scholarly journals Negative and Positive mRNA Splicing Elements Act Competitively To Regulate Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Vif Gene Expression

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (8) ◽  
pp. 3921-3931 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Exline ◽  
Z. Feng ◽  
C. M. Stoltzfus

ABSTRACT Over 40 different human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) mRNAs are produced by alternative splicing of the primary HIV-1 RNA transcripts. In addition, approximately half of the viral RNA remains unspliced and is used as genomic RNA and as mRNA for the Gag and Pol gene products. Regulation of splicing at the HIV-1 3′ splice sites (3′ss) requires suboptimal polypyrimidine tracts, and positive or negative regulation occurs through the binding of cellular factors to cis-acting splicing regulatory elements. We have previously shown that splicing at HIV-1 3′ss A1, which produces single-spliced vif mRNA and promotes the inclusion of HIV exon 2 into both completely and incompletely spliced viral mRNAs, is increased by optimizing the 5′ splice site (5′ss) downstream of exon 2 (5′ss D2). Here we show that the mutations within 5′ss D2 that are predicted to lower or increase the affinity of the 5′ss for U1 snRNP result in reduced or increased Vif expression, respectively. Splicing at 5′ss D2 was not necessary for the effect of 5′ss D2 on Vif expression. In addition, we have found that mutations of the GGGG motif proximal to the 5′ss D2 increase exon 2 inclusion and Vif expression. Finally, we report the presence of a novel exonic splicing enhancer (ESE) element within the 5′-proximal region of exon 2 that facilitates both exon inclusion and Vif expression. This ESE binds specifically to the cellular SR protein SRp75. Our results suggest that the 5′ss D2, the proximal GGGG silencer, and the ESE act competitively to determine the level of vif mRNA splicing and Vif expression. We propose that these positive and negative splicing elements act together to allow the accumulation of vif mRNA and unspliced HIV-1 mRNA, compatible with optimal virus replication.

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 5404-5413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-hai Si ◽  
Dan Rauch ◽  
C. Martin Stoltzfus

ABSTRACT Inefficient splicing of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA is necessary to preserve unspliced and singly spliced viral RNAs for transport to the cytoplasm by the Rev-dependent pathway. Signals within the HIV-1 genome that control the rate of splicing include weak 3′ splice sites, exon splicing enhancers (ESE), and exon splicing silencers (ESS). We have previously shown that an ESS present withintat exon 2 (ESS2) and a suboptimal 3′ splice site together act to inhibit splicing at the 3′ splice site flanking tatexon 2. This occurs at an early step in spliceosome assembly. Splicing at the 3′ splice site flanking tat exon 3 is regulated by a bipartite element composed of an ESE and an ESS (ESS3). Here we show that ESS3 is composed of two smaller elements (AGAUCC and UUAG) that can inhibit splicing independently. We also show that ESS3 is more active in the context of a heterologous suboptimal splice site than of an optimal 3′ splice site. ESS3 inhibits splicing by blocking the formation of a functional spliceosome at an early step, since A complexes are not detected in the presence of ESS3. Competitor RNAs containing either ESS2 or ESS3 relieve inhibition of splicing of substrates containing ESS3 or ESS2. This suggests that a common cellular factor(s) may be required for the inhibition oftat mRNA splicing mediated by ESS2 and ESS3.


2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (14) ◽  
pp. 7155-7166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reem Berro ◽  
Caitlin Pedati ◽  
Kylene Kehn-Hall ◽  
Weilin Wu ◽  
Zachary Klase ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Tat is a 14-kDa viral protein that acts as a potent transactivator by binding to the transactivation-responsive region, a structured RNA element located at the 5′ end of all HIV-1 transcripts. Tat transactivates viral gene expression by inducing the phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II through several Tat-activated kinases and by recruiting chromatin-remodeling complexes and histone-modifying enzymes to the HIV-1 long terminal repeat. Histone acetyltransferases, including p300 and hGCN5, not only acetylate histones but also acetylate Tat at lysine positions 50 and 51 in the arginine-rich motif. Acetylated Tat at positions 50 and 51 interacts with a specialized protein module, the bromodomain, and recruits novel factors having this particular domain, such as P/CAF and SWI/SNF. In addition to having its effect on transcription, Tat has been shown to be involved in splicing. In this study, we demonstrate that Tat interacts with cyclin-dependent kinase 13 (CDK13) both in vivo and in vitro. We also found that CDK13 increases HIV-1 mRNA splicing and favors the production of the doubly spliced protein Nef. In addition, we demonstrate that CDK13 acts as a possible restriction factor, in that its overexpression decreases the production of the viral proteins Gag and Env and subsequently suppresses virus production. Using small interfering RNA against CDK13, we show that silencing of CDK13 leads to a significant increase in virus production. Finally, we demonstrate that CDK13 mediates its effect on splicing through the phosphorylation of ASF/SF2.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (22) ◽  
pp. 10822-10826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Graf ◽  
Alexandra Bojak ◽  
Ludwig Deml ◽  
Kurt Bieler ◽  
Hans Wolf ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Based on the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)gag gene, subgenomic reporter constructs have been established allowing the contributions of differentcis-acting elements to the Rev dependency of late HIV-1 gene products to be determined. Modification of intragenic regulatory elements achieved by adapting the codon usage of the complete gene to highly expressed mammalian genes resulted in constitutive nuclear export allowing high levels of Gag expression independent from the Rev/Rev-responsive element system and irrespective of the absence or presence of the isolated major splice donor. Leptomycin B inhibitor studies revealed that the RNAs derived from the codon-optimizedgag gene lacking AU-rich inhibitory elements are directed to a distinct, CRM1-independent, nuclear export pathway.


1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 4606-4615 ◽  
Author(s):  
B A Amendt ◽  
Z H Si ◽  
C M Stoltzfus

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) pre-mRNA splicing is regulated in order to maintain pools of unspliced and partially spliced viral RNAs as well as the appropriate levels of multiply spliced mRNAs during virus infection. We have previously described an element in tat exon 2 that negatively regulates splicing at the upstream tat 3' splice site 3 (B. A. Amendt, D. Hesslein, L.-J. Chang, and C. M. Stoltzfus, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:3960-3970, 1994). In this study, we further defined the element to a 20-nucleotide (nt) region which spans the C-terminal vpr and N-terminal tat coding sequences. By analogy with exon splicing enhancer (ESE) elements, we have termed this element an exon splicing silencer (ESS). We show evidence for another negative cis-acting region within tat-rev exon 3 of HIV-1 RNA that has sequence motifs in common with a 20-nt ESS element in tat exon 2. This sequence is juxtaposed to a purine-rich ESE element to form a bipartite element regulating splicing at the upstream tat-rev 3' splice site. Inhibition of the splicing of substrates containing the ESS element in tat exon 2 occurs at an early stage of spliceosome assembly. The inhibition of splicing mediated by the ESS can be specifically abrogated by the addition of competitor RNA. Our results suggest that HIV-1 RNA splicing is regulated by cellular factors that bind to positive and negative cis elements in tat exon 2 and tat-rev exon 3.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 9764-9772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia S. Bilodeau ◽  
Jeffrey K. Domsic ◽  
C. Martin Stoltzfus

ABSTRACT In the NL4-3 strain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), regulatory elements responsible for the relative efficiencies of alternative splicing at the tat, rev, and theenv/nef 3′ splice sites (A3 through A5) are contained within the region of tat exon 2 and its flanking sequences. Two elements affecting splicing of tat, rev, and env/nef mRNAs have been localized to this region. First, an exon splicing silencer (ESS2) in NL4-3, located approximately 70 nucleotides downstream from the 3′ splice site used to generatetat mRNA, acts specifically to inhibit splicing at this splice site. Second, the A4b 3′ splice site, which is the most downstream of the three rev 3′ splice sites, also serves as an element inhibiting splicing at the env/nef 3′ splice site A5. These elements are conserved in some but not all HIV-1 strains, and the effects of these sequence changes on splicing have been investigated in cell transfection and in vitro splicing assays. SF2, another clade B virus and member of the major (group M) viruses, has several sequence changes within ESS2 and uses a differentrev 3′ splice site. However, splicing is inhibited by the two elements similarly to NL4-3. As with the NL4-3 strain, the SF2 A4b AG dinucleotide overlaps an A5 branchpoint, and thus the inhibitory effect may result from competition of the same site for two different splicing factors. The sequence changes in ANT70C, a member of the highly divergent outlier (group O) viruses, are more extensive, and ESS2 activity in tat exon 2 is not present. Group O viruses also lack the rev 3′ splice site A4b, which is conserved in all group M viruses. Mutagenesis of the most downstream rev3′ splice site of ANT70C does not increase splicing at A5, and all of the branchpoints are upstream of the two rev 3′ splice sites. Thus, splicing regulatory elements in tat exon 2 which are characteristic of most group M HIV-1 strains are not present in group O HIV-1 strains.


2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (18) ◽  
pp. 6618-6630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei S. Zolotukhin ◽  
Daniel Michalowski ◽  
Jenifer Bear ◽  
Sergey V. Smulevitch ◽  
Abdulmaged M. Traish ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) gag/pol and env mRNAs contain cis-acting regulatory elements (INS) that impair stability, nucleocytoplasmic transport, and translation by unknown mechanisms. This downregulation can be counteracted by the viral Rev protein, resulting in efficient export and expression of these mRNAs. Here, we show that the INS region in HIV-1 gag mRNA is a high-affinity ligand of p54nrb/PSF, a heterodimeric transcription/splicing factor. Both subunits bound INS RNA in vitro with similar affinity and specificity. Using an INS-containing subgenomic gag mRNA, we show that it specifically associated with p54nrb in vivo and that PSF inhibited its expression, acting via INS. Studying the authentic HIV-1 mRNAs produced from an infectious molecular clone, we found that PSF affected specifically the INS-containing, Rev-dependent transcripts encoding Gag-Pol and Env. Both subunits contained nuclear export and nuclear retention signals, whereas p54nrb was continuously exported from the nucleus and associated with INS-containing mRNA in the cytoplasm, suggesting its additional role at late steps of mRNA metabolism. Thus, p54nrb and PSF have properties of key factors mediating INS function and likely define a novel mRNA regulatory pathway that is hijacked by HIV-1.


2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (11) ◽  
pp. 3447-3455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Roy ◽  
Jean-Sébastien Paquette ◽  
Jean-François Fortin ◽  
Michel J. Tremblay

ABSTRACT The immunosuppressive macrolide rapamycin is used in humans to prevent graft rejection. This drug acts by selectively repressing the translation of proteins that are encoded by an mRNA bearing a 5′-polypyrimidine tract (e.g., ribosomal proteins, elongation factors). The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) carries a polypyrimidine motif that is located within the tat exon 2. Treatment of human T lymphoid cells with rapamycin resulted in a marked diminution of HIV-1 transcription when infection was performed with luciferase reporter T-tropic and macrophage-tropic viruses. Replication of fully infectious HIV-1 particles was abolished by rapamycin treatment. The rapamycin-mediated inhibitory effect on HIV-1 production was reversed by FK506. The anti-HIV-1 effect of rapamycin was also seen in primary human cells (i.e., peripheral blood lymphocytes) from different healthy donors. Rapamycin was shown to diminish basal HIV-1 long terminal repeat gene expression, and the observed effect of rapamycin on HIV-1 replication seems to be independent of the virus-specific transactivating Tat protein. A constitutive β-actin promoter-based reporter gene vector was unaffected by rapamycin treatment. Kinetic virus infection studies and exposure to reporter viruses pseudotyped with heterologous envelope proteins (i.e., amphotropic murine leukemia virus and vesicular stomatitis virus G) suggested that rapamycin is primarily affecting the life cycle of HIV-1 at a transcriptional level. Northern blot analysis confirmed that this compound is selectively targeting HIV-1 mRNA synthesis.


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