HIV-1 replication through hHR23A-mediated interaction of Vpr with 26S proteasome.

HIV-1 Vpr is a virion-associated protein. Its activities link to viral pathogenesis and disease progression of HIV-infected patients. In vitro, Vpr moderately activates HIV-1 replication in proliferating T cells, but it is required for efficient viral infection and replication in vivo in non-dividing cells such as macrophages. How exactly Vpr contributes to viral replication remains elusive. We show here that Vpr stimulates HIV-1 replication at least in part through its interaction with hHR23A, a protein that binds to 19S subunit of the 26S proteasome and shuttles ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome for degradation. The Vpr-proteasome interaction was initially discovered in fission yeast, where Vpr was shown to associate with Mts4 and Mts2, two 19S-associated proteins. The interaction of Vpr with the 19S subunit of the proteasome was further confirmed in mammalian cells where Vpr associates with the mammalian orthologues of fission yeast Mts4 and S5a. Consistently, depletion of hHR23A interrupts interaction of Vpr with proteasome in mammalian cells. Furthermore, Vpr promotes hHR23A-mediated protein-ubiquitination, and down-regulation of hHR23A using RNAi significantly reduced viral replication in non-proliferating MAGI-CCR5 cells and primary macrophages. These findings suggest that Vpr-proteasome interaction might counteract certain host restriction factor(s) to stimulate viral replication in non-dividing cells.

Nonstructural NS1 proteins of several mosquito-borne Flavivirus do not inhibit TLR3 signaling.

Flaviviruses are single-stranded positive RNA viruses that replicate through double stranded RNA (dsRNA) intermediates. These dsRNA may be recognized as pathogen-associated molecular patterns by cellular receptors including membrane-bound Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) and cytosolic helicases RIG-I and MDA5. dsRNA stimulation results in signaling cascades converging to activation of interferon (IFN) regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) and to transcriptional activation of several interferon stimulated genes, including IFNss and inflammatory cytokines. There are conflicting reports concerning the ability of West Nile virus to counteract TLR3 signaling. In our analyses, transiently or stably expressed NS1 proteins from two West Nile viruses, two dengue 2 viruses and a yellow fever virus failed to inhibit TLR3 signaling in two different mammalian cell lines. Moreover, using siRNA inhibiting the helicase signalization pathway, we show that viral infection did not impede TLR3 responses to poly(I:C). We conclude that NS1 proteins from distinct mosquito-borne flaviviruses do not inhibit TLR3 signaling.

Synthesis and antiviral activity of boranophosphonate isosteres of AZT and d4T monophosphates.

We report synthesis, in vitro antiviral activity, and stability studies in biological media of original boranophosphonate isosteres of AZT and d4T monophophates. A convenient route for the synthesis of 3'-Azido-3'-deoxythymidine-5'-boranophosphonate 8 and 2',3'-Didehydro-3'-dideoxythymidine-5'-boranophosphonate 12 is described. H-phosphinates 7 and 11, and alpha-boranophosphonates 8 and 12 exhibited no significant in vitro activity against HIV-infected cells, neither against a broad panel of viruses, up to 200 microM. The absence of activity of target compounds 8 and 12 can be partially explained by their short half-life in culture medium.

Uracil within DNA: an actor of antiviral immunity.

Uracil is a natural base of RNA but may appear in DNA through two different pathways including cytosine deamination or misincorporation of deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate nucleotide (dUTP) during DNA replication and constitutes one of the most frequent DNA lesions. In cellular organisms, such lesions are faithfully cleared out through several universal DNA repair mechanisms, thus preventing genome injury. However, several recent studies have brought some pieces of evidence that introduction of uracil bases in viral genomic DNA intermediates during genome replication might be a way of innate immune defence against some viruses. As part of countermeasures, numerous viruses have developed powerful strategies to prevent emergence of uracilated viral genomes and/or to eliminate uracils already incorporated into DNA. This review will present the current knowledge about the cellular and viral countermeasures against uracils in DNA and the implications of these uracils as weapons against viruses.

Synthesis, in vitro antiviral evaluation, and stability studies of novel alpha-borano-nucleotide analogues of 9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]adenine and (R)-9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine.

We describe here the synthesis of 9-[2-(boranophosphonomethoxy)ethyl]adenine (6a) and (R)-9-[2-(boranophosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine (6b), the first alpha-boranophosphonate nucleosides in which a borane (BH3) group substitutes one nonbridging oxygen atom of the alpha-phosphonate moiety. H-phosphinates 5a and 5b and alpha-boranophosphonates 6a and 6b were evaluated for their in vitro activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected cells and against a panel of DNA or RNA viruses. Compounds 5a, 5b, 6a, and 6b exhibited no significant antiviral activity in vitro and cytotoxicity. To measure the chemical and enzymatic stabilities of the target compounds 6a and 6b, kinetic data of decomposition for derivatives 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, and standard compounds were studied at 37 degrees C in several media. The alpha-boranophosphonates 6a and 6b were metabolized in culture medium into H-phosphinates 5a and 5b, with half-live values of 5.3 h for 6a and 1.3 h for 6b.

Uracils as a cellular weapon against viruses and mechanisms of viral escape.

Uracil in DNA is a deleterious event that may arise either by cytosine deamination or misincorporation of dUTP. Consequently, cells from all free-living organisms have developed strategies to protect their genome against the presence of uracils, by using uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG) and deoxyuridine triphosphatase (dUTPase) enzymatic activities. In the viral kingdom, some (namely poxviruses and herpesviruses) but not all of the DNA viruses encode their own UNG and dUTPase to control uracilation of their genome. Some retroviruses, which are RNA viruses using DNA as an intermediate of replication, also encode dUTPase. Surprisingly, though most of nonprimate lentiviruses encode dUTPase, primate lentiviruses such as HIV-1, HIV-2 or SIV do not. Because these latter viruses also replicate in nondividing cells where the dUTP/dTTP ratio is high, it is probable that they have found other ways to fight against the emergence of uracilated-viral transcripts. Indeed, recent studies showed that HIV-1 efficiently controls both the cytosine deamination and the dUTP misincorporation. The viral Vif protein acts in preventing the packaging into viral particles of the host-derived cytosine deaminase APOBEC3G enzyme, while the viral integrase domain of the Gag-Pol precursor mediates the packaging of the host-derived uracil DNA glycosylase UNG2 enzyme. In the absence of Vif or UNG2, HIV-1 viral transcripts are heavily charged in uracil bases leading to inactivation of the virus.

Synthetic Vpr protein activates activator protein-1, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and NF-kappaB and stimulates HIV-1 transcription in promonocytic cells and primary macrophages.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Vpr protein plays a critical role in AIDS pathogenesis, especially by allowing viral replication within nondividing cells such as mononuclear phagocytes. Most of the data obtained so far have been in experiments with endogenous Vpr protein; therefore the effects of extracellular Vpr protein remain largely unknown. We used synthetic Vpr protein to activate nuclear transcription factors activator protein-1 (AP-1) and NF-kappaB in the promonocytic cell line U937 and in primary macrophages. Synthetic HIV-1 Vpr protein activated AP-1, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and MKK7 in both U937 cells and primary macrophages. Synthetic Vpr activated NF-kappaB in primary macrophages and to a lesser extent in U937 cells. Because synthetic Vpr activated AP-1 and NF-kappaB, which bind to the HIV-1 long terminal repeat, we investigated the effect of synthetic Vpr on HIV-1 replication. We observed that synthetic Vpr stimulated HIV-1 long terminal repeat in U937 cells and enhanced viral replication in chronically infected U1 promonocytic cells. Similarly, synthetic Vpr stimulated HIV-1 replication in acutely infected primary macrophages. Activation of transcription factors and enhancement of viral replication in U937 cells and primary macrophages were mediated by both the N-terminal and the C-terminal moieties of synthetic Vpr. Therefore, our results suggest that extracellular Vpr could fuel the progression of AIDS via stimulation of HIV-1 provirus present in such cellular reservoirs as mononuclear phagocytes in HIV-infected patients.

HIV-1-associated uracil DNA glycosylase activity controls dUTP misincorporation in viral DNA and is essential to the HIV-1 life cycle.

Uracilation of DNA represents a constant threat to the survival of many organisms including viruses. Uracil may appear in DNA either by cytosine deamination or by misincorporation of dUTP. The HIV-1-encoded Vif protein controls cytosine deamination by preventing the incorporation of host-derived APOBEC3G cytidine deaminase into viral particles. Here, we show that the host-derived uracil DNA glycosylase UNG2 enzyme, which is recruited into viral particles by the HIV-1-encoded integrase domain, is essential to the viral life cycle. We demonstrate that virion-associated UNG2 catalytic activity can be replaced by the packaging of heterologous dUTPase into virion, indicating that UNG2 acts to counteract dUTP misincorporation in the viral genome. Therefore, HIV-1 prevents incorporation of dUTP in viral cDNA by UNG2-mediated uracil excision followed by a dNTP-dependent, reverse transcriptase-mediated endonucleolytic cleavage and finally by strand-displacement polymerization. Our findings indicate that pharmacologic strategies aimed toward blocking UNG2 packaging should be explored as potential HIV/AIDS therapeutics.

A loss of viral replicative capacity correlates with altered DNA polymerization kinetics by the human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase bearing the K65R and L74V dideoxynucleoside resistance substitutions.

Mechanisms governing viral replicative capacity are poorly understood at the biochemical level. Human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 reverse transcriptase (HIV-1 RT) K65R or L74V substitutions confer viral resistance to 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI) in vivo. The two substitutions never occur together, and L74V is frequently found in patients receiving ddI, while K65R is not. Here we show that recombinant viruses carrying K65R and K65R/L74V display the same resistance level to ddI (about 9.5-fold) relative to wild type. Consistent with this result, purified HIV-1 RT carrying K65R RT or K65R/L74V substitutions exhibits an 8-fold resistance to ddATP as judged by pre-steady state kinetics of incorporation of a single nucleotide into DNA. Resistance is due to a selective decrease of the catalytic rate constant k(pol): 22-fold (from 7.2 to 0.33 s(-1)) for K65R RT and 84-fold (from 7.2 to 0.086 s(-1)) for K65R/L74V RT. However, the K65R/L74V virus replication capacity is severely impaired relative to that of wild-type virus. This loss of viral fitness is correlated to a poor ability of K65R/L74V RT to use natural nucleotides relative to wild-type RT: 15% that of wild-type RT for dATP, 36% for dGTP, 50% for dTTP, and 25% for dCTP. The order of incorporation efficiency is wild-type RT > L74V RT > K65R RT > K65R/L74V RT. Processivity of DNA synthesis remains unaffected. These results explain why the two mutations do not combine in the clinic and might give a mechanism for a decreased viral fitness at the molecular level.

The human polycomb group EED protein interacts with the integrase of human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

Human EED, a member of the superfamily of WD-40 repeat proteins and of the Polycomb group proteins, has been identified as a cellular partner of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) matrix (MA) protein (R. Peytavi et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274:1635-1645, 1999). In the present study, EED was found to interact with HIV-1 integrase (IN) both in vitro and in vivo in yeast. In vitro, data from mutagenesis studies, pull-down assays, and phage biopanning suggested that EED-binding site(s) are located in the C-terminal domain of IN, between residues 212 and 264. In EED, two putative discrete IN-binding sites were mapped to its N-terminal moiety, at a distance from the MA-binding site, but EED-IN interaction also required the integrity of the EED last two WD repeats. EED showed an apparent positive effect on IN-mediated DNA integration reaction in vitro, in a dose-dependent manner. In situ analysis by immunoelectron microscopy (IEM) of cellular distribution of IN and EED in HIV-1-infected cells (HeLa CD4(+) cells or MT4 lymphoid cells) showed that IN and EED colocalized in the nucleus and near nuclear pores, with maximum colocalization events occurring at 6 h postinfection (p.i.). Triple colocalizations of IN, EED, and MA were also observed in the nucleoplasm of infected cells at 6 h p.i., suggesting the ocurrence of multiprotein complexes involving these three proteins at early steps of the HIV-1 virus life cycle. Such IEM patterns were not observed with a noninfectious, envelope deletion mutant of HIV-1.

A fission yeast homologue of the human uracil-DNA-glycosylase and their roles in causing DNA damage after overexpression.

A functional homologue (ung1) of the human uracil-DNA-glycosylase (UNG) gene was characterized from fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). The ung1 gene is highly conserved and encodes a protein with uracil-DNA-glycosylase activity similar to human UNG. The Ung1 protein localizes predominantly to the nucleus, suggesting that it is more similar to the nuclear form (UNG2) than the mitochondrial form (UNG1) of human UNG. Even though deletion of ung1 does not cause any obvious defects, overexpression of ung1 increases the mutation frequency. Overexpression of ung1 or human UNG2 induces a DNA checkpoint-dependent cell cycle delay and causes cell death which is enhanced when the checkpoints are inactive. In addition, the steady-state level of AP (apurinic/apyrimidinic) sites increases after ung1 overexpression, indicating that AP sites are likely to be the DNA damage caused by overexpression. Analysis of mutant ung indicates that catalytic activity is not required for the effects of overexpression, but that binding of Ung1 or UNG2 to AP sites may be important.

Reversion of the lethal phenotype of an HIV-1 integrase mutant virus by overexpression of the same integrase mutant protein.

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase (IN) is essential for integration of viral DNA into host cell chromatin. We have reported previously (Priet, S., Navarro, J. M., Gros, N., Querat, G., and Sire, J. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 4566-4571) that IN also plays a role in the packaging of the host uracil DNA glycosylase UNG2 into viral particles and that the region of IN encompassing residues 170-180 was responsible for the interaction with UNG2 and for its packaging into virions. In this work, we aimed to investigate the replication of HIV-1 viruses rendered deficient in virion-associated UNG2 by single or double point mutations in the region 170-180 of IN. We show that the L172A/K173A IN mutant virus was deficient for UNG2 packaging and was defective for replication because of a blockage at the stage of proviral DNA integration in host cell DNA. In vitro assays using long term repeat mimics, however, demonstrate that the L172A/K173A IN mutant was catalytically active. Moreover, trans-complementation experiments show that the viral propagation of L172A/K173A viruses could be rescued by the overexpression of Vpr.L172A/K173A IN fusion protein in a dose-dependent manner and that this rescue is independent of UNG2 packaging. Altogether, our data indicate that L172A/K173A mutations of IN induce a subtle defect in the function of IN, which nevertheless dramatically impairs viral replication. Unexpectedly, this blockage of replication could be overcome by forcing the packaging of higher amounts of this same mutated integrase. This is the first study reporting that blockage of the integration process of HIV-1 provirus carrying a mutation of IN could be alleviated by increasing amounts of IN even carrying the same mutations.

Differential incorporation of uracil DNA glycosylase UNG2 into HIV-1, HIV-2, and SIV(MAC) viral particles.

We have previously reported that the host uracil DNA glycosylase UNG2 enzyme is incorporated into HIV-1 virions via a specific association with the viral integrase (IN) domain of Gag-Pol precursor. In this study, we investigated whether UNG2 was packaged into two phylogenetically closely related primate lentiviruses, HIV-2(ROD) and SIV(MAC239). We demonstrated by GST-pull-down and coprecipitation assays that INs from HIV-1, HIV-2(ROD), and SIV(MAC239) associated with UNG2, although the interaction of UNG2 with HIV-2(ROD) IN and SIV(MAC239) IN was less strong than with HIV-1 IN. We then showed by Western blotting that highly purified HIV-2 and SIV(MAC) viral particles did not incorporate host UNG2, contrasting with the presence of UNG2 in HIV-1 viral particles. Finally, we showed that HIV-1/SIV chimeric viruses in which residues 6 to 202 of HIV-1 IN were replaced by the SIV counterpart were impaired for packaging of UNG2, indicating that the incorporation of host UNG2 into viral particles is the hallmark of the HIV-1 strain. Moreover, we found that HIV-1/SIV IN chimeric viruses were deficient for viral propagation.

Functional role of HIV-1 virion-associated uracil DNA glycosylase 2 in the correction of G:U mispairs to G:C pairs.

Human monocytes/macrophages are target cells for HIV-1 infection. As other non-dividing cells, they are characterized by low and imbalanced intracellular dNTP pool levels and an excess of dUTP. The replication of HIV-1 in this cellular context favors misincorporation of uracil residues into viral DNA because of the use of dUTP in place of dCTP. We have previously reported that the host uracil DNA glycosylase enzyme UNG2 is packaged into HIV-1 viral particles via a specific association with the integrase domain of the Gag-Pol precursor. In this study, we investigated whether virion-associated UNG2 plays a role similar to that of its cellular counterpart. We show that the L172A mutation of integrase impaired the packaging of UNG2 into viral particles. Using a primer-template DNA substrate containing G:U mispairs, we demonstrate that wild-type viral lysate has the ability to repair G:U mismatched pairs to G:C matched pairs, in contrast to UNG2-deficient viral lysate. Moreover, no correction of G:T mispairs by wild-type HIV-1 viral lysate was observed, which argues for the specificity of the repair process. We also show that UNG2 physically associates with the viral reverse transcriptase enzyme. Altogether our data indicate for the first time that a uracil repair pathway is specifically associated with HIV-1 viral particles. However, the molecular mechanism of this process remains to be characterized further.