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Cellular transcription factor Sp1 recruits simian virus 40 capsid proteins to the viral packaging signal, ses.

ABSTRACT: Simian virus 40 (SV40) capsid assembly occurs in the nucleus. All three capsid proteins bind DNA nonspecifically, raising the dilemma of how they attain specificity to the SV40 minichromosome in the presence of a large excess of genomic DNA. The SV40 packaging signal, ses, which is required for assembly, is composed of multiple DNA elements that bind transcription factor Sp1. Our previous studies showed that Sp1 participates in SV40 assembly and that it cooperates in DNA binding with VP2/3. We hypothesized that Sp1 recruits the capsid proteins to the viral minichromosome, conferring upon them specific DNA recognition. Here, we have tested the hypothesis. Computer analysis showed that the combination of six tandem GC boxes at ses is not found at cellular promoters and therefore is unique to SV40. Cooperativity in DNA binding between Sp1 and VP2/3 was not abolished at even a 1,000-fold excess of cellular DNA, providing strong support for the recruitment hypothesis. Sp1 also binds VP1 and cooperates with VP1 in DNA binding. VP1 pentamers (VP1(5)) avidly interact with VP2/3, utilizing the same VP2/3 domain as described for polyomavirus. We conclude that VP1(5)-VP2/3 building blocks are recruited by Sp1 to ses, where they form the nucleation center for capsid assembly. By this mechanism the virus ensures that capsid formation is initiated at a single site around its minichromosome. Sp1 enhances the formation of SV40 pseudovirions in vitro, providing additional support for the model. Analyses of Sp1 and VP3 deletion mutants showed that Sp1 and VP2/3 bind one another and cooperate in DNA binding through their DNA-binding domains, with additional contacts outside these domains. VP1 contacts Sp1 at residues outside the Sp1 DNA-binding domain. These and additional data allowed us to propose a molecular model for the VP1(5)-VP2/3-DNA-Sp1 complex.

SUBMITTER: Gordon-Shaag A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC136189 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cellular transcription factor Sp1 recruits simian virus 40 capsid proteins to the viral packaging signal, ses.

Gordon-Shaag Ariela A Ben-Nun-Shaul Orly O Roitman Vered V Yosef Yael Y Oppenheim Ariella A

Journal of virology 20020601 12

Simian virus 40 (SV40) capsid assembly occurs in the nucleus. All three capsid proteins bind DNA nonspecifically, raising the dilemma of how they attain specificity to the SV40 minichromosome in the presence of a large excess of genomic DNA. The SV40 packaging signal, ses, which is required for assembly, is composed of multiple DNA elements that bind transcription factor Sp1. Our previous studies showed that Sp1 participates in SV40 assembly and that it cooperates in DNA binding with VP2/3. We h ...[more]

PMID: 12021324

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Project description:Alphaviruses are a group of small, enveloped viruses which are widely distributed on all continents. In infected cells, alphaviruses display remarkable specificity in RNA packaging by encapsidating only their genomic RNA while avoiding packaging of the more abundant viral subgenomic (SG), cellular messenger and transfer RNAs into released virions. In this work, we demonstrate that in spite of evolution in geographically isolated areas and accumulation of considerable diversity in the nonstructural and structural genes, many alphaviruses belonging to different serocomplexes harbor RNA packaging signals (PSs) which contain the same structural and functional elements. Their characteristic features are as follows. (i) Sindbis, eastern, western, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis and most likely many other alphaviruses, except those belonging to the Semliki Forest virus (SFV) clade, have PSs which can be recognized by the capsid proteins of heterologous alphaviruses. (ii) The PS consists of 4 to 6 stem-loop RNA structures bearing conserved GGG sequences located at the base of the loop. These short motifs are integral elements of the PS and can function even in the artificially designed PS. (iii) Mutagenesis of the entire PS or simply the GGG sequences has strong negative effects on viral genome packaging and leads to release of viral particles containing mostly SG RNAs. (iv) Packaging of RNA appears to be determined to some extent by the number of GGG-containing stem-loops, and more than one stem-loop is required for efficient RNA encapsidation. (v) Viruses of the SFV clade are the exception to the general rule. They contain PSs in the nsP2 gene, but their capsid protein retains the ability to use the nsP1-specific PS of other alphaviruses. These new discoveries regarding alphavirus PS structure and function provide an opportunity for the development of virus variants, which are irreversibly attenuated in terms of production of infectious virus but release high levels of genome-free virions.

Project description:UnlabelledSimian virus 40 (SV40), a polyomavirus that has served as an important model to understand many aspects of biology, induces dramatic cytoplasmic vacuolization late during productive infection of monkey host cells. Although this activity led to the discovery of the virus in 1960, the mechanism of vacuolization is still not known. Pentamers of the major SV40 capsid protein VP1 bind to the ganglioside GM1, which serves as the cellular receptor for the virus. In this report, we show that binding of VP1 to cell surface GM1 plays a key role in SV40 infection-induced vacuolization. We previously showed that SV40 VP1 mutants defective for GM1 binding fail to induce vacuolization, even though they replicate efficiently. Here, we show that interfering with GM1-VP1 binding by knockdown of GM1 after infection is established abrogates vacuolization by wild-type SV40. Vacuole formation during permissive infection requires efficient virus release, and conditioned medium harvested late during SV40 infection rapidly induces vacuoles in a VP1- and GM1-dependent fashion. Furthermore, vacuolization can also be induced by a nonreplicating SV40 pseudovirus in a GM1-dependent manner, and a mutation in BK pseudovirus VP1 that generates GM1 binding confers vacuole-inducing activity. Vacuolization can also be triggered by purified pentamers of wild-type SV40 VP1, but not by GM1 binding-defective pentamers or by intracellular expression of VP1. These results demonstrate that SV40 infection-induced vacuolization is caused by the binding of released progeny viruses to GM1, thereby identifying the molecular trigger for the activity that led to the discovery of SV40.ImportanceThe DNA tumor virus SV40 was discovered more than a half century ago as a contaminant of poliovirus vaccine stocks, because it caused dramatic cytoplasmic vacuolization of permissive host cells. Although SV40 played a historically important role in the development of molecular and cellular biology, restriction mapping, molecular cloning, and whole-genome sequencing, the basis of this vacuolization phenotype was unknown. Here, we show that SV40-induced vacuolization is triggered by the binding of the major viral capsid protein, VP1, to a cell surface ganglioside receptor, GM1. No other viral proteins or virus replication is required for vacuole formation. Other polyomaviruses utilize different ganglioside receptors, but they do not induce vacuolization. This work identifies the molecular trigger for the phenotype that led to the discovery of this important virus and provides the first molecular insight into an unusual and enigmatic cytopathic effect due to virus infection.

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Cellular transcription factor Sp1 recruits simian virus 40 capsid proteins to the viral packaging signal, ses.

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Cellular transcription factor Sp1 recruits simian virus 40 capsid proteins to the viral packaging signal, ses.

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