Canine Hepacivirus NS3 Serine Protease Can Cleave the Human Adaptor Proteins MAVS and TRIF

Canine hepacivirus (CHV) was recently identified in domestic dogs and horses. The finding that CHV is genetically the virus most closely related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) has raised the question of whether HCV might have evolved as the result of close contact between dogs and/or horses and humans. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the NS3/4A serine protease of CHV specifically cleaves human mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) and Toll-IL-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor inducing interferon-beta (TRIF). The proteolytic activity of CHV NS3/4A was evaluated using a bacteriophage lambda genetic screen. Human MAVS- and TRIF-specific cleavage sites were engineered into the lambda cI repressor. Upon infection of Escherichia coli cells coexpressing these repressors and a CHV NS3/4A construct, lambda phage replicated up to 2000-fold more efficiently than in cells expressing a CHV protease variant carrying the inactivating substitution S139A. Comparable results were obtained when several HCV NS3/4A constructs of genotype 1b were assayed. This indicates that CHV can disrupt the human innate antiviral defense signaling pathway and suggests a possible evolutionary relationship between CHV and HCV

Changes in codon-pair bias of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 have profound effects on virus replication in cell culture

[spa]El virus de la immunodeficiència humana 1 (VIH-1) conté una composició de nucleòtids diferent de la existent en el gens humans. Aquest fet planteja les qüestions de com la evolució ha triat la seqüència nucleotídica del VIH1 observada avui en dia, i de fins a quin punt aquesta seqüència actual contribueix a la capacitat replicativa, evolució i patogènesis virals. S’ha descrit que canvis en el ús de parelles de codons són eficaços per tal de generar virus atenuats de Poliovirus i Influenza. En aquesta tesi, hem aplicat la tecnologia prèviament descrita, “synthetic attenuated virus engineering” (SAVE) al VIH-1. Emprant parelles de codó sinònimes de manera racional, hem recodificat reoptimizant i desoptimizant per parelles de codó diferents fragments dels gens gag i pol del VIH-1. Les estructures de ARN i el us de codó dels nous fragments recodificats no es van veure afectades per la recodificació. Els virus desoptimizats van mostrar una replicació viral significativament inferior al virus control en cèl·lules MT-4 i en cèl·lules mononuclears de sang perifèrica (PBMCs). Depenent de la regió específica desoptimizada i del número de codons desoptimizats, es van obtenir diversos nivells d’atenuació ex vivo. Una reducció significant en la producció proteica es va observar quan la replicació viral va ser restringida a un sol cicle de replicació emprant un vector VIH-1 d’un sol cicle de replicació. La menor producció proteica no va correlacionar amb una reducció en el número de còpies del transcrit diana. Aquest fet suggereix que la transcripció, i no la traducció, es troba implicada en la generació dels fenotips atenuats produïts per la tecnologia de SAVE. El virus de proteasa reoptimizat que contenia 38 mutacions sinònimes, no es va mostrar atenuat, ans el contrari, mostrava una capacitat replicativa similar a la del virus control en cèl·lules MT-4 i en PBMCs. Encara que l’atenuació dels virus desoptimizats es basava en varies desenes de canvis nucleotídics, després de varis passis seriats en cèl·lules MT-4s, els virus desoptimizats de les regions de gag i proteasa van revertir a la virulència del virus control en cèl·lules MT-4. Alguns virus desoptimizats passats encara van mantenir un cert grau d’atenuació en PBMCs. Els anàlisis de quasiespècies de les seqüències dels virus passats en cultiu van mostrar que els virus atenuats acumulaven o bé mutacions sinònimes (reversions a la seqüència control o noves mutacions) o bé mutacions no-sinònimes. Els virus recodificats per la tecnologia de SAVE exploren diferents espais de seqüència. Singularment, no es va observar cap reversió important al virus reoptimizat passat en cultiu. Per tant, totes aquestes dades demostren que la tecnologia de SAVE és una estratègia útil per a afectar gradualment fenotípicament la capacitat replicativa del VIH-1, mitjançant un mecanisme que implica la traducció. El VIH-1 amb diferents nivells d’atenuació pot ser una eina utilitzable per al desenvolupament d’una vacuna segura i efectiva, així com pel desenvolupament de vectors lenvirals per a teràpia gènica més segurs[eng]Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has a biased nucleotide composition different from human genes. This raises the question of how evolution has chosen the nucleotide sequence HIV-1 observed today, or to what extent the actual encoding contributes to virus replication capacity, evolvability and pathogenesis. Prior work has documented the effectiveness of making changes to the codon-pair bias of viral genomes in order to generate attenuated poliovirus and influenza virus. In this thesis, we applied the previously described synthetic attenuated virus engineering (SAVE) approach to HIV-1. Using synonymous codon pairs, we rationally recoded and codon pair–reoptimized and deoptimized different moieties of the HIV-1 gag and pol genes. RNA structures and codon usage of new recoded fragments were not affected by recoding. Deoptimized viruses had significantly lower viral replication capacity in MT-4 cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Various degrees of ex vivo attenuation were obtained depending upon the specific deoptimized region and the number of deoptimized codons. After restricting viral replication to a single cycle by using a single-cycle HIV-1 vector, a significant reduction in protein production was observed in the vector carrying an attenuated virus variant. This reduction in protein synthesis was not accompanied by a reduction in the targeted transcript copy number, which strongly suggests that translation, and not transcription, is implicated in the generation of the attenuated phenotype by SAVE technology. A protease reoptimized virus carrying 38 synonymous mutations was not attenuated and displayed a replication capacity similar to that of the wild type virus in MT-4 cells and PBMCs. Although attenuation is based on several tens of nucleotide changes, after serial passages in MT-4 cells, both gag and protease deoptimized HIV-1 reverted to wild-type virulence in MT-4 cells while some maintain a certain attenuation degree in PBMCs. Quasispecies analysis of viral passaged sequences showed that attenuated viruses accumulated either synonymous mutations (reversions to wild-type sequences or novel mutations) or non-synonymous mutations. Recoded viruses explored different space sequences. Remarkably, no important reversion was observed in the reoptimized virus. Thus, these data demonstrate that SAVE is a useful strategy to gradually affect the replicative properties of HIV-1 by a mechanism that involves translation. HIV-1 with different degrees of attenuation can be a useful tool for the development of a safe and effective vaccine as well as the development of safer gene-therapy lentiviral vector

Changes in codon-pair bias of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 have profound effects on virus replication in cell culture

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has a biased nucleotide composition different from human genes. This raises the question of how evolution has chosen the nucleotide sequence of HIV-1 that is observed today, or to what extent the actual encoding contributes to virus replication capacity, evolvability and pathogenesis. Here, we applied the previously described synthetic attenuated virus engineering (SAVE) approach to HIV-1. Results: Using synonymous codon pairs, we rationally recoded and codon pair-optimized and deoptimized different moieties of the HIV-1 gag and pol genes. Deoptimized viruses had significantly lower viral replication capacity in MT-4 and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Varying degrees of ex vivo attenuation were obtained, depending upon both the specific deoptimized region and the number of deoptimized codons. A protease optimized virus carrying 38 synonymous mutations was not attenuated and displayed a replication capacity similar to that of the wild-type virus in MT-4 cells and PBMCs. Although attenuation is based on several tens of nucleotide changes, deoptimized HIV-1 reverted to wild-type virulence after serial passages in MT-4 cells. Remarkably, no reversion was observed in the optimized virus. Conclusion: These data demonstrate that SAVE is a useful strategy to phenotypically affect the replicative properties of HIV-1

Canine hepacivirus NS3 serine protease can cleave the human adaptor proteins MAVS and TRIF.

Canine hepacivirus (CHV) was recently identified in domestic dogs and horses. The finding that CHV is genetically the virus most closely related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) has raised the question of whether HCV might have evolved as the result of close contact between dogs and/or horses and humans. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the NS3/4A serine protease of CHV specifically cleaves human mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) and Toll-IL-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor inducing interferon-beta (TRIF). The proteolytic activity of CHV NS3/4A was evaluated using a bacteriophage lambda genetic screen. Human MAVS- and TRIF-specific cleavage sites were engineered into the lambda cI repressor. Upon infection of Escherichia coli cells coexpressing these repressors and a CHV NS3/4A construct, lambda phage replicated up to 2000-fold more efficiently than in cells expressing a CHV protease variant carrying the inactivating substitution S139A. Comparable results were obtained when several HCV NS3/4A constructs of genotype 1b were assayed. This indicates that CHV can disrupt the human innate antiviral defense signaling pathway and suggests a possible evolutionary relationship between CHV and HCV

Canine Hepacivirus NS3 Serine Protease Can Cleave the Human Adaptor Proteins MAVS and TRIF

Canine hepacivirus (CHV) was recently identified in domestic dogs and horses. The finding that CHV is genetically the virus most closely related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) has raised the question of whether HCV might have evolved as the result of close contact between dogs and/or horses and humans. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the NS3/4A serine protease of CHV specifically cleaves human mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) and Toll-IL-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor inducing interferon-beta (TRIF). The proteolytic activity of CHV NS3/4A was evaluated using a bacteriophage lambda genetic screen. Human MAVS- and TRIF-specific cleavage sites were engineered into the lambda cI repressor. Upon infection of Escherichia coli cells coexpressing these repressors and a CHV NS3/4A construct, lambda phage replicated up to 2000-fold more efficiently than in cells expressing a CHV protease variant carrying the inactivating substitution S139A. Comparable results were obtained when several HCV NS3/4A constructs of genotype 1b were assayed. This indicates that CHV can disrupt the human innate antiviral defense signaling pathway and suggests a possible evolutionary relationship between CHV and HCV

Inhibition of HCV and CHV NS3/4A proteases in the presence of the protease inhibitors (A) 25a or (B) danoprevir.

<p>The graph illustrates the relative (%) lambda phage titer after selective growth of lambda in <i>E. coli</i> cells coexpressing the NS3/4A protease constructs and the lambda cI repressor expressing either MAVS or TRIF cleavage sites in the absence or presence of protease inhibitors (20 µM). No significant inhibition was detected with an HCV NS3/4A protease mutant carrying the substitution D168V, which confers resistance to protease inhibitors. Values are the means ± standard deviations (error bars) of at least three experiments.</p

Alignment of peptide junctions present in MAVS, TRIF, and viral polyproteins of HCV and CHV, and cleaved in <i>trans</i> by their respective protease.

<p>A mutated residue generated by site-directed mutagenesis is marked in red.</p

Expression of the CHV or HCV NS3/4A protease resulted in nearly complete cleavage of the lambda cI repressor with either MAVS (A) or TRIF (B) cleavage site.

<p>Expression of the protease was induced with IPTG for 3 h. The Western blot proved that the lambda cI repressor with either MAVS or TRIF cleavage site was not cleaved by NS3/4A proteases that included a substitution in catalytic residue S139. Similarly, a control mutant TRIF target site (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0042481#pone-0042481-g001" target="_blank">Fig. 1</a>) was not cleaved by wild-type NS3/4A proteases. The HCV 1 NS3/4A protease was also tested without IPTG.</p

Amino acid sequences of the NS3/4A protease constructs engineered in this study.

<p>HCV (sample 1) and CHV NS3/4A protease constructs contain NS4 residues 21–34 fused in frame via a short linker to the amino terminus of the NS3 protease domain (residues 1–181). It was previously demonstrated that the kinetic parameters of a single-chain protein containing the NS4A cofactor and the HCV NS3 protease are identical to those of the bona fide NS3/4A (NS3 residues 1 to 631 and NS4A residues 1 to 54 protein complex generated in eukaryotic cells (5, 38). Asterisks represent the stop codons. Mutated residues generated by site-directed mutagenesis are marked in red.</p

Comparative catalytic efficiencies of HCV and CHV NS3/4A proteases based on (A) MAVS, (B) TRIF, and (C) mutant TRIF cleavage.

<p>The graph illustrates the resulting lambda phage titer (in PFU per microliter) after selective growth of lambda phage in <i>E. coli</i> cells coexpressing the NS3/4A protease constructs and the lambda cI repressor expressing either MAVS, TRIF, or mutant TRIF cleavage sites. As shown, selection in cells coexpressing the NS3/4A protease construct containing the inactivating S139A mutation or the mutated version of NS4 severely compromised the replication of lambda phage. Similarly, the phage did not replicate when a mutated version of TRIF was coexpressed. Values are the means ± standard deviations (error bars) of at least three experiments.</p