scholarly journals The IE2 60-Kilodalton and 40-Kilodalton Proteins Are Dispensable for Human Cytomegalovirus Replication but Are Required for Efficient Delayed Early and Late Gene Expression and Production of Infectious Virus

2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 2573-2583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. White ◽  
Christia J. Del Rosario ◽  
Rebecca L. Sanders ◽  
Deborah H. Spector

ABSTRACT The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) IE2 86-kDa protein is an essential transactivator of viral and cellular gene expression. Additional proteins of 60 and 40 kDa are expressed from the IE2 gene at late times postinfection and are identical to the C terminus of IE2 86. We have constructed HCMV recombinants that express wild-type full-length IE2 86 but do not express the IE2 40- and 60-kDa proteins. Each of these recombinants is viable, indicating that neither the 60-kDa nor the 40-kDa protein is required for virus replication, either alone or in combination. Cells infected with the IE2 60 and IE2 40 deletion mutants, however, exhibit decreased expression of selected viral genes at late times. In particular, expression of the viral DNA replication factor UL84 is affected by the deletion of IE2 40, and expression of the tegument protein pp65 (ppUL83) is affected by the deletion of both IE2 40 and IE2 60. IE2 60 and IE2 40 are also required for the production of normal levels of infectious virus. Finally, IE2 40 appears to function as a repressor of major immediate-early transcription in the infected cell. These results begin to define functions for the IE2 60- and IE2 40-kDa proteins and indicate that these products contribute both to the expression of selected viral genes and to the overall progression of the infection.

Virology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 346 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian B. DeMeritt ◽  
Jagat P. Podduturi ◽  
A. Michael Tilley ◽  
Maciej T. Nogalski ◽  
Andrew D. Yurochko

2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 2990-2996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary L. Spengler ◽  
Karen Kurapatwinski ◽  
Adrian R. Black ◽  
Jane Azizkhan-Clifford

ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) immediate-early protein IE1/IE72 is involved in undermining many cellular processes including cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, nuclear architecture, and gene expression. The multifunctional nature of IE72 suggests that posttranslational modifications may modulate its activities. IE72 is a phosphoprotein and has intrinsic kinase activity (S. Pajovic, E. L. Wong, A. R. Black, and J. C. Azizkhan, Mol. Cell. Biol. 17:6459-6464, 1997). We now demonstrate that IE72 is covalently conjugated to the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO-1). SUMO-1 is an 11.5-kDa protein that is conjugated to multiple proteins and has been reported to exhibit multiple effects, including modulation of protein stability, subcellular localization, and gene expression. A covalently modified protein migrating at ∼92 kDa, which is stabilized by a SUMO-1 hydrolase inhibitor, is revealed by Western blotting with anti-IE72 of lysates from cells infected with HCMV or cells expressing IE72. SUMO modification of IE72 was confirmed by immunoprecipitation with anti-IE72 and anti-SUMO-1 followed by Western blotting with anti-SUMO-1 and anti-IE72, respectively. Lysine 450 is within a sumoylation consensus site (I,V,L)KXE; changing lysine 450 to arginine by point mutation abolishes SUMO-1 modification of IE72. Inhibition of protein phosphatase 1 and 2A, which increases the phosphorylation of IE72, suppresses the formation of SUMO-1-IE72 conjugates. Both wild-type IE72 and IE72K450R localize to nuclear PML oncogenic domains and disrupt them. Studies of protein stability, transactivation, and complementation of IE72-deficient HCMV (CR208) have revealed no significant differences between wild-type IE72 and IE72K450R.


2009 ◽  
Vol 90 (10) ◽  
pp. 2364-2374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian J. Groves ◽  
Matthew B. Reeves ◽  
John H. Sinclair

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) lytic gene expression occurs in a regulated cascade, initiated by expression of the viral major immediate-early (IE) proteins. Transcribed from the major IE promoter (MIEP), the major IE genes regulate viral early and late gene expression. This study found that a substantial proportion of infecting viral genomes became associated with histones immediately upon infection of permissive fibroblasts at low m.o.i. and these histones bore markers of repressed chromatin. As infection progressed, however, the viral MIEP became associated with histone marks, which correlate with the known transcriptional activity of the MIEP at IE time points. Interestingly, this chromatin-mediated repression of the MIEP at ‘pre-IE’ times of infection could be overcome by inhibition of histone deacetylases, as well as by infection at high m.o.i., and resulted in a temporal advance of the infection cycle by inducing premature viral early and late gene expression and DNA replication. As well as the MIEP, and consistent with previous observations, the viral early and late promoters were also initially associated with repressive chromatin. However, changes in histone modifications around these promoters also occurred as infection progressed, and this correlated with the known temporal regulation of the viral early and late gene expression cascade. These data argue that the chromatin structure of all classes of viral genes are initially repressed on infection of permissive cells and that the chromatin structure of HCMV gene promoters plays an important role in regulating the time course of viral gene expression during lytic infection.


2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 4441-4455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Gawn ◽  
Richard F. Greaves

ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) ie1 deletion mutant CR208 is profoundly growth deficient after low-multiplicity infection of primary fibroblasts. Previously, we showed that many fewer cells infected with CR208 at low multiplicity accumulated the delayed-early (DE) protein ppUL44 than accumulated the immediate-early 2 (IE2) p86 protein, indicating a high frequency of abortive infections. We now demonstrate that accumulation of all DE proteins tested was defective after low-multiplicity infection in the absence of IE1 p72. Accumulation of the DE proteins pUL57, pUL98, and pUL69 followed a pattern very similar to that of ppUL44 during low-multiplicity CR208 infection. Accumulation of the ppUL112-113 proteins occurred in a greater proportion of cells than other DE proteins during low-multiplicity CR208 infection, but was still deficient relative to wild-type virus. We also show for the first time that steady-state levels of many DE RNAs were reduced during low-multiplicity CR208 infection and that by in situ hybridization of the abundant cytoplasmic 2.7-kb TRL4 DE (β2.7) RNA, a viral DE RNA followed a defective pattern of accumulation similar to that of ppUL44. Furthermore, transfected DE promoter-reporter constructs were found in transient assays to be considerably less responsive to CR208 infection than to infection by wild-type Towne virus. Our results indicate a general defect in DE gene expression following low-multiplicity HCMV infection in the absence of functional IE1 p72, most probably mediated by reduced transcription of DE genes and by the reduced accumulation of DE RNAs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (7A) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Paulus ◽  
Thomas Harwardt ◽  
Bernadette Walter ◽  
Andrea Marxreiter ◽  
Michael Nevels

Promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) bodies are nuclear organelles implicated in post-translational modification by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteins and in the antiviral host cell response to infection. The 72-kDa immediate-early protein 1 (IE1) is considered the principal antagonist of PML bodies encoded by the human cytomegalovirus, one of eight human herpesviruses. Previous work has suggested that the interaction between IE1 and PML proteins, the central organisers of PML bodies, and the subsequent disruption of these organelles serve a critical role in viral replication by counteracting intrinsic antiviral immunity and the induction of interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes. However, this picture has emerged largely from studying mutant IE1 proteins known or predicted to be globally misfolded und metabolically unstable. We systematically screened for stable IE1 mutants by clustered charge-to-alanine scanning. We identified a mutant protein (IE1cc172-176) selectively defective for PML interaction. Functional comparisons between the mutant and wild-type protein revealed that IE1 can undergo modification by mixed polymeric SUMO chains and that it targets PML and Sp100, the two main constituents of PML bodies, via distinct mechanisms. Unexpectedly, IE1cc172-176 supported viral replication almost as efficiently as wild-type IE1. Moreover, lower instead of higher (as expected) levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha, IFN-beta, IFN-lambda and IFN-stimulated gene expression were observed with the mutant compared to the wild-type protein and virus. These results suggest that the disruption of PML bodies is linked to induction rather than inhibition of antiviral gene expression. Our findings challenge current views regarding the role of PML bodies in viral infection.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 2460-2468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena A. Prikhod’ko ◽  
Albert Lu ◽  
Joyce A. Wilson ◽  
Lois K. Miller

ABSTRACT Upon transient expression in cell culture, the ie-2gene of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcMNPV) displays three functions: transactivation of viral promoters, direct or indirect stimulation of virus origin-specific DNA replication, and arrest of the cell cycle. The ability of IE2 to trans stimulate DNA replication and coupled late gene expression is observed in a cell line derived fromSpodoptera frugiperda but not in a cell line derived fromTrichoplusia ni. This finding suggested that IE-2 may exert cell line-specific or host-specific effects. To examine the role of ie-2 in the context of infection and its possible influence on the host range, we constructed recombinants of AcMNPV containing deletions of different functional regions within ie-2 and characterized them in cell lines and larvae of S. frugiperda and T. ni. Theie-2 mutant viruses exhibited delays in viral DNA synthesis, late gene expression, budded virus production, and occlusion body formation in SF-21 cells but not in TN-5B1-4 cells. In TN-5B1-4 cells, the ie-2 mutants produced more budded virus and fewer occlusion bodies but the infection proceeded without delay. Examination of the effects of ie-2 and the respective mutants on immediate-early viral promoters in transient expression assays revealed striking differences in the relative levels of expression and differences in responses to ie-2 and its mutant forms in different cell lines. In T. ni and S. frugiperda larvae, the infectivities of the occluded form ofie-2 mutant viruses by the normal oral route of infection was 100- and 1,000-fold lower, respectively, than that of wild-type AcMNPV. The reduction in oral infectivity was traced to the absence of virions within the occlusion bodies. The infectivity of the budded form of ie-2 mutants by hemocoelic injection was similar to that of wild-type virus in both species. Thus,ie-2 mutants are viable but exhibit cell line-specific effects on temporal regulation of the infection process. Due to its effect on virion occlusion, mutants of IE-2 were essentially noninfectious by the normal route of infection in both species tested. However, since budded viruses exhibited normal infectivity upon hemocoelic injection, we conclude that ie-2 does not affect host range per se. The possibility that IE-2 exerts tissue-specific effects has not been ruled out.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 524-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel C.R. Millan ◽  
Ana L.A. Squillace ◽  
Lisandra M. Gava ◽  
Carlos H.I. Ramos

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 905-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula M. Krosky ◽  
Moon-Chang Baek ◽  
Donald M. Coen

ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus encodes an unusual protein kinase, UL97, that activates the established antiviral drug ganciclovir and is specifically inhibited by a new antiviral drug, maribavir. We used maribavir and a UL97 null mutant, which is severely deficient in viral replication, to determine what stage of virus infection critically requires UL97. Compared with wild-type virus, there was little or no decrease in immediate-early gene expression, viral DNA synthesis, late gene expression, or packaging of viral DNA into nuclease-resistant structures in mutant-infected or maribavir-treated cells under conditions where the virus yield was severely impaired. Electron microscopy studies revealed similar proportions of various capsid forms, including DNA-containing capsids, in the nuclei of wild-type- and mutant-infected cells. However, capsids were rare in the cytoplasm of mutant-infected or maribavir-treated cells; the magnitudes of these decreases in cytoplasmic capsids were similar to those for virus yield. Thus, genetic and pharmacological evidence indicates that UL97 is required at the stage of infection when nucleocapsids exit from the nucleus (nuclear egress), and this poorly understood stage of virus infection can be targeted by antiviral drugs. Understanding UL97 function and maribavir action should help elucidate this interesting biological process and help identify new antiviral drug targets for an important pathogen in immunocompromised patients.


2002 ◽  
Vol 83 (8) ◽  
pp. 2015-2023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asha Acharya ◽  
Karumathil P. Gopinathan

Late gene expression factors, LEF-4, LEF-8, LEF-9 and P47 constitute the primary components of the Autographa californica multinucleocapsid polyhedrovirus (AcMNPV)-encoded RNA polymerase, which initiates transcription from late and very late promoters. Here, characterization of lef-9 and lef-8, which encode their corresponding counterparts, from Bombyx mori NPV is reported. Transcription of lef-9 initiated at two independent sites: from a GCACT sequence located at −38 nt and a CTCTT sequence located at −50 nt, with respect to the +1 ATG of the open reading frame. The 3′ end of the transcript was mapped to a site 17 nt downstream of a canonical polyadenylation signal located 7 nt downstream of the first of the two tandem translational termination codons. Maximum synthesis of LEF-9 was seen from 36 h post-infection (p.i.). The transcription of lef-8 initiated early in infection from a GTGCAAT sequence that differed in the corresponding region from its AcMNPV counterpart (GCGCAGT), with consequent elimination of the consensus early transcription start site motif (underlined). Peak levels of lef-8 transcripts were attained by 24 h p.i. Immunocopurification analyses suggested that there was an association between LEF-8 and LEF-9 in vivo.


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