The molecular modifications of Herpes Simplex Virus Type Ⅰ (HSV-1) proteins represented by acetylation and phosphorylation are essential to its biological functions. The cellular chromatin-remodeling/assembly is involved in HSV-1 associated gene transcriptional regulation in human cells harboring HSV-1 lytic or latent infections. Further investigation on these biological events would provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of HSV-1 viral gene transcriptional regulation.
The protein encoded by HSRG1(HSV-1 stimulation-related gene 1) is a virally induced protein expressed in HSV-1-infected cells.We have already reported that HSRG1 is capable of interacting with transcriptional regulator proteins.To further analyze the effects of HSRG1 on the regulation of viral gene transcription,we expressed the HSRG1 protein in transfected cells and found that it postpones the proliferation of HSV-1.CAT(chloramphenicol acetyltransferase) assays also revealed that HSRG1 reduces transcription from HSV-1 promoters.Yeast two-hybrid and immunoprecipitation assays indicated that HSRG1 interacts with Cyclin T2,the regulatory subunit of P-TEFb,which is required for transcription elongation by RNA Pol II(RNAP II) ,and that amino acid residues 1-420 in Cyclin T2 are important for binding with HSRG1.Fluorescence assays suggested that the cellular localizations of those two proteins are influenced by their interaction.Further analyses with CAT assays revealed that HSRG1 inhibits the transcriptional activation by Cyclin T2 of viral promoters.Our results suggested that the inhibitory effects of HSRG1 on viral replication and proliferation are probably induced by its binding to Cyclin T2.Therefore,it is likely that HSRG1 inhibits viral gene transcriptional elongation by interacting with Cyclin T2.
The protein HTRP (human transcription regulator protein) is encoded by the differential gene htrp and induced by Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection in KMB-17 cells.HTRP was found to interact with SAP30 (mSin3A Association Protein),one of the components of co-repressor complex mSin3A,which is part of the deacetylation transfer enzyme HDAC.To reveal the biological significance of the interaction between HTRP and SAP30,real-time PCR and a dual-luciferase detecting system was used.The results indicate that HTRP could inhibit the transcription of a viral promoter,whose interaction with SAP30 synergistically affects transcriptional inhibition of the viral genes,and is related to HDAC enzyme activity.ChIP experiments demonstrate that HTRP could promote HDAC activity by increasing the deacetylation level of lysine 14 and lysine 9 in histone H3.
Jie CHEN Yan-mei LI Jian-feng LI Long-ding LIU Yun LIAO Rui-xiong NA Jing-jing WANG Li-chun WANG Qi-han LI
Nuclear proteins often form punctiform structures, but the precise mechanism for this process is unknown. As a preliminary study, we investigated the aggregation of an HSV-1 immediate-early protein, infected-cell protein 22 (ICP22), in the nucleus by observing the localization of ICP22-EGFP fusion protein. Results showed that, in high-level expression conditions, ICP22-EGFP gradually concentrates in the nucleus, persists throughout the cell cycle without disaggregation even in the cell division phase, and is finally distributed to daughter cells. We subsequently constructed a mammalian cell expression system, which had tetracycline- dependent transcriptional regulators. Consequently, the location of ICP22-EGFP in the nucleus changed with distinct induction conditions. This suggests that the cellular location of ICP22 is also influenced by promoter regulation, in addition to its own structure. Our findings provide new clues for the investigation of transcriptional regulation of viral genes. In addition, the non-protease reporter system we constructed could be utilized to evaluate the role of internal ribosome entry sites (IRES) on transcriptional regulation.
Wei CUN Jie CHEN Ying ZHANG Long-ding LIU Qi-han LI
The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) tegument proteins have important functions in the viral repli- cation process. In order to investigate the role of the HSV-1 tegument protein VP22 in viral replication, its transcriptional regulation of viral promoters was investigated using the chloramphenicol acetyl- transferase (CAT) assay. The results indicate that VP22 exerts a dose-dependent transcriptional in- hibitory effect on the HSV-1 α4, TK, and gC gene promoters. VP22 had the capacity to repress tran- scriptional activation of promoters via different viral transcription regulatory factors such as VP16 and ICP0, as evidenced by the specific repression of the TK and gC gene promoters by ICP0. In addition, VP22 was capable of inhibiting the promotion of ICP0 transcriptional activation in the presence of HAT PCAF, which is even more remarkable than the VP22 repression of ICP0 transcriptional activation. Fi- nally, the transcriptional inhibitory effect of VP22 on other viral promoters was demonstrated by the analysis of β-galactosidase activities in internal controls.
YU Xian1,2, LI WeiZhong1, LIU LongDing1, CHE YanChun1, CUN Wei1, WU WenJuan1, HE ChunYan1, SHAO CongWen1 & LI QiHan1 1 Department of Viral Immunology, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650118, China
HSV-1 infection-mediated regulation of mRNA translation in host cells is a systematic and complicated process. Investigation of the details of this mechanism will facilitate understanding of biological variations in the viral replication process and host cells. In this study, a comparative proteomics technology platform was applied by two-dimension electrophoresis of HSV-1 infected normal human L-02 cell and control cell lysates. The observed protein spots were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by the PDQuest software package. A number of the different observed protein spots closely associated with cellular protein synthesis were identified by matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The expression levels of the RPLP1 protein, which is required for mRNA translation, and KHSRP protein, which is involved in rapid decay of mRNA, were up-regulated, whereas the expression level of RNP H2, which is involved in positive regulation on the mRNA splicing process, was down-regulated. All of these results suggest that HSV-1 infection can influence cellular protein synthesis via modulation of cellular regulatory proteins involved in RNA splicing, translation and decay, resulting in optimisation of viral protein synthesis when cellular protein synthesis is shut off. Although there is need for further investigations regarding the detailed mechanisms of cellular protein control, our studies provide new insight into the targeting of varied virus signaling pathways involved in host cellular protein synthesis.
Min HONG Yan-chun CHE Gui-zhen TANG Wei CUN Xue-mei ZHANG Long-ding LIU Qi-han LI
An interaction between the HSV-1 UL25 capsid protein and cellular microtubule-associated protein was found using a yeast two-hybrid screen and β-D-galactosidase activity assays. Immunofluorescence microscopy of the UL25 protein demonstrated its co-localization with cellular microtubule-associated protein in the plasma membrane. Further investigations with deletion mutants suggest that UL25 is likely to have a function in the nucleus.
Lei GUO Ying ZHANG Yan-chun CHE Wen-juan WU Wei-zhong LI Li-chun WANG Yun LIAO Long-ding LIU Qi-han LI
