scholarly journals The E3 Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Cullin 3 Regulates HIV-1 Transcription

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Langer ◽  
Xin Yin ◽  
Arturo Diaz ◽  
Alex J. Portillo ◽  
David E. Gordon ◽  
...  

The infectious life cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is characterized by an ongoing battle between a compendium of cellular proteins that either promote or oppose viral replication. On the one hand, HIV-1 utilizes dependency factors to support and sustain infection and complete the viral life cycle. On the other hand, both inducible and constitutively expressed host factors mediate efficient and functionally diverse antiviral processes that counteract an infection. To shed light into the complex interplay between HIV-1 and cellular proteins, we previously performed a targeted siRNA screen to identify and characterize novel regulators of viral replication and identified Cullin 3 (Cul3) as a previously undescribed factor that negatively regulates HIV-1 replication. Cul3 is a component of E3-ubiquitin ligase complexes that target substrates for ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal degradation. In the present study, we show that Cul3 is expressed in HIV-1 target cells, such as CD4+ T cells, monocytes, and macrophages and depletion of Cul3 using siRNA or CRISPR/Cas9 increases HIV-1 infection in immortalized cells and primary CD4+ T cells. Conversely, overexpression of Cul3 reduces HIV-1 infection in single replication cycle assays. Importantly, the antiviral effect of Cul3 was mapped to the transcriptional stage of the viral life cycle, an effect which is independent of its role in regulating the G1/S cell cycle transition. Using isogenic viruses that only differ in their promotor region, we find that the NF-κB/NFAT transcription factor binding sites in the LTR are essential for Cul3-dependent regulation of viral gene expression. Although Cul3 effectively suppresses viral gene expression, HIV-1 does not appear to antagonize the antiviral function of Cul3 by targeting it for degradation. Taken together, these results indicate that Cul3 is a negative regulator of HIV-1 transcription which governs productive viral replication in infected cells.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishak D. Irwan ◽  
Bryan R. Cullen

We have previously reported that the normally essential step of integration of the HIV-1 proviral DNA intermediate into the host cell genome becomes dispensable in T cells that express the Human T cell leukemia virus 1 (HTLV-1) Tax protein, a known activator of cellular NF-kB. The rescue of integrase (IN) deficient HIV-1 replication by Tax results from the strong activation of transcription from the long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter on episomal HIV-1 DNA, an effect that is closely correlated with the recruitment of activating epigenetic marks, such as H3Ac, and depletion of repressive epigenetic marks, such as H3K9me3, from chromatinized unintegrated proviruses. In addition, activation of transcription from unintegrated HIV-1 DNA coincides with the recruitment of NF-kB to the two NF-kB binding sites found in the HIV-1 LTR enhancer. Here we report that the recruitment of NF-kB to unintegrated viral DNA precedes, and is a prerequisite for, Tax-induced changes in epigenetic marks, so that an IN- HIV-1 mutant lacking both LTR NF-kB sites is entirely non-responsive to Tax and fails to undergo the epigenetic changes listed above. Interestingly, we found that induction of Tax expression at 24 hours post-infection, when unintegrated HIV-1 DNA is already fully repressed by inhibitory chromatin modifications, is able to effectively reverse the epigenetic silencing of that DNA and rescue viral gene expression. Finally, we report that heterologous promoters introduced into IN-deficient HIV-1-based vectors are transcriptionally active even in the absence of Tax and do not increase their activity when the HIV-1 promoter and enhancer, located in the LTR U3 region,are deleted, as has been recently proposed. Importance Integrase-deficient expression vectors based on HIV-1 are becoming increasingly popular as tools for gene therapy in vivo due to their inability to cause insertional mutagenesis. However, many IN- lentiviral vectors are able to achieve only low levels of gene expression and methods to increase this low level have not been extensively explored. Here we analyze how the HTLV-1 Tax protein is able to rescue the replication of IN- HIV-1 in T cells and describe IN- lentiviral vectors, lacking any inserted origin of replication, that are able to express a heterologous gene effectively.


Retrovirology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Goffinet ◽  
Nico Michel ◽  
Ina Allespach ◽  
Hanna-Mari Tervo ◽  
Volker Hermann ◽  
...  

2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (15) ◽  
pp. 7578-7586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bodil Øster ◽  
Per Höllsberg

ABSTRACT Herpesvirus gene expression is divided into immediate-early (IE) or α genes, early (E) or β genes, and late (L) or γ genes on the basis of temporal expression and dependency on other gene products. By using real-time PCR, we have investigated the expression of 35 human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) genes in T cells infected by strain PL-1. Kinetic analysis and dependency on de novo protein synthesis and viral DNA polymerase activity suggest that the HHV-6B genes segregate into six separate kinetic groups. The genes expressed early (groups I and II) and late (groups V and VI) corresponded well with IE and L genes, whereas the intermediate groups III and IV contained E and L genes. Although HHV-6B has characteristics similar to those of other roseoloviruses in its overall gene regulation, we detected three B-variant-specific IE genes. Moreover, genes that were independent of de novo protein synthesis clustered in an area of the viral genome that has the lowest identity to the HHV-6A variant. The organization of IE genes in an area of the genome that differs from that of HHV-6A underscores the distinct differences between HHV-6B and HHV-6A and may provide a basis for further molecular and immunological analyses to elucidate their different biological behaviors.


Retrovirology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (S2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh Bachu ◽  
Rajesh V Murali ◽  
Anil MHKH Babu ◽  
Venkat SRK Yedavalli ◽  
Kuan-Teh Jeang ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishak D. Irwan ◽  
Bryan R. Cullen

AbstractWe have previously reported that the normally essential step of integration of the HIV-1 proviral DNA intermediate into the host cell genome becomes dispensable in T cells that express the Human T cell leukemia virus 1 (HTLV-1) Tax protein. The rescue of integrase (IN) deficient HIV-1 replication by Tax results from the strong activation of transcription from the long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter on episomal HIV-1 DNA, an effect that is closely correlated with the recruitment of activating epigenetic marks, such as H3Ac, and depletion of repressive epigenetic marks, such as H3K9me3, from chromatinized unintegrated proviruses. In addition, activation of transcription from unintegrated HIV-1 DNA coincides with the recruitment of NF-kB to the two NF-kB binding sites found in the HIV-1 LTR enhancer. Here we report that the recruitment of NF-kB to unintegrated viral DNA precedes, and is a prerequisite for, Tax-induced changes in epigenetic marks, so that an IN-HIV-1 mutant lacking both LTR NF-kB sites is entirely non-responsive to Tax and fails to undergo the epigenetic changes listed above. We also report that heterologous promoters introduced into IN-HIV-1-based vectors are transcriptionally active even in the absence of Tax. Finally, we failed to reproduce a recent report arguing that heterologous promoters introduced into IN-vectors based on HIV-1 are more active if the HIV-1 promoter and enhancer, located in the LTR U3 region, are deleted, in a so-called self inactivating or SIN lentivector design.ImportanceIntegrase-deficient expression vectors based on HIV-1 are becoming increasingly popular as tools for gene therapy in vivo due to their inability to cause insertional mutagenesis. However, many IN-lentiviral vectors are able to achieve only low levels of gene expression and methods to increase this low level have not been extensively explored. Here we analyze how the HTLV-1 Tax protein is able to rescue the replication of IN-HIV-1 in T cells and describe IN-lentiviral vectors that are able to express a heterologous gene effectively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (51) ◽  
pp. e2104163118
Author(s):  
Tianyou Yao ◽  
Seth Coleman ◽  
Thu Vu Phuc Nguyen ◽  
Ido Golding ◽  
Oleg A. Igoshin

When host cells are in low abundance, temperate bacteriophages opt for dormant (lysogenic) infection. Phage lambda implements this strategy by increasing the frequency of lysogeny at higher multiplicity of infection (MOI). However, it remains unclear how the phage reliably counts infecting viral genomes even as their intracellular number increases because of replication. By combining theoretical modeling with single-cell measurements of viral copy number and gene expression, we find that instead of hindering lambda’s decision, replication facilitates it. In a nonreplicating mutant, viral gene expression simply scales with MOI rather than diverging into lytic (virulent) and lysogenic trajectories. A similar pattern is followed during early infection by wild-type phage. However, later in the infection, the modulation of viral replication by the decision genes amplifies the initially modest gene expression differences into divergent trajectories. Replication thus ensures the optimal decision—lysis upon single-phage infection and lysogeny at higher MOI.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luna Li ◽  
Satinder Dahiya ◽  
Sandhya Kortagere ◽  
Benjamas Aiamkitsumrit ◽  
David Cunningham ◽  
...  

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) promoter or long-terminal repeat (LTR) regulates viral gene expression by interacting with multiple viral and host factors. The viral transactivator protein Tat plays an important role in transcriptional activation of HIV-1 gene expression. Functional domains of Tat and its interaction with transactivation response element RNA and cellular transcription factors have been examined. Genetic variation withintatof different HIV-1 subtypes has been shown to affect the interaction of the viral transactivator with cellular and/or viral proteins, influencing the overall level of transcriptional activation as well as its action as a neurotoxic protein. Consequently, the genetic variability withintatmay impact the molecular architecture of functional domains of the Tat protein that may impact HIV pathogenesis and disease. Tat as a therapeutic target for anti-HIV drugs has also been discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Tarnow ◽  
Alan McLachlan

β-catenin (Ctnnb1) supports high levels of liver gene expression in hepatocytes in proximity to the central vein functionally defining zone 3 of the liver lobule. This region of the liver lobule supports the highest levels of viral biosynthesis in wildtype HBV transgenic mice. Liver-specific β-catenin-null HBV transgenic mice exhibit a stark loss of high levels of pericentral viral biosynthesis. Additionally, viral replication that does not depend directly on β-catenin activity appears to expand to include hepatocytes of zone 1 of the liver lobule in proximity to the portal vein, a region of the liver that typically lacks significant HBV biosynthesis in wildtype HBV transgenic mice. While the average amount of viral RNA transcripts does not change, viral DNA replication is reduced approximately three-fold. Together, these observations demonstrate that β-catenin signaling represents a major determinant of HBV biosynthesis governing the magnitude and distribution of viral replication across the liver lobule in vivo. Additionally, these findings reveal a novel mechanism for the regulation of HBV biosynthesis that is potentially relevant to the expression of additional liver-specific genes. IMPORTANCE Viral biosynthesis is highest around the central vein in the HBV transgenic mouse model of chronic infection. The associated HBV biosynthetic gradient across the liver lobule is primarily dependent upon β-catenin. In the absence of β-catenin, the gradient of viral gene expression spanning the liver lobule is absent and HBV replication is reduced. Therefore, therapeutically manipulating β-catenin activity in the liver of chronic HBV carriers may reduce circulating infectious virions without greatly modulating viral protein production. Together, these change in viral biosynthesis might limit infection of additional hepatocytes while permitting immunological clearance of previously infected cells, potentially limiting disease persistence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
R. Verdikt ◽  
L. Colin ◽  
C. Vanhulle ◽  
B. Van Driessche ◽  
A. Kula ◽  
...  

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