Functional and Adaptive Significance of Promoter Mutations That Affect Divergent Myocardial Expressions of TRIM72 in Primates.

Cis-regulatory elements play important roles in tissue-specific gene expression and in the evolution of various phenotypes, and mutations in promoters and enhancers may be responsible for adaptations of species to environments. TRIM72 is a highly conserved protein that is involved in energy metabolism. Its expression in the heart varies considerably in primates, with high levels of expression in Old World monkeys and near absence in hominids. Here, we combine phylogenetic hypothesis testing and experimentation to demonstrate that mutations in promoter are responsible for the differences among primate species in the heart-specific expression of TRIM72. Maximum likelihood estimates of lineage-specific substitution rates under local-clock models show that relative to the evolutionary rate of introns, the rate of promoter was accelerated by 78% in the common ancestor of Old World monkeys, suggesting a role for positive selection in the evolution of the TRIM72 promoter, possibly driven by selective pressure due to changes in cardiac physiology after species divergence. We demonstrate that mutations in the TRIM72 promoter account for the differential myocardial TRIM72 expression of the human and the rhesus macaque. Furthermore, changes in TRIM72 expression alter the expression of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation, which in turn affects mitochondrial respiration and cardiac energy capacity. On a broader timescale, phylogenetic regression analyses of data from 29 mammalian species show that mammals with high cardiac expression of TRIM72 have high heart rate, suggesting that the expression changes of TRIM72 may be related to differences in the heart physiology of those species.

Evidence for biphasic uncoating during HIV-1 infection from a novel imaging assay.

BACKGROUND: Uncoating of the HIV-1 core plays a critical role during early post-fusion stages of infection but is poorly understood. Microscopy-based assays are unable to easily distinguish between intact and partially uncoated viral cores. RESULTS: In this study, we used 5-ethynyl uridine (EU) to label viral-associated RNA during HIV production. At early time points after infection with EU-labeled virions, the viral-associated RNA was stained with an EU-specific dye and was detected by confocal microscopy together with viral proteins. We observed that detection of the viral-associated RNA was specific for EU-labeled virions, was detected only after viral fusion with target cells, and occurred after an initial opening of the core. In vitro staining of cores showed that the opening of the core allowed the small molecule dye, but not RNase A or antibodies, inside. Also, staining of the viral-associated RNA, which is co-localized with nucleocapsid, decays over time after viral infection. The decay rate of RNA staining is dependent on capsid (CA) stability, which was altered by CA mutations or a small molecule inducer of HIV-1 uncoating. While the staining of EU-labeled RNA was not affected by inhibition of reverse transcription, the kinetics of core opening of different CA mutants correlated with initiation of reverse transcription. Analysis of the E45A CA mutant suggests that initial core opening is independent of complete capsid disassembly. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our results establish a novel RNA accessibility-based assay that detects an early event in HIV-1 uncoating and can be used to further define this process.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 capsid mutation N74D alters cyclophilin A dependence and impairs macrophage infection.

The antiviral factor CPSF6-358 interferes with the nuclear entry of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). HIV-1 acquires resistance to CPSF6-358 through the N74D mutation of the capsid (CA), which alters its nuclear entry pathway. Here we show that compared to wild-type (WT) HIV-1, N74D HIV-1 is more sensitive to cyclosporine, has increased sensitivity to nevirapine, and is impaired in macrophage infection prior to reverse transcription. These phenotypes suggest a difference in the N74D reverse transcription complex that manifests early after infection and prior to interaction with the nuclear pore. Overall, our data indicate that N74D HIV-1 replication in transformed cells requires cyclophilin A but is dependent on other interactions in macrophages.

Stoichiometry of the antiviral protein APOBEC3G in HIV-1 virions.

A host cytidine deaminase, APOBEC3G (A3G), inhibits replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) by incorporating into virions in the absence of the virally encoded Vif protein (Deltavif virions), at least in part by causing G-to-A hypermutation. To gain insight into the antiretroviral function of A3G, we determined the quantities of A3G molecules that are incorporated in Deltavif virions. We combined three experimental approaches-reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), scintillation proximity assay (SPA), and quantitative immunoblotting-to determine the molar ratio of A3G to HIV-1 capsid protein in Deltavif virions. Our studies revealed that the amount of the A3G incorporated into Deltavif virions was proportional to the level of its expression in the viral producing cells, and the ratio of the A3G to Gag in the Deltavif virions produced from activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was approximately 1:439. Based on previous estimates of the stoichiometry of HIV-1 Gag in virions (1400-5000), we conclude that approximately 7 (+/-4) molecules of A3G are incorporated into Deltavif virions produced from human PBMCs. These results indicate that virion incorporation of only a few molecules of A3G is sufficient to inhibit HIV-1 replication.

Human apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme-catalytic polypeptide-like 3G (APOBEC3G) is incorporated into HIV-1 virions through interactions with viral and nonviral RNAs.

Apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme-catalytic polypeptide-like 3G (APOBEC3G) is a host cytidine deaminase that is packaged into virions and confers resistance to retroviral infection. APOBEC3G deaminates deoxycytidines in minus strand DNA to deoxyuridines, resulting in G to A hypermutation and viral inactivation. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) virion infectivity factor counteracts the antiviral activity of APOBEC3G by inducing its proteosomal degradation and preventing virion incorporation. To elucidate the mechanism of viral suppression by APOBEC3G, we developed a sensitive cytidine deamination assay and analyzed APOBEC3G virion incorporation in a series of HIV-1 deletion mutants. Virus-like particles derived from constructs in which pol, env, and most of gag were deleted still contained high levels of cytidine deaminase activity; in addition, coimmunoprecipitation of APOBEC3G and HIV-1 Gag in the presence and absence of RNase A indicated that the two proteins do not interact directly but form an RNase-sensitive complex. Viral particles lacking HIV-1 genomic RNA which were generated from the gag-pol expression constructs pC-Help and pSYNGP packaged APOBEC3G at 30-40% of the wild-type level, indicating that interactions with viral RNA are not necessary for incorporation. In addition, viral particles produced from an nucleocapsid zinc finger mutant contained approximately 1% of the viral genomic RNA but approximately 30% of the cytidine deaminase activity. The reduction in APOBEC3G incorporation was equivalent to the reduction in the total RNA present in the nucleocapsid mutant virions. These results indicate that interactions with viral proteins or viral genomic RNA are not essential for APOBEC3G incorporation and suggest that APOBEC3G interactions with viral and nonviral RNAs that are packaged into viral particles are sufficient for APOBEC3G virion incorporation.

A single amino acid substitution in human APOBEC3G antiretroviral enzyme confers resistance to HIV-1 virion infectivity factor-induced depletion.

HIV-1 and other retroviruses occasionally undergo hypermutation, characterized by a high rate of G-to-A substitution. Recently, the human apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing, enzyme-catalytic, polypeptide-like 3G (APOBEC3G), first identified as CEM15, was shown to be packaged into retroviral virions and to deaminate deoxycytidine to deoxyuridine in newly synthesized viral minus-strand DNA, thereby inducing G-to-A hypermutation. This innate mechanism of resistance to retroviral infection is counteracted by the HIV-1 viral infectivity factor (Vif), which protects the virus by preventing the incorporation of APOBEC3G into virions by rapidly inducing its ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. To gain insights into the mechanism by which Vif protects HIV-1 from APOBEC3G, we substituted several amino acids in human APOBEC3G with equivalent residues in simian APOBEC3Gs that are resistant to HIV-1 Vif and determined the effects of the mutations on HIV-1 replication in the presence and absence of Vif. We found that a single amino acid substitution mutant of human APOBEC3G (D128K) can interact with HIV-1 Vif but is not depleted from cells; thus, it inhibits HIV-1 replication in an HIV-1 Vif-resistant manner. Interestingly, rhesus macaque simian immunodeficiency virus 239 or HIV-2 Vif coexpression depleted the intracellular steady state levels of the D128K mutant and abrogated its antiviral activity, indicating that it can be a substrate for the proteasomal pathway. The HIV-1 Vif-resistant mutant APOBEC3G could provide a gene therapy approach to combat HIV-1 infection.