Lentiviral Vpx Accessory Factor Targets VprBP/DCAF1 Substrate Adaptor for Cullin 4 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase to Enable Macrophage Infection

PLoS Pathogens

Smita Srivastava¹  Jacek Skowronski¹  Nicolas Manel²  Michael P. Washburn³  Laurence Florens³  Selene K. Swanson³ 

[1] Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, United States of America;Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America;Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America

关键词: Macrophages;    Virions;    Reverse transcription;    Small interfering RNAs;    293T cells;    RNA interference;    Ubiquitin ligases;    HIV-2;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1000059

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Vpx is a small virion-associated adaptor protein encoded by viruses of the HIV-2/SIVsm lineage of primate lentiviruses that enables these viruses to transduce monocyte-derived cells. This probably reflects the ability of Vpx to overcome an as yet uncharacterized block to an early event in the virus life cycle in these cells, but the underlying mechanism has remained elusive. Using biochemical and proteomic approaches, we have found that Vpx protein of the pathogenic SIVmac 239 strain associates with a ternary protein complex comprising DDB1 and VprBP subunits of Cullin 4–based E3 ubiquitin ligase, and DDA1, which has been implicated in the regulation of E3 catalytic activity, and that Vpx participates in the Cullin 4 E3 complex comprising VprBP. We further demonstrate that the ability of SIVmac as well as HIV-2 Vpx to interact with VprBP and its associated Cullin 4 complex is required for efficient reverse transcription of SIVmac RNA genome in primary macrophages. Strikingly, macrophages in which VprBP levels are depleted by RNA interference resist SIVmac infection. Thus, our observations reveal that Vpx interacts with both catalytic and regulatory components of the ubiquitin proteasome system and demonstrate that these interactions are critical for Vpx ability to enable efficient SIVmac replication in primary macrophages. Furthermore, they identify VprBP/DCAF1 substrate receptor for Cullin 4 E3 ubiquitin ligase and its associated protein complex as immediate downstream effector of Vpx for this function. Together, our findings suggest a model in which Vpx usurps VprBP-associated Cullin 4 ubiquitin ligase to enable efficient reverse transcription and thereby overcome a block to lentivirus replication in monocyte-derived cells, and thus provide novel insights into the underlying molecular mechanism.

【 授权许可】

CC BY