ZAP融合蛋白抑制HIV病毒模型的构建及功能分析

ZAP是一种抗病毒因子,能够特异性结合病毒RNA并招募细胞中的RNA酶降解所结合的靶RNA,从而抑制某些病毒的复制,如鼠白血病病毒(MLV)、辛德比斯病毒(SIN).ZAP对HIV病毒抑制作用并不明显.Tat和Rev是HIV编码的两种可以特异性结合HIVRNA的蛋白质,将它们与ZAP构建成融合蛋白,使得融合蛋白通过Tat或Rev结合HIVRNA并通过ZAP降解HIVRNA,从而抑制HIV假病毒载体携带基因的表达.这一结果为抑制HIV病毒提供了一个新思路,也支持了ZAP招募mRNA降解机器降解靶RNA的模型.     

Comparative analysis of Rev function in human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2.

The Rev proteins of the related but distinct human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2) display incomplete functional reciprocity. One possible explanation for this observation is that HIV-2 Rev is unable to interact with the HIV-1 Rev-response element (RRE1). However, an analysis of the biological activity of chimeric proteins derived from HIV-1 and HIV-2 Rev reveals that this target specificity does not map to the Rev RNA binding domain but is instead primarily determined by sequences known to mediate Rev multimerization. Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 Rev are shown to bind the RRE1 in vitro with identical RNA sequence specificity. The observation that HIV-2 Rev can inhibit RRE1-dependent HIV-1 Rev function in trans indicates that the direct interaction of HIV-2 Rev with the RRE1 also occurs in vivo. These data suggest that HIV-2 Rev forms a protein-RNA complex with the RRE1 that leads to only minimal Rev activity. It is hypothesized that this low level of Rev function results from the incomplete and/or aberrant multimerization of HIV-2 Rev on this heterologous RNA target sequence.     

Cross-activation of the Rex proteins of HTLV-I and BLV and of the Rev protein of HIV-1 and nonreciprocal interactions with their RNA responsive elements

The Rex regulatory proteins of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) and bovine leukemia virus (BLV), and the Rev protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), promote the cytoplasmic accumulation and translation of viral messenger mRNAs encoding structural proteins. Rev and Rex act through cis-acting elements on the viral RNA; these elements are named Rev- and Rex-responsive elements, or RRE and RXRE, respectively. We show that the Rex proteins of HTLV-I and BLV are interchangeable, but only the Rex protein of HTLV-I can substitute for Rev of HIV-1. Rex of HTLV-I and Rev of HIV-1 appear to act on RRE by similar mechanisms. Rev of HIV-1 does not act on the RXRE of HTLV-I or BLV. The nonreciprocal action of Rev and Rex suggests that these factors interact directly with the cis-acting RNA elements of the two viruses.     

Specific binding of a basic peptide from HIV-1 Rev.

Human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) encodes a regulatory protein, Rev, which is required for cytoplasmic expression of incompletely spliced viral mRNA. Rev activity is mediated through specific binding to a cis-acting Rev responsive element (RRE) located within the env region of HIV-1. A monomer Rev binding site corresponding to 37 nucleotides of the RRE (IIB RNA) was studied by RNA footprinting, modification interference experiments and mutational analysis. Surprisingly, a 17 amino acid peptide, corresponding to the basic domain of Rev, binds specifically to this site at essentially identical nucleotides and probably induces additional base pairing. The Rev protein and related peptide interact primarily with two sets of nucleotides located at the junction of single and double stranded regions, and at an additional site located within a helix. This suggests that the domains of proteins responsible for specific RNA binding can be remarkably small and that the interaction between RNA and protein can probably induce structure in both constituents.     

Eukaryotic initiation factor 5A is a cellular target of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev activation domain mediating trans- activation

Expression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) structural proteins requires the presence of the viral trans-activator protein Rev. Rev is localized in the nucleus and binds specifically to the Rev response element (RRE) sequence in viral RNA. Furthermore, the interaction of the Rev activation domain with a cellular cofactor is essential for Rev function in vivo. Using cross-linking experiments and Biospecific Interaction Analysis (BIA) we identify eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A) as a cellular factor binding specifically to the HIV-1 Rev activation domain. Indirect immunofluorescence studies demonstrate that a significant fraction of eIF-5A localizes to the nucleus. We also provide evidence that Rev transactivation is functionally mediated by eIF-5A in Xenopus oocytes. Furthermore, we are able to block Rev function in mammalian cells by antisense inhibition of eIF-5A gene expression. Thus, regulation of HIV-1 gene expression by Rev involves the targeting of RRE-containing RNA to components of the cellular translation initiation complex.     

An anti-apoptotic protein, Hax-1, inhibits the HIV-1 rev function by altering its sub-cellular localization

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Rev protein facilitates the nuclear export of viral mRNA containing the Rev response element (RRE). Although several host proteins co-operating with Rev in viral RNA export have been reported, little is known about the innate host defense factors that Rev overcomes to mediate the nuclear export of unspliced viral mRNAs. We report here that an anti-apoptotic protein, HS1-associated protein X-1 (Hax-1), a target of HIV-1 Vpr, interacts with Rev and inhibits its activity in RRE-mediated gene expression. Co-expression of Sam68 emancipates Rev activity from Hax-1-mediated inhibition. Hax-1 does not bind to RRE RNA by itself, but inhibits Rev from binding to RRE RNA in vitro. The impact of Hax-1 on Rev/RRE interactions in vitro correlates well with the reduced level of RRE-containing mRNA in vivo. Immunofluorescence studies further reveal that Hax-1 and Rev are cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins, respectively, when expressed independently. However, in Hax-1 co-expressing cells, Rev is translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where it is co-localized with Hax-1 in the cytoplasm. We propose that over-expression of Hax-1, possibly through binding to Rev, may interfere with the stability/export of RRE-containing mRNA and target the RNA for degradation.     

Identification and characterization of a nuclear factor that specifically binds to the Rev response element (RRE) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)

The Rev protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) differentially transactivates the expression of viral structural proteins by allowing the accumulation of unspliced and singly spliced viral mRNA in the cytoplasm. The cis-acting RNA target sequence for the Rev protein, termed the Rev response element (RRE), is present in the env gene and is predicted to form a highly ordered RNA secondary structure. Recent data indicate that Rev directly binds to RRE and, further, that this binding can be mapped to a 90-nucleotide subfragment at the 5' end of RRE. We now report that RRE also binds specifically and predominantly to a nuclear factor of approximately 56 kD. Mapping of the binding site reveals that the same subfragment that binds Rev also binds this nuclear factor. We designate this protein as NFRRE for nuclear factor, RRE binding. Rev and NFRRE appear to bind simultaneously to RRE. NFRRE is widely distributed in various mammalian cells. We speculate that this factor plays an important role in Rev-mediated transactivation and is likely to be involved in the processing or transport of cellular mRNA.     

In vitro activities of purified visna virus integrase.

Although integration generally is considered a critical step in the retrovirus life cycle, it has been reported that visna virus, which causes degenerative neurologic disease in sheep, can productively infect sheep choroid plexus cells without detectable integration. To ascertain whether the integrase (IN) of visna virus is an inherently defective enzyme and to create tools for further study of integration of the phylogenetically related human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), we purified visna virus IN by using a bacterial expression system and applied various in vitro oligonucleotide-based assays to studying this protein. We found that visna virus IN demonstrates the full repertoire of in vitro functions characteristic of retroviral integrases. In particular, visna virus IN exhibits site-specific endonuclease activity following the invariant CA found two nucleotides from the 3' ends of viral DNA (processing activity), joins processed oligonucleotides to various sites on other oligonucleotides (strand transfer or integration activity), and reverses the integration reaction by resolving a complex that mimics one end of viral DNA integrated into host DNA (disintegration activity). In addition, although it has been reported that purified HIV-1 IN cannot specifically nick visna virus DNA ends, purified visna virus IN does specifically process and integrate HIV-1 DNA ends.     

A structured retroviral RNA element that mediates nucleocytoplasmic export of intron-containing RNA.

A common feature of gene expression in all retroviruses is that unspliced, intron-containing RNA is exported to the cytoplasm despite the fact that cellular RNAs which contain introns are usually restricted to the nucleus. In complex retroviruses, the export of intron-containing RNA is mediated by specific viral regulatory proteins (e.g., human immunodeficiency virus type 1 [HIV-1] Rev) that bind to elements in the viral RNA. However, simpler retroviruses do not encode such regulatory proteins. Here we show that the genome of the simpler retrovirus Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) contains an element that serves as an autonomous nuclear export signal for intron-containing RNA. This element is essential for MPMV replication; however, its function can be complemented by HIV-1 Rev and the Rev-responsive element. The element can also facilitate the export of cellular intron-containing RNA. These results suggest that the MPMV element mimics cellular RNA transport signals and mediates RNA export through interaction with endogenous cellular factors.     

Mutational definition of functional domains within the Rev homolog encoded by human endogenous retrovirus K

Nuclear export of the incompletely spliced mRNAs encoded by several complex retroviruses, including human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), is dependent on a virally encoded adapter protein, termed Rev in HIV-1, that directly binds both to a cis-acting viral RNA target site and to the cellular Crm1 export factor. Human endogenous retrovirus K, a family of ancient endogenous retroviruses that is not related to the exogenous retrovirus HIV-1, was recently shown to also encode a Crm1-dependent nuclear RNA export factor, termed K-Rev. Although HIV-1 Rev and K-Rev display little sequence identity, they share the ability not only to bind to Crm1 and to RNA but also to form homomultimers and shuttle between nucleus and cytoplasm. We have used mutational analysis to identify sequences in the 105-amino-acid K-Rev protein required for each of these distinct biological activities. While mutations in K-Rev that inactivate any one of these properties also blocked K-Rev-dependent nuclear RNA export, several K-Rev mutants were comparable to wild type when assayed for any of these individual activities yet nevertheless defective for RNA export. Although several nonfunctional K-Rev mutants acted as dominant negative inhibitors of K-Rev-, but not HIV-1 Rev-, dependent RNA export, these were not defined by their inability to bind to Crm1, as is seen with HIV-1 Rev. In total, this analysis suggests a functional architecture for K-Rev that is similar to, but distinct from, that described for HIV-1 Rev and raises the possibility that viral RNA export mediated by the approximately 25 million-year-old K-Rev protein may require an additional cellular cofactor that is not required for HIV-1 Rev function.     

HIV-1 structural gene expression requires binding of the Rev trans-activator to its RNA target sequence

Expression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 structural proteins requires both the viral Rev trans-activator and its cis-acting RNA target sequence, the Rev response element (RRE). The RRE has been mapped to a conserved region of the HIV-1 env gene and is predicted to form a complex, highly stable RNA stem-loop structure. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to define a small subdomain of the RRE, termed stem-loop II, that is essential for biological activity. Gel retardation assays demonstrated that the Rev trans-activator is a sequence-specific RNA binding protein. The RRE stem-loop II subdomain was found to be both necessary and sufficient for the binding of Rev by the RRE. We propose that the HIV-1 Rev trans-activator belongs to a new class of sequence-specific RNA binding proteins characterized by the presence of an arginine-rich binding motif.     

Two functional domains of the influenza virus NS1 protein are required for regulation of nuclear export of mRNA.

The influenza virus NS1 protein is the only known example of a protein that inhibits the nuclear export of mRNA. To identify the functional domains of this protein, we introduced 18 2- or 3-amino-acid substitutions at approximately equally spaced locations along the entire length of the protein. Two functional domains were identified. The domain near the amino end (amino acids 19 through 38) was shown to be the RNA-binding domain, by using a gel shift assay with purified NS1 protein and spliced viral NS2 mRNA as the RNA target. The second domain, which is in the carboxy half of the molecule, was presumed to be the effector domain that interacts with host nuclear proteins to carry out the nuclear RNA export function, by analogy with the effector domain of the Rev proteins of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other lentiviruses which facilitate rather than inhibit nuclear RNA export. The NS1 protein has a 10-amino-acid sequence that is similar to the consensus sequence in the effector domains of lentivirus Rev proteins, specifically including two crucial leucines at positions 7 and 9 of this sequence. However, the effector domains of the NS1 and Rev (HIV type 1 [HIV-1]) proteins differed in several significant ways including the following: (i) unlike the HIV-1 Rev protein, NS1 effector domain mutants were negative recessive rather than negative dominant, (ii) the NS1 effector domain is about three times larger than the effector domain of the HIV-1 Rev protein, and (iii) unlike the HIV-1 protein, NS1 effector domain mutants exhibited a surprising property, a changed intracellular/intranuclear distribution, compared with the wild-type protein. These differences strongly suggest that the effector domains of the NS1 and Rev proteins interact with different nuclear protein targets, which likely explains the opposite effects of these two proteins on nuclear mRNA export.     

Structural and functional analysis of the human immunodeficiency virus type 2 Rev protein.

The Rev proteins of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are necessary for expression of viral structural gene products. Site-directed mutations were made within the HIV-2 rev gene to identify functional domains. We observed that similar to HIV-1 Rev, the HIV-2 Rev protein was phosphorylated, albeit to a much lesser extent than was HIV-1 Rev. We also found that like HIV-1 Rev, HIV-2 Rev localized to the nucleus, with a marked accumulation in the nucleolus. Mutations within a stretch of basic residues prevented both nuclear and nucleolar localization. Furthermore, mutant Rev proteins able to localize in the nucleus but unable to localize in the nucleolus were nonfunctional.     

Function of the human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 Rev proteins is dependent on their ability to interact with a structured region present in env gene mRNA.

The interaction of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Rev protein with a structured region in env mRNA (the Rev-responsive element [RRE]) mediates the export of structural mRNAs from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. We demonstrated that unlike HIV-1 Rev, which functions with both the HIV-1 and HIV-2 RREs, HIV-2 Rev functions only with the HIV-2 RRE. Rev-RRE binding studies suggested that the lack of nonreciprocal complementation stems from the inability of HIV-2 Rev to interact with HIV-1 RRE RNA. Maintenance of RNA secondary structure, rather than the primary nucleotide sequence, appeared to be the major determinant for interaction of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 Rev with the HIV-2 RRE. Moreover, the binding domain of the HIV-2 RRE recognized by HIV-1 Rev was dissimilar to the binding domain of the HIV-1 RRE, in terms of both secondary structure and primary nucleotide sequence. Our results support the hypothesis that function of HIV Rev proteins and possibly the functionally similar Rex proteins encoded by the human T-cell leukemia viruses (HTLVs) HTLV-I and HTLV-II is controlled by the presence of RNA secondary structure generated within the RRE RNA.     

Rev inhibition strongly affects intracellular distribution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNAs

To define the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA maturation pathways, we analyzed the intracellular distribution of HIV-1 RNA and the viral regulatory proteins Rev and Tat in transfected COS cells and HIV-1-infected lymphoid C8166 cells by means of ultrastructural in situ hybridization using antisense RNA probes and immunoelectron microscopy. The intranuclear viral RNA occurs in ribonucleoprotein fibrils in the perichromatin and interchromatin regions. The simultaneous demonstration of Rev, Tat, Br-labeled RNA, and cellular proteins SC35 and CRM1 in such fibrils reveals the potential of Rev to associate with nascent HIV pre-mRNA and its splicing complex and transport machinery. In a rev-minus system, the env intron-containing, incompletely spliced viral RNAs are revealed only in the nucleus, indicating that Rev is required to initiate the transport to the cytoplasm. Moreover, env intron sequences frequently occur in the periphery of interchromatin granule clusters, while the probe containing the rev exon sequence does not associate with this nucleoplasmic domain. When cells were treated with the CRM1 inhibitor leptomycin B in the presence of Rev protein, the env intron containing HIV RNAs formed clusters throughout the nucleoplasm and accumulated at the nuclear pores. This suggests that Rev is necessary and probably also sufficient for the accumulation of incompletely spliced HIV RNAs at the nuclear pores while CRM1 is needed for translocation across the nuclear pore complex.