Project description:The zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) depletes non-self RNAs through recognition of their elevated CpG dinucleotide content. CpG dinucleotides are sparse in most endogenous mammalian mRNAs, but a subset might potentially be modulated by ZAP. While CpG frequency alone is insufficient to predict ZAP-regulation, we developed an algorithm using experimentally determined compositional features to predict which endogenous mRNAs may be ZAP-regulated. Using ZAP-knockout mice, we demonstrate that levels of many host mRNAs that are algorithmically predicted ZAP targets are indeed increased when ZAP is absent. ZAP is interferon-inducibel and we also identify genes that are downregulated by ZAP during an innate immune response. Many ZAP-regulated gene products are extracellular matrix or of nucleosome components, whose ZAP mediated control is conserved in human cells. Overall, we provide a new tool for the prediction of ZAP target genes and reveal host mRNAs that are ZAP-regulated.
Project description:The zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) depletes non-self RNAs through recognition of their elevated CpG dinucleotide content. CpG dinucleotides are sparse in most endogenous mammalian mRNAs, but a subset might potentially be modulated by ZAP. While CpG frequency alone is insufficient to predict ZAP-regulation, we developed an algorithm using experimentally determined compositional features to predict which endogenous mRNAs may be ZAP-regulated. Using ZAP-knockout mice, we demonstrate that levels of many host mRNAs that are algorithmically predicted ZAP targets are indeed increased when ZAP is absent. ZAP is interferon-inducibel and we also identify genes that are downregulated by ZAP during an innate immune response. Many ZAP-regulated gene products are extracellular matrix or of nucleosome components, whose ZAP mediated control is conserved in human cells. Overall, we provide a new tool for the prediction of ZAP target genes and reveal host mRNAs that are ZAP-regulated.
Project description:Synonymous recoding of viral genome can attenuate their replication, but can have pleiotropic effects, with multiple mechanisms contributing to attenuation. We set out to design recoded viral genomes whose attenuation was specific and conditional. The zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) recognizes CpG dinucleotides and targets CpG-rich RNAs for depletion, but RNA features such as CpG numbers, spacing and surrounding nucleotide composition that enable specific modulation by ZAP are undescribed. Using synonymously mutated HIV-1 genomes, we define several sequence features that govern ZAP sensitivity and stable attenuation. Using features defined using HIV-1, we then designed a mutant enterovirus A71 genome whose attenuation was also stable and strictly ZAP-dependent, both in cell culture and in mice. This conditionally attenuated enterovirus A71 elicited neutralizing antibodies that were protective against wild-type enterovirus 71 infection and disease. Elucidation of the determinants of ZAP sensitivity can thus enable the rational design of conditionally attenuated viral vaccines.
Project description:Interferon-stimulated gene products (ISGs) play a crucial role in early infection control. The ISG zinc finger CCCH-type antiviral protein 1 (ZAP/ZC3HAV1) antagonises several RNA viruses by binding to CG-rich RNA sequences, whereas its effect on DNA viruses is largely unknown. Here, we decipher the role of ZAP in the context of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, a β-herpesvirus that is associated with high morbidity in immunosuppressed individuals and newborns. We show that expression of the two major isoforms of ZAP, the long (ZAP-L) and short (ZAP-S), is induced during HCMV infection and that both negatively affect HCMV replication. Transcriptome and proteome analyses demonstrated that the expression of ZAP decelerates the progression of HCMV infection. SLAM-sequencing revealed that ZAP restricts HCMV at early stages of infection by destabilising a distinct subset of viral transcripts with low CG content. In summary, this report provides evidence of an important antiviral role for ZAP in host defense against HCMV infection and highlights its differentiated function during DNA virus infection.
Project description:Infection of animal cells by many viruses is detected and countered by a variety of means, including recognition of non-self nucleic acids. The zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) depletes cytoplasmic RNA that is recognized as foreign in mammalian cells by virtue of its elevated CG dinucleotide content compared to endogenous mRNAs. Here, we determined a crystal structure of a protein-RNA complex containing the N-terminal, four-zinc finger human (h) ZAP RNA binding domain (RBD), and a CG dinucleotide-containing RNA target. The structure reveals in molecular detail how hZAP is able to bind selectively to CG-rich RNA. Specifically, the four zinc fingers create a basic patch on the hZAP RBD surface. The highly basic second zinc finger contains a pocket that selectively accommodates CG dinucleotide bases. Structure guided mutagenesis, crosslinking-immunoprecipitation-sequencing assays, and RNA affinity assays show that the structurally defined CG-binding pocket is not required for RNA binding per se in human cells. However, the pocket is a crucial determinant of high affinity specific binding to CG-dinucleotide-containing RNA. Moreover, variations in the RNA binding specificity a panel of CG-binding pocket mutants quantitatively predict their selective antiviral activity against a CG-enriched HIV-1 strain. Overall, the hZAP RBD:RNA structure provides an atomic-level explanation for how ZAP selectively targets foreign, CG-rich RNA.
Project description:C2H2 zinc finger proteins represent the largest and most enigmatic class of human transcription factors. Their C2H2 arrays are highly variable, indicating that most will have unique DNA binding motifs. However, most of the binding motifs have not been directly determined. We have determined the binding sites and motifs of 119 C2H2 zinc finger proteins and the expression pattern of 80 cell lines overexpressing C2H2 zinc finger proteins in order to study the role of C2H2 zinc finger proteins in gene regulation. We expressed GFP-tagged C2H2-ZF proteins in stable transgenic HEK293 cells. Total RNA was isolated using Trizol and sequencing libraries were constructed using TruSeq Stranded Total RNA Library Prep Kit with Ribo-Zero Gold or TruSeq RNA Library Preparation Kit v2.