Mak10, a Glucose-Repressible Gene Necessary for Replication of a Dsrna Virus of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Has T Cell Receptor α-Subunit Motifs

The MAK10 gene is necessary for the propagation of the L-A dsRNA virus of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have isolated MAK10 from selected phage lambda genomic DNA clones that map near MAK10. This gene encodes a 733-amino acid protein with several regions of similarity to T cell receptor alpha-subunit V (variable) regions. We show that MAK10 is essential for optimal growth on nonfermentable carbon sources independent of its effect on L-A. Although loss of L-A by mak10-1 mutants is partially suppressed by loss of the mitochondrial genome, no such suppression of a mak10::URA3 mutation was observed. Using MAK10-lacZ fusions we show that MAK10 is expressed at a very low level and that it is glucose repressed. The highest levels of expression were seen in tup1 and cyc8 mutants, known to be defective in glucose repression. These results suggest that the mitochondrial genome and L-A dsRNA compete for the MAK10 protein.     

L-A double-stranded RNA viruslike particle replication cycle in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: particle maturation in vitro and effects of mak10 and pet18 mutations.

Previously, we found that log-phase cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae contain a new type of viruslike particles containing only plus- strand L-A single-stranded RNA (ssRNA). These particles synthesize minus-strand RNA in an in vitro RNA polymerase reaction to produce L-A double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). The major class of particles contains L-A dsRNA and synthesizes plus-strand L-A ssRNA by a conservative mechanism. In this paper, we show that mutations in mak10 or the pet18 locus, which result in temperature-dependent replication of L-A dsRNA in vivo, also result in instability of the L-A dsRNA-containing (major class) viruslike particles in vitro. The L-A dsRNA (minus-strand)-synthesizing particles isolated by CsCl density gradient centrifugation synthesize plus-strand L-A ssRNA after completion of dsRNA (minus-strand) synthesis and have the same major coat protein as that of the major-class particles. Furthermore, the density of the dsRNA-synthesizing particles from wild-type cells shifts to that of the major-class dsRNA-containing particles as a result of the in vitro RNA polymerase reaction. Thus, L-A dsRNA-synthesizing particles undergo functional and structural maturation in vitro.     

A cryptic RNA-binding domain in the Pol region of the L-A double-stranded RNA virus Gag-Pol fusion protein.

The Pol region of the Gag-Pol fusion protein of the L-A double-stranded (ds) RNA virus of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has (i) a domain essential for packaging viral positive strands, (ii) consensus amino acid sequence patterns typical of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, and (iii) two single-stranded RNA binding domains. We describe here a third single-stranded RNA binding domain (Pol residues 374 to 432), which is unique in being cryptic. Its activity is revealed only after deletion of an inhibitory region C terminal to the binding domain itself. This cryptic RNA binding domain is necessary for propagation of M1 satellite dsRNA, but it is not necessary for viral particle assembly or for packaging of viral positive-strand single-stranded RNA. The cryptic RNA binding domain includes a sequence pattern common among positive-strand single-stranded RNA and dsRNA viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, suggesting that it has a role in RNA polymerase activity.     

Assembly of double-stranded RNA viruses: bacteriophage ø6 and yeast virus L-A

Double-stranded RNA viruses have a virion-associated RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity which is involved in such critical steps of viral assembly as genome packaging and minus strand synthesis. In vitro studies of a bacterial dsRNA virus, ø6, and a yeast virus, L-A, have shed light on capsid formation as well as on the protein/RNA interactions and packaging of the viral genomes. In the ø6 system, an empty dodecahedral polymerase complex (procapsid) composed of four protein species is formed without the help of other viral proteins or RNA. This particle packages positive sense viral RNA genome segments in an ATP dependent reaction. The presence of all rNTPs allows the synthesis of complementary (-) strands within the particle. Self-assembly of an additional protein shell (composed of protein P8) around this particle takes place in the presence of Ca²⁺ ions. In vivo, these nucleocapsids obtain an envelope while still residing in the cell cytoplasm. L-A, in contrast, is not known to make a prohead structure. The Pol domain of L-A's Gag-Pol fusion protein is necessary for packaging of the (+) strand RNA and probably actually binds to the (+) strand packaging site (a stem-loop with a protruding A) insuring its packaging while the Gag domain primes polymerization of the coat protein. N-Acetylation of Gag by the host MAK3 N-acetyltransferase is necessary for proper assembly, and the ratio of Gag-Pol/Gag, determined by the efficiency of - 1 ribosomal frameshifting, is critical for propagation of the M₁ satellite dsRNA.     

Genetic Control of L-a and L-(Bc) Dsrna Copy Number in Killer Systems of SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE

M dsRNA in yeast encodes a toxin precursor and immunity protein, whereas L-A dsRNA encodes the 81,000-dalton major protein of the intracellular particles in which both L-A and M are found. L-(BC) dsRNA(s) are found in particles with different coat proteins. We find that M dsRNA lowers the copy number of L-A, but not L-(BC). The SKI gene products lower the copy number of L-(BC), L-A, M₁ and M₂. This is the first known interaction of L-(BC) with any element of the killer systems. The MAK3, MAK10 and PET18 gene products are necessary for L-A maintenance and replication, but mutations in these genes do not affect L-(BC) copy number. Mutations in MAK1, MAK4, MAK7, MAK17 and MAK24 do not detectably affect copy number of L-(BC) or L-A.     

A deletion mutant of L-A double-stranded RNA replicates like M1 double-stranded RNA.

X double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is a 0.52-kilobase dsRNA molecule that arose spontaneously in a nonkiller strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae originally containing L-A and L-BC dsRNAs (L-BC is the same size as L-A but shares no homology with it). X hybridized with L-A, and direct RNA sequencing of X showed that the first 5' 25 base pairs (of the X positive strand) and at least the last 110 base pairs of the 3' end were identical to the ends of L-A dsRNA. X showed cytoplasmic inheritance and, like M1, was dependent on L-A for its maintenance. X was encapsidated in viruslike particles whose major coat protein was provided by L-A (as is true for M1), and X was found in viruslike particles with one to eight X molecules per particle. This finding confirms our "head-full replication" model originally proposed for M1 and M2. Like M1 or M2, X lowers the copy number of L-A, especially in a ski host. Surprisingly, X requires many chromosomal MAK genes that are necessary for M1 but not for L-A.     

Ded1p, a conserved DExD/H-box translation factor, can promote yeast L-A virus negative-strand RNA synthesis in vitro

Viruses are intracellular parasites that must use the host machinery to multiply. Identification of the host factors that perform essential functions in viral replication is thus of crucial importance to the understanding of virus–host interactions. Here we describe Ded1p, a highly conserved DExD/H-box translation factor, as a possible host factor recruited by the yeast L-A double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus. We found that Ded1p interacts specifically and strongly with Gag, the L-A virus coat protein. Further analysis revealed that Ded1p interacts with the L-A virus in an RNA-independent manner and, as a result, L-A particles can be affinity purified via this interaction. The affinity-purified L-A particles are functional, as they are capable of synthesizing RNA in vitro. Critically, using purified L-A particles, we demonstrated that Ded1p specifically promotes L-A dsRNA replication by accelerating the rate of negative-strand RNA synthesis in vitro. In light of these data, we suggest that Ded1p may be a part of the long sought after activity shown to promote yeast viral dsRNA replication. This and the fact that Ded1p is also required for translating brome mosaic virus RNA2 in yeast thus raise the intriguing possibility that Ded1p is one of the key host factors favored by several evolutionarily related RNA viruses, including the human hepatitis C virus.     

Overproduction of yeast viruslike particles by strains deficient in a mitochondrial nuclease.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains are often host to several types of cytoplasmic double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) genomes, some of which are encapsidated by the L-A dsRNA product, an 86,000-dalton coat protein. Here we present the finding that nuclear recessive mutations in the NUC1 gene, which encodes the major nonspecific nuclease of yeast mitochondria, resulted in at least a 10-fold increase in amounts of the L-A dsRNA and its encoded coat protein. The effect of nuc1 mutations on L-A abundance was completely suppressed in strains that also hosted the killer-toxin-encoding M dsRNA. Both NUC1 and nuc1 strains containing the L-A genome exhibited an increase in coat protein abundance and a concomitant increase in L-A dsRNA when the cells were grown on a nonfermentable carbon source rather than on glucose, an effect independent of the increase in coat protein due to nuc1 mutations or to the absence of M. The increase in L-A expression in nuc1 strains was similar to that observed in strains with mutations in the nuclear gene encoding the most abundant outer mitochondrial membrane protein, porin. nuc1 mutations did not affect the level of porin in the mitochondrial outer membrane. Since the effect of mutations in nuc1 was to alter the copy number of the L-A coat protein genome rather than to change the level of the M toxin genome (as do mak and ski mutations), these mutations define a new class of nuclear genes affecting yeast dsRNA abundance.     

Killer systems in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: three distinct modes of exclusion of M2 double-stranded RNA by three species of double-stranded RNA, M1, L-A-E, and L-A-HN.

M1 and M2 double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) code for the K1R1 and K2R2 killer toxin and resistance functions, respectively. Natural variants of a larger dsRNA (L-A) carry various combinations of the [EXL], [HOK], and [NEX] genes, which affect the K1 and K2 killer systems. Other dsRNAs, the same size as L-A, called L-B and L-C, are often present with L-A. We show that K1 killer strains have [HOK] and [NEX] but not [EXL] on their L-A (in disagreement with Field et al., Cell 31:193-200, 1982). These strains also carry other L-size molecules detectable after heat-curing has eliminated L-A. The exclusion of M2 dsRNA observed on mating K2 strains with K1 strains is due to the M1 dsRNA (not the L-A dsRNA as claimed by Field et al.) in the K1 strains. Four independent mutants of a [KIL-k2] [NEX-o] [HOK-o] strain were selected for resistance to [EXL] exclusion of M2 ([EXLR] phenotype). The [EXLR] phenotype showed non-Mendelian inheritance in each case, and these mutants had simultaneously each acquired [HOK]. The mutations were located on L-A and not on M2, and did not confer resistance to M1 exclusion of M2.     

Thermolabile L-A virus-like particles from pet18 mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

pet18 mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae confer on the cell the inability to maintain either L-A or M double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) at the nonpermissive temperature. In in vitro experiments, we examined the effects of pet18 mutations on the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity associated with virus-like particles (VLPs). pet18 mutations caused thermolabile RNA polymerase activity of L-A VLPs, and this thermolability was found to be due to the instability of the L-A VLP structure. The pet18 mutations did not affect RNA polymerase activity of M VLPs. Furthermore, the temperature sensitivity of wild-type L-A RNA polymerase differed substantially from that of M RNA polymerase. From these results, and from other genetic and biochemical lines of evidence which suggest that replication of M dsRNA requires the presence of L-A dsRNA, we propose that the primary effect of the pet18 mutation is on the L-A VLP structure and that the inability of pet18 mutants to maintain M dsRNA comes from the loss of L-A dsRNA.     

Gene overlap results in a viral protein having an RNA binding domain and a major coat protein domain

L-A double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) replicates in vivo in yeast in a conservative, asynchronous (first [+] strand then [-] strand), intraviral process. New particles are formed by packaging (+) strands. Added viral (+) single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) is specifically bound by empty virus-like particles (VLPs) and, in a reaction requiring a host factor, is converted in vitro to dsRNA. We find that the isolated binding complex replicates only if it was formed in the presence of the host factor. The VLP minor 180 kd protein, but not the major coat protein, has ssRNA binding activity on Western blots. The 180 kd protein shares a common antigenic domain with the major coat protein, the latter known to be encoded by L-A dsRNA. The 180 kd protein, but not the major coat protein, also shares an antigenic domain with a sequence encoded by the 3' end of the L-A (+) strand. Thus the 180 kd protein is also encoded by L-A dsRNA and consists of a major coat protein domain and a ssRNA binding domain.     

Ribosomal frameshifting efficiency and gag/gag-pol ratio are critical for yeast M1 double-stranded RNA virus propagation.

About 1.9% of ribosomes translating the gag open reading frame of the yeast L-A double-stranded RNA virus positive strand undergo a -1 frameshift and continue translating in the pol open reading frame to make a 170-kDa gag-pol fusion protein. The importance of frameshifting efficiency for viral propagation was tested in a system where the M1 (killer toxin-encoding) satellite RNA is supported by a full-length L-A cDNA clone. Either increasing or decreasing the frameshift efficiency more than twofold by alterations in the slippery site disrupted viral propagation. A threefold increase caused by a chromosomal mutation, hsh1 (high shifter), had the same effect. Substituting a +1 ribosomal frameshift site from Ty1 with the correct efficiency also allowed support of M1 propagation. The normal -1 frameshift efficiency is similar to the observed molar ratio in viral particles of the 170-kDa gag-pol protein to the 70-kDa gag gene product, the major coat protein. The results are interpreted in terms of a packaging model for L-A.     

Three different M1 RNA-containing viruslike particle types in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: in vitro M1 double-stranded RNA synthesis.

Killer strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae bear at least two different double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) encapsidated in 39-nm viruslike particles (VLPs) of which the major coat protein is coded by the larger RNA (L-A dsRNA). The smaller dsRNA (M1 or M2) encodes an extracellular protein toxin (K1 or K2 toxin). Based on their densities on CsCl gradients, L-A- and M1-containing particles can be separated. Using this method, we detected a new type of M1 dsRNA-containing VLP (M1-H VLP, for heavy) that has a higher density than those previously reported (M1-L VLP, for light). M1-H and M1-L VLPs are present together in the same strains and in all those we tested. M1-H, M1-L, and L-A VLPs all have the same types of proteins in the same approximate proportions, but whereas L-A VLPs and M1-L VLPs have one dsRNA molecule per particle, M1-H VLPs contain two M1 dsRNA molecules per particle. Their RNA polymerase produces mainly plus single strands that are all extruded in the case of M1-H particles but are partially retained inside the M1-L particles to be used later for dsRNA synthesis. We show that M1-H VLPs are formed in vitro from the M1-L VLPs. We also show that the peak of M1 dsRNA synthesis is in fractions lighter than M1-L VLPs, presumably those carrying only a single plus M1 strand. We suggest that VLPs carrying two M1 dsRNAs (each 1.8 kilobases) can exist because the particle is designed to carry one L-A dsRNA (4.5 kilobases).     

Yeast virus propagation depends critically on free 60S ribosomal subunit concentration.

Over 30 MAK (maintenance of killer) genes are necessary for propagation of the killer toxin-encoding M1 satellite double-stranded RNA of the L-A virus. Sequence analysis revealed that MAK7 is RPL4A, one of the two genes encoding ribosomal protein L4 of the 60S subunit. We further found that mutants with mutations in 18 MAK genes (including mak1 [top1], mak7 [rpl4A], mak8 [rpl3], mak11, and mak16) had decreased free 60S subunits. Mutants with another three mak mutations had half-mer polysomes, indicative of poor association of 60S and 40S subunits. The rest of the mak mutants, including the mak3 (N-acetyltransferase) mutant, showed a normal profile. The free 60S subunits, L-A copy number, and the amount of L-A coat protein in the mak1, mak7, mak11, and mak16 mutants were raised to the normal level by the respective normal single-copy gene. Our data suggest that most mak mutations affect M1 propagation by their effects on the supply of proteins from the L-A virus and that the translation of the non-poly(A) L-A mRNA depends critically on the amount of free 60S ribosomal subunits, probably because 60S association with the 40S subunit waiting at the initiator AUG is facilitated by the 3' poly(A).     

Translation and M1 double-stranded RNA propagation: MAK18 = RPL41B and cycloheximide curing.

MAK18 is one of nearly 30 chromosomal genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae necessary for propagation of the killer toxin-encoding M1 double-stranded RNA satellite of the L-A double-stranded RNA virus. We have cloned and sequenced MAK18 and find that it is identical to RPL41B, one of the two genes encoding large ribosomal subunit protein L41. The mak18-1 mutant is deficient in 60S subunits, which we suggest results in a preferential decrease in translation of viral poly(A)-deficient mRNA. We have reexamined the curing of M1 by low concentrations of cycloheximide (G. R. Fink and C. A. Styles, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 69:2846-2849, 1972), which is known to act on ribosomal large subunit protein L29. We find that when M1 is supported by L-A proteins made from the poly(A)+ mRNA of a cDNA clone of L-A, cycloheximide does not decrease the M1 copy number, consistent with our hypothesis.