Cloning and characterization of carboxyl terminus of heat shock cognate 70-interacting protein gene from the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Carboxyl terminus of heat shock cognate 70-interacting protein (CHIP) is an evolutionarily conserved E3 ubiquitin ligase across different eukaryotic species and is known to play a key role in protein quality control. CHIP has two distinct functional domains, an N-terminal tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) and a C-terminal U-box domain, which are required for the ubiquitination of numerous labile client proteins that are chaperoned by heat shock proteins (HSPs) and heat shock cognate proteins (HSCs). During our screen for CHIP-like proteins in the Bombyx mori databases, we found a novel silkworm gene, Bombyx mori CHIP. Phylogenetic analysis showed that BmCHIP belongs to Lepidopteran lineages. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis indicated that BmCHIP was relatively highly expressed in the gonad and fat body. A pull-down experiment and auto-ubiquitination assay showed that BmCHIP interacted with BmHSC70 and had E3 ligase activity. Additionally, immunohistochemical analysis revealed that BmCHIP was partially co-localized with ubiquitin in BmN4 cells. These data support that BmCHIP plays an important role in the ubiquitin proteasome system as an E3 ubiquitin ligase in B. mori.

Involvement of HSC70-4 and other inducible HSPs in Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus infection.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) and heat shock cognate proteins (HSCs) function as molecular chaperones under normal cellular conditions. In this report, we describe the role of Bombyx mori heat shock cognate protein 70-4 (BmHSC70-4), which is a constitutively expressed member of the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) family, in B. mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) infection. We first generated the BmHSC70-4 antibody, which can react specifically with an endogenous BmHSC70 from BmN cells. Immunohistochemistry has demonstrated that BmHSC70-4 was expressed at steady-state levels throughout the BmNPV infection and was accumulated in the nucleus of BmNPV-infected cells at a very late phase of infection. Western blot experiments have also shown that BmHSC70-4 is a novel component protein of budded virus (BV) and occlusion-derived virus (ODV). Next, we investigated the effect of KNK437, a known inhibitor of inducible HSPs, in BmNPV-infected BmN cells and found that both reduced BV production and delayed viral DNA replication were observed in virus-infected cells treated with KNK437. Furthermore, the formation of occlusion bodies (OBs) was not observed in KNK437-treated cells because this compound reduced the promoter activity of the polyhedrin gene severely. Collectively, the present results suggest that BmHSC70-4 is a novel structural protein of BmNPV and may have important roles in BmNPV propagation.

Establishment and characterization of the Bombyx mandarina cell line.

A new cell line, designated as NIAS-Boma-529b, was established from the larval fat bodies of Bombyx mandarina (B. mandarina), which is believed to be an ancestor of Bombyx mori (B. mori). This cell line has been cultured for approximately 150 passages during 2years in an IPL-41 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum at a constant temperature of 26 degrees C. The morphology of this line includes adhesive round and spindle-shaped cells. Random-amplified polymorphic DNA analysis (RAPD) using 7 primers and a statistical analysis based on Nei's genetic distance revealed that this cell line was closely related to B. mori-derived cell lines. An infection study also revealed that this cell line was susceptible to B. mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV); however, it had no apparent susceptibility to Autographa californica NPV (AcNPV), which is closely related to BmNPV. Nevertheless, cells infected with AcNPV showed an extensive cytopathic effect (CPE), including a rough cell surface, rounding, nuclear expansion, and cell blebbing. These results suggest that this cell line can be useful to clarify the mechanism of host range determination of BmNPV and AcNPV.