-binding protein) in intimal macrophages and smooth muscle cells that correlated with disease progression. In vitro, PABP+ and G3BP1+ SGs were rapidly induced in VSMC and bone marrow–derived macrophages in response to atherosclerotic stimuli, including oxidized low-density lipoprotein and mediators of mitochondrial or oxidative stress. We observed an increase in eIF2α (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha) phosphorylation, a requisite for stress granule formation, in cells exposed to these stimuli. Interestingly, SG formation, PABP expression, and eIF2α phosphorylation in VSMCs is reversed by treatment with the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-19. Microtubule inhibitors reduced stress granule accumulation in VSMC, suggesting cytoskeletal regulation of stress granule formation. SG formation in VSMCs was also observed in other vascular disease pathologies, including vascular restenosis. Reduction of SG component G3BP1 by siRNA significantly altered expression profiles of inflammatory, apoptotic, and proliferative genes. Conclusions: These results indicate that SG formation is a common feature of the vascular response to injury and disease, and that modification of inflammation reduces stress granule formation in VSMC.


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