De Novo Herpes Simplex Virus VP16 Expression Gates a Dynamic Programmatic Transition and Sets the Latent/Lytic Balance during Acute Infection in Trigeminal Ganglia.

The life long relationship between herpes simplex virus and its host hinges on the ability of the virus to aggressively replicate in epithelial cells at the site of infection and transport into the nervous system through axons innervating the infection site. Interaction between the virus and the sensory neuron represents a pivot point where largely unknown mechanisms lead to a latent or a lytic infection in the neuron. Regulation at this pivot point is critical for balancing two objectives, efficient widespread seeding of the nervous system and host survival. By combining genetic and in vivo in approaches, our studies reveal that the balance between latent and lytic programs is a process occurring early in the trigeminal ganglion. Unexpectedly, activation of the latent program precedes entry into the lytic program by 12 -14hrs. Importantly, at the individual neuronal level, the lytic program begins as a transition out of this acute stage latent program and this escape from the default latent program is regulated by de novo VP16 expression. Our findings support a model in which regulated de novo VP16 expression in the neuron mediates entry into the lytic cycle during the earliest stages of virus infection in vivo. These findings support the hypothesis that the loose association of VP16 with the viral tegument combined with sensory axon length and transport mechanisms serve to limit arrival of virion associated VP16 into neuronal nuclei favoring latency. Further, our findings point to specialized features of the VP16 promoter that control the de novo expression of VP16 in neurons and this regulation is a key component in setting the balance between lytic and latent infections in the nervous system.

Circadian Oscillations of NADH Redox State Using a Heterologous Metabolic Sensor in Mammalian Cells.

It is known that there are mechanistic links between circadian clocks and metabolic cycles. Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) is a key metabolic cofactor in all living cells; however, it is not known whether levels of NADH oscillate or not. Here we employed REX, a bacterial NADH-binding protein, fused to the VP16 activator to convert intracellular endogenous redox balance into transcriptional readouts by a reporter gene in mammalian cells. EMSA results show that the DNA binding activity of both T- and S-REX::VP16 fusions is decreased with a reduced-to-oxidized cofactor ratio increase. Transient and stabilized cell lines bearing the REX::VP16 and the REX binding operator (ROP) exhibit two circadian luminescence cycles. Consistent with these results, NADH oscillations are observed in host cells, indicating REX can act as a NADH sensor to report intracellular dynamic redox homeostasis in mammalian cells in real time. NADH oscillations provide another metabolic signal for coupling the circadian clock and cellular metabolic states.

[EFFECTIVENESS OF POLYCATIONIC NANOPARTICLES OF POLYETHYLENEIMINE-POLYHYDROZIDE-CHITOSAN (PEI-PG-OCHG) AS A VECTOR FOR SMALL INTER- FERING RNA, DIRECTED TO SUPPRESS HERPES SIMPLEX TYPE 2 VIRUS REPLICATION].

AIM: Evaluation of an antiviral effect of miRNA in the nanoparticles of a polycationic compound against mRNA of vp16 protein (UL48 gene) of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS. 50% aqueous solution of polyethyleneimine (BDH, Great Britain), chitosan, containing approximately 15% of N-acetylated glucosamine chains (Sonat, Russia), hydrazine-hydrate and other chemical reagents (Chimmed, Russia); Vero continuous cell line, MS HSV-2 virus were used. Vero cells were cultivated in DMEM medium supplemented by 10% fetal bovine serum at 37°C in the atmosphere of 5% CO2. Cell viability was evaluated by using Neutral Red vital stain and MTT-test. Primers and probes for RT-PCR were modeled in Vector NTI 8.0 computer program according to the mRNA sequences of the studied genes (the sequences were obtained from GenBank) and synthesized in Sintol (Russia). RT-PCR tests were set using a standard procedure. Synthesis of PEI-PG-chitosan was carried out by Krivtsov G.G. et al. (2010). RESULTS: A design and synthesis of nucleotide sequences, that have interfering activity against this virus, was carried out to study the effect of siRNA on HSV-2 virus replication. During simultaneous addition of HSV-2 and specific siRNA to Vero cells in cell culture, a significant (by 4 lg) reduction of virus yield was observed. A level of UL48 mRNA expression level was determined after the influence of various siRNA variants. A S2 siRNA variant was shown to cause the most pronounced virus-inhibiting effect, aiming for the center of RNA-target (the level of expression of the studied gene decreased by 0.5 lg). CONCLUSION: siRNA in the PEI-PG-chitosan complexes were established to possess in vitro pronounced suppressive HSV-2 replication activity. The results obtained could be used in creation of new therapeutic preparation against herpes viruses.

Bovine herpesvirus 1 regulatory proteins are detected in trigeminal ganglionic neurons during the early stages of stress-induced escape from latency.

Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) establishes latency in sensory neurons. The synthetic corticosteroid dexamethasone consistently induces reactivation from latency. Within 90 min after latently infected calves are treated with dexamethasone, two BHV-1 regulatory proteins, BHV-1-infected cell protein 0 (bICP0) and viral protein 16 (VP16), are expressed in the same neuron. In this study, we demonstrate that VP16 and bICP0 can be detected at 22 and 33 min after dexamethasone (DEX) treatment of latently infected calves. However, we were unable to discern whether VP16 or bICP0 was expressed at early times after reactivation. VP16+ neurons consistently express the glucocorticoid receptor suggesting corticosteroid-mediated activation of its receptor rapidly stimulates reactivation from latency.

Bile acid-controlled transgene expression in mammalian cells and mice.

In recent years, using trigger-inducible mammalian gene switches to design sophisticated transcription-control networks has become standard practice in synthetic biology. These switches provide unprecedented precision, complexity and reliability when programming novel mammalian cell functions. Metabolite-responsive repressors of human-pathogenic bacteria are particularly attractive for use in these orthogonal synthetic mammalian gene switches because the trigger compound sensitivity often matches the human physiological range. We have designed both a bile acid-repressible (BEAROFF) as well as a bile-acid-inducible (BEARON) gene switch by capitalizing on components that have evolved to manage bile acid resistance in Campylobacter jejuni, the leading causative agent of human food-borne enteritis. We have shown that both of these switches enable bile acid-adjustable transgene expression in different mammalian cell lines as well as in mice. For the BEAROFF device, the C. jejuni repressor CmeR was fused to the VP16 transactivation domain to create a synthetic transactivator that activates minimal promoters containing tandem operator modules (Ocme) in a bile acid-repressible manner. Fusion of CmeR to a transsilencing domain resulted in an artificial transsilencer that binds and represses a constitutive Ocme-containing promoter until it is released by addition of bile acid (BEARON). A tailored multi-step tuning program for the inducible gene switch, which included the optimization of individual component performance, control of their relative abundances, the choice of the cell line and trigger compound, resulted in a BEARON device with significantly improved bile acid-responsive control characteristics. Synthetic metabolite-triggered gene switches that are able to interface with host metabolism may foster advances in future gene and cell-based therapies.

Analysis of Sec61p and Ssh1p interactions in the ER membrane using the split-ubiquitin system.

BACKGROUND: The split-ubiquitin system monitors interactions of transmembrane proteins in yeast. It is based on the formation of a quasi-native ubiquitin structure upon interaction of two proteins to which the N- and C-terminal halves of ubiquitin have been fused. In the system we use here ubiquitin formation leads to proteolytic cleavage liberating a transcription factor (PLV) from the C-ubiquitin (C) fusion protein which can then activate reporter genes. Generation of fusion proteins is, however, rife with problems, and particularly in transmembrane proteins often disturbs topology, structure and function. RESULTS: We show that both the Sec61 protein which forms the principal protein translocation channel in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, and its non-essential homologue, Ssh1p, when fused C-terminally to CPLV are inactive. In a heterozygous diploid Sec61-CPLV is present in protein translocation channels in the ER membrane without disturbing their function and displays a limited set of protein-protein interactions similar to those found for the wildtype protein using biochemical methods. Although its expression level is similar, Ssh1-CPLV interactions are less strong, and, in contrast to Sec61p, Ssh1p does not distinguish between Sbh1p and Sbh2p. We show that interactions can be monitored by reporter gene activity or directly by PLV cleavage, which is more sensitive, but leads to quantitatively different results. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the split-ubiquitin system we used here has high fidelity, but low sensitivity and is of limited use for detection of new, transient interactions with protein translocation channels in the ER membrane.

Herpes simplex virus ICP27 increases translation of a subset of viral late mRNAs.

The herpes simplex virus (HSV) ICP27 immediate-early protein plays an essential role in the expression of viral late genes. ICP27 is a multifunctional protein and has been reported to regulate multiple steps of mRNA synthesis and processing, including transcription, splicing, and nuclear export. Recently, ICP27 was reported to interact with translation factors and to stimulate translation of the viral late mRNA encoding VP16. We examined the effects of ICP27 on accumulation, nuclear export, and translation of HSV 1 (HSV-1) late mRNAs encoding VP16, ICP5, and gD. We confirm here that ICP27 stimulates translation of VP16 mRNA as well as an additional HSV-1 late ICP5 mRNA. The data presented here demonstrate that translation levels of both VP16 and ICP5 mRNA is reduced during infections with the ICP27-null virus mutant d27-1, and with ICP27 C-terminal deletion mutant viruses n406 and n504, compared to wild-type virus. In contrast, the translation of gD mRNA is not affected by the presence of ICP27 during infection. These data demonstrate that ICP27 functions to increase the translation levels of a subset of HSV-1 late genes, and this function requires the C terminus of ICP27.

MN1 overexpression induces acute myeloid leukemia in mice and predicts ATRA resistance in patients with AML.

Overexpression of wild-type MN1 is a negative prognostic factor in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with normal cytogenetics. We evaluated whether MN1 plays a functional role in leukemogenesis. We demonstrate using retroviral gene transfer and bone marrow (BM) transplantation that MN1 overexpression rapidly induces lethal AML in mice. Insertional mutagenesis and chromosomal instability were ruled out as secondary aberrations. MN1 increased resistance to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced cell-cycle arrest and differentiation by more than 3000-fold in vitro. The differentiation block could be released by fusion of a transcriptional activator (VP16) to MN1 without affecting the ability to immortalize BM cells, suggesting that MN1 blocks differentiation by transcriptional repression. We then evaluated whether MN1 expression levels in patients with AML (excluding M3-AML) correlated with resistance to ATRA treatment in elderly patients uniformly treated within treatment protocol AMLHD98-B. Strikingly, patients with low MN1 expression who received ATRA had a significantly prolonged event-free (P = .008) and overall (P = .04) survival compared with patients with either low MN1 expression and no ATRA, or high MN1 expression with or without ATRA. MN1 is a unique oncogene in hematopoiesis that both promotes proliferation/self-renewal and blocks differentiation, and may become useful as a predictive marker in AML treatment.

Small-molecule regulation of zebrafish gene expression.

The zebrafish has emerged as a versatile model organism for biomedical research, yet its potential has been limited by a lack of conditional reverse-genetic tools. Here we report a chemically inducible gene expression technology that has orthogonality to vertebrate signaling processes, high induction levels, and rapid kinetics. Coupled with tissue-specific promoters, this system provides multidimensional control of gene expression and will enable new models of human disorders and diseases.

Control of VP16 translation by the herpes simplex virus type 1 immediate-early protein ICP27.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) ICP27 is an essential and multifunctional regulator of gene expression that modulates the synthesis and maturation of viral and cellular mRNAs. Processes that are affected by ICP27 include transcription, pre-mRNA splicing, polyadenylation, and nuclear RNA export. We have examined how ICP27 influences the expression of the essential HSV tegument protein and transactivator of immediate-early gene expression VP16. We monitored the effects of ICP27 on the levels, nuclear export, and polyribosomal association of VP16 mRNA and on the amount and stability of VP16 protein. Deletion of ICP27 reduced the levels of VP16 mRNA without altering its nuclear export or the stability of the encoded protein. However, the translational yield of the VP16 mRNA produced in the absence of ICP27 was reduced 9- to 80-fold relative to that for wild-type infection, suggesting a defect in translation. In the absence of ICP27, the majority of cytoplasmic VP16 mRNA was not associated with actively translating polyribosomes but instead cosedimented with 40S ribosomal subunits, indicating that the translational defect is likely at the level of initiation. These effects were mRNA specific, as polyribosomal analysis of two cellular transcripts (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and beta-actin) and two early HSV transcripts (thymidine kinase and ICP8) indicated that ICP27 is not required for efficient translation of these mRNAs. Thus, we have uncovered a novel mRNA-specific translational regulatory function of ICP27.

Expression of constitutively stable hybrid hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha protects cultured rat cardiomyocytes against simulated ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Preconditioning in cultured cardiomyocytes elevates the expression of several protective genes including Glut-4 and heat shock protein (HSP)70. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is known to mediate the transcriptional activation of hypoxia-responsive genes. In this study, we examined the effect of adenovirus-mediated expression of constitutively stable hybrid forms of HIF-1alpha on cardiomyocyte viability and gene expression. Cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were subjected to simulated ischemia-reperfusion with or without preinfection with recombinant adenoviral vectors [Ad2/HIF-1alpha/herpes simplex virus protein VP16 and Ad2/HIF-1alpha/nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB)]. Cellular viability and mRNA levels of several cardioprotective genes were measured. We demonstrated that infection with Ad2/HIF-1alpha/VP16 and Ad2/HIF-1alpha/NF-kappaB mimicked the upregulation of the mRNA levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Glut-1, Glut-4, HSP70, and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and the protection of cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes by late-phase preconditioning against simulated ischemia-reperfusion. The same dose of a control viral vector expressing no transgene had no effect. Preconditioning also elevated HIF-1alpha protein levels. These results suggest that adenovirus-mediated expression of HIF-1alpha/VP16 or HIF-1alpha/NF-kappaB, a constitutively stable hybrid transcriptional factor, protected cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes against simulated ischemia-reperfusion injury by inducing multiple protective genes.

[Preliminary study on regulable DNA vaccines against Plasmodium falciparum].

AIM: To construct regulable DNA vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum by using tetracycline(Tet) regulable system. METHODS: Eukaryotic expression vectors pTL-8/apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA-1) (tTA) and pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA) gene which express trans-activator (tTA) or reverse trans-activator(rtTA), respectively, and AMA-1 gene of Plasmodium falciparum were constructed. BALB/c mice were immunized with these plasmids and doxycycline (dox) was administered to regulate the expression of AMA-1. For some mice immunized with pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA), pUHS6-1, a plasmid containing trans-silencer (tTS) to suppress basal expression of AMA-1 from pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA), was injected into these mice together with pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA). The sera of the mice were isolated at 2,4,6 and 8 weeks post-immunization and the antibodies specific to AMA-1 were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: pTL-8/AMA-1 and pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA) were constructed successfully. The mice immunized by pTL-8/AMA-1(tTA) with dox or by pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA) without dox (at these conditions, AMA-1 was expressed at basal level)developed significant antibodies against AMA-1. Mice immunized by pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA) and pUHS6-1 without dox did not develop significantly antibodies against AMA-1. In contrast, the mice immunized by pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA) and pUHS6-1 with dox produced high level of antibodies. CONCLUSION: pTL-8/AMA-1(rtTA) combined with pUHS6-1 is a good regulable DNA vaccine candidate against Plasmodium falciparum.

Reengineering inducible cardiac-specific transgenesis with an attenuated myosin heavy chain promoter.

Despite the advantages of reversibly altering cardiac transgene expression, the number of successful studies with inducible cardiac-specific transgene expression remains limited. The utility of the current system is hampered by the large number of lines needed before a nonleaky inducible line is isolated and by the use of a heterologous virus-based minimal promoter in the responder line. We developed an efficient, experimentally flexible system that enables us to reversibly affect both abundant and nonabundant cardiomyocyte proteins. The use of bacterial-codon-based transactivators led to aberrant splicing, whereas other more efficient transactivators, by themselves, caused disease when expressed in the heart. The redesign of the system focused on developing stable transactivator-expressing lines in which expression was driven by the mouse alpha-myosin heavy chain promoter. A minimal responder locus was derived from the same promoter, in which the GATA sites and thyroid responsive elements responsible for robust cardiac specific expression were ablated, leading to an attenuated promoter that could be inducibly controlled. In all cases, whether activated or not, expression mimicked that of the parental promoter. By use of this system, an inducible expression of an abundant contractile protein, the atrial isoform of essential myosin light chain 1, and a powerful biological effector, glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta), were obtained. Subsequently, we tested the hypothesis that GSK-3beta expression could reverse a preexisting hypertrophy. Inducible expression of GSK-3beta could both attenuate a hypertrophic response and partially reverse a pressure-overload-induced hypertrophy. The system appears to be robust and can be used to temporally control high levels of cardiac-specific transgene expression.

Tetramer-guided epitope mapping: rapid identification and characterization of immunodominant CD4+ T cell epitopes from complex antigens.

T cell responses to Ags involve recognition of selected peptide epitopes contained within the antigenic protein. In this report, we describe a new approach for direct identification of CD4+ T cell epitopes of complex Ags that uses human class II tetramers to identify reactive cells. With a panel of 60 overlapping peptides covering the entire sequence of the VP16 protein, a major Ag for HSV-2, we generated a panel of class II MHC tetramers loaded with peptide pools that were used to stain peripheral lymphocytes of an HSV-2 infected individual. With this approach, we identified four new DRA1*0101/DRB1*0401- and two DRA1*0101/DRB1*0404-restricted, VP16-specific epitopes. By using tetramers to sort individual cells, we easily obtained a large number of clones specific to these epitopes. Although DRA1*0101/DRB1*0401 and DRA1*0101/DRB1*0404 are structurally very similar, nonoverlapping VP16 epitopes were identified, illustrating high selectivity of individual allele polymorphisms within common MHC variants. This rapid approach to detecting CD4+ T cell epitopes from complex Ags can be applied to any known Ag that gives a T cell response.

Replication of herpes simplex virus type 1 within trigeminal ganglia is required for high frequency but not high viral genome copy number latency.

The replication properties of a thymidine kinase-negative (TK(-)) mutant of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) were exploited to examine the relative contributions of replication at the body surface and within trigeminal ganglia (TG) on the establishment of latent infections. The replication of a TK(-) mutant, 17/tBTK(-), was reduced by approximately 12-fold on the mouse cornea compared to the rescued isolate 17/tBRTK(+), and no replication of 17/tBTK(-) in the TG of these mice was detected. About 1.8% of the TG neurons of mice infected with 17/tBTK(-) harbored the latent viral genome compared to 23% of those infected with 17/tBRTK(+). In addition, the latent sites established by the TK(-) mutant contained fewer copies of the HSV-1 genome (average, 2.3/neuron versus 28/neuron). On the snout, sustained robust replication of 17tBTK(-) in the absence of significant replication within the TG resulted in a modest increase in the number of latent sites. Importantly, these latently infected neurons displayed a wild-type latent-genome copy number profile, with some neurons containing hundreds of copies of the TK(-) mutant genome. As expected, the replication of the TK(-) mutant appeared to be blocked prior to DNA replication in most ganglionic neurons in that (i) virus replication was severely restricted in ganglia, (ii) the number of neurons expressing HSV proteins was reduced 30-fold compared to the rescued isolate, (iii) cell-to-cell spread of virus was not detected within ganglia, and (iv) the proportion of infected neurons expressing late proteins was reduced by 89% compared to the rescued strain. These results demonstrate that the viral TK gene is required for the efficient establishment of latency. This requirement appears to be primarily for efficient replication within the ganglion, which leads to a sixfold increase in the number of latent sites established. Further, latent sites with high genome copy number can be established in the absence of significant virus genome replication in neurons. This suggests that neurons can be infected by many HSV virions and still enter the latent state.

Use of an internal ribosome entry site for bicistronic expression of Cre recombinase or rtTA transactivator.

Conditional gene targeting depends on tissue and time specificity of recombination events. Endogenous promoters are often used to drive various transgenic constructs. To avoid the problems associated with reconstituting a specific expression pattern in transgenic animals by this method, we tested the internal ribosome entry site of the encephalomyocarditis virus, to enable linkage of the Cre recombinase or rtTA trans-activator to 3' untranslated ends of endogenous genes. Here we report that these constructs function effectively in COS cells. The data suggest that these cassettes will be appropriate for 3' targeting of mouse genes.

High level expression and structural characterisation of herpes simplex virus type I transcriptional activator VP16 (alpha-trans inducing factor).

We have developed a baculovirus expression system for the rapid and efficient production of large quantities (>10 mg/l) of VP16. The recombinant VP16 binds to a complex of host cell transcription factors and TAATGARAT motif. Secondary structure calculations from circular dichroism measurements indicate a content of 32.0 % alpha-helix and 17.5 % beta-sheet. This is the first structural CD analysis of VP16 which will be very useful for high-throughput assay development and mechanistic studies.

Antimorphic goosecoids.

goosecoid (gsc) is a homeobox gene expressed in the Spemann organizer that has been implicated in vertebrate axis formation. Here antimorphic gscs are described. One antimorphic gsc (MTgsc) was fortuitously created by adding 5 myc epitopes to the N terminus of gsc. The other antimorph (VP16gsc) contains the transcriptional activation domain of VP16. mRNA injection of either antimorph inhibits dorsal gastrulation movements and leads to embryos with severe axial defects. They upregulate ventral gene expression in the dorsal marginal zone and inhibit dorsal mesoderm differentiation. Like the VP16 domain, the N-terminal myc tags act by converting wild-type gsc from a transcriptional repressor into an activator. However, unlike MTgsc, VP16gsc is able at low dose to uncouple head from trunk formation, indicating that different antimorphs may elicit distinct phenotypes. The experiments reveal that gsc and/or gsc-related genes function in axis formation and gastrulation. Moreover, this work warns against using myc tags indiscriminately for labeling DNA-binding proteins.

VP16-activation of the C. elegans neural specification transcription factor UNC-86 suppresses mutations in downstream genes and causes defects in neural migration and axon outgrowth.

The POU homeobox gene unc-86 specifies many neuroblast and neural fates in the developing C. elegans nervous system. Genes regulated by unc-86 are mostly unknown. Here we describe a genetic strategy for the identification of downstream pathways regulated by unc-86. We activate UNC-86 transcription activity by inserting the VP16 activation domain into an unc-86 genomic clone that bears all regulatory sequences necessary for normal expression in C. elegans. unc-86/VP16 complements unc-86 mutations in the specification of neuroblast and neural cell fates, but displays novel genetic activities: it can suppress non-null mutations in the downstream genes mec-3 and mec-7 that are necessary for mechanosensory neuron differentiation and function. These data suggest that UNC-86/VP16 increases the expression of mec-3 and mec-7 to compensate for the decreased activities of mutant MEC-3 or MEC-7 proteins. The suppression of mutations in downstream genes by an activated upstream transcription factor should be a general strategy for the identification of genes in transcriptional cascades. unc-86/VP16 also causes neural migration and pathfinding defects and novel behavioral defects. Thus, increased or unregulated expression of genes downstream of unc-86 can confer novel neural phenotypes suggestive of roles for unc-86-regulated genes in neural pathfinding and function. Genetic suppression of these unc-86/VP16 phenotypes may identify the unc-86 downstream genes that mediate these events in neurogenesis.