A Herpesviral Lytic Protein Regulates the Structure of Latent Viral Chromatin (original) (raw)
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2005
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) persists in its human host and evades the immune response by undergoing a latent infection in sensory neurons, from which it can reactivate periodically. HSV expresses >80 gene products during productive (“lytic”) infection, but only the latency-associated transcript ( LAT ) gene is expressed at abundant levels during latent infection. The LAT gene has been shown to repress lytic-gene expression in sensory neurons. In this study, we use chromatin immunoprecipitation to show that HSV lytic-gene promoters become complexed with modified histones associated with heterochromatin during the course of establishment of latent infection. Experiments comparing LAT-negative and LAT-positive viruses show that a function encoded by the LAT gene increases the amount of dimethyl lysine 9 form of histone H3 or heterochromatin and reduces the amount of dimethyl lysine 4 form of histone H3, a part of active chromatin, on viral lytic-gene promoters. Thus, HSV, and in part...
PLOS Pathogens, 2016
Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) establishes lifelong latent infection within sensory neurons, during which viral lytic gene expression is silenced. The only highly expressed viral gene product during latent infection is the latency-associated transcript (LAT), a non-protein coding RNA that has been strongly implicated in the epigenetic regulation of HSV-1 gene expression. We have investigated LAT-mediated control of latent gene expression using chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses and LAT-negative viruses engineered to express firefly luciferase or β-galactosidase from a heterologous lytic promoter. Whilst we were unable to determine a significant effect of LAT expression upon heterochromatin enrichment on latent HSV-1 genomes, we show that reporter gene expression from latent HSV-1 genomes occurs at a greater frequency in the absence of LAT. Furthermore, using luciferase reporter viruses we have observed that HSV-1 gene expression decreases during longterm latent infection, with a most marked effect during LAT-negative virus infection. Finally, using a fluorescent mouse model of infection to isolate and culture single latently infected neurons, we also show that reactivation occurs at a greater frequency from cultures harbouring LAT-negative HSV-1. Together, our data suggest that the HSV-1 LAT RNA represses HSV-1 gene expression in small populations of neurons within the mouse TG, a phenomenon that directly impacts upon the frequency of reactivation and the maintenance of the transcriptionally active latent reservoir.
Journal of Virology, 2009
An important question in virology is the mechanism(s) by which persistent viruses such as the herpesviruses and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) establish a latent infection in specific types of cells. In the case of herpesviruses, herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection of epithelial cells results in a lytic infection, whereas latent infection is established in sensory neurons. Recent studies have shown the importance of chromatin structure in the regulation of latent infection for both HSV and HIV. For HSV, we have shown previously that the viral latency-associated transcript (LAT) promotes lytic gene silencing and the association of one heterochromatin marker, dimethylation of lysine 9 on histone H3 (H3K9me2), with viral lytic genes. In this study, we further defined the structure of latent viral chromatin by examining the heterochromatin markers on histones associated with the HSV latent genome. We detected the H3K9me2, H3K9me3, and H3K27me3 modifications, with H3K27me3, which is...
Journal of virology, 2006
During the latent phase of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, the latency-associated transcripts (LATs) are the most abundant viral transcripts present in neurons, but some immediate-early viral transcripts, such as those encoding ICP0, have also been reported to be transcribed in latently infected mouse trigeminal ganglia (TG). A murine oro-ocular model of herpetic infection was used to study ICP0 gene expression in the major anatomical sites of HSV-1 latency, including the TG, superior cervical ganglion, spinal cord, and hypothalamus. An HSV-1 recombinant strain, SC16 110LacZ, revealed ICP0 promoter activity in several neurons in latently infected ganglia, and following infection with wild-type HSV-1 strain SC16, in situ hybridization analyses identified ICP0 transcripts in the nuclei of neurons at times consistent with the establishment of latency. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assays performed on RNA extracted from latently infected tissues indicated that ICP0 trans...
MicroRNAs expressed by herpes simplex virus 1 during latent infection regulate viral mRNAs
Nature, 2008
Herpesviruses are characterized by their ability to maintain lifelong latent infections in their animal hosts. However, the mechanisms that allow establishment and maintenance of the latent state remain poorly understood. Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) establishes latency in neurons of sensory ganglia, where the only abundant viral gene product is a non-coding RNA, the latency associated transcript (LAT) 1,2. Here, we show that LAT functions as a primary microRNA (miRNA) precursor that encodes four distinct miRNAs in HSV-1 infected cells. One of these miRNAs, miR-H2-3p, is transcribed antisense to ICP0, a viral immediate-early transcriptional activator thought to play a key role in productive HSV-1 replication and reactivation from latency 3. miR-H2-3p is indeed able to reduce ICP0 protein expression, but does not significantly affect ICP0 mRNA levels. We also identified a fifth HSV-1 miRNA in latently infected trigeminal ganglia, miR-H6, which derives from a previously unknown transcript distinct from LAT. miR-H6 displays extended seed complementarity to the mRNA encoding a second HSV-1 transcription factor, ICP4, and inhibits expression of ICP4, which is required for expression of most HSV-1 genes during productive infection 4. These results may explain the reported ability of LAT to promote latency 5-9. Thus, HSV-1 expresses at least two primary miRNA precursors in latently infected neurons that may facilitate the establishment and maintenance of viral latency by post-transcriptionally regulating viral gene expression. HSV-1 LAT is an ∼8.3 kb capped, polyadenylated RNA (Fig. 1a) 1,2 that is spliced to give an ∼2.0 kb stable intron and a predicted unstable ∼6.3 kb exonic RNA 10,11. As LAT is not thought to encode a protein, we hypothesized that the exonic regions of LAT might function as a primary miRNA precursor 12. To identify HSV-1 LAT-derived miRNAs, we constructed a LAT expression plasmid, pcDNA3/LAT, in which a heterologous promoter drives transcription of an ∼10.8 kb HSV-1 genomic fragment containing the entire 8.3 kb LAT (Fig. 1a). We transfected this plasmid into human 293T cells and isolated total RNA. Northern analysis revealed high-level expression of the stable LAT intron (Fig. 1b). Small RNAs derived from this sample were used to prepare cDNAs for 454 sequencing 13. This resulted in 225,439 sequence reads (Suppl. Table 1), of which at least 144,955 represented cellular miRNAs (Suppl. Table 2A). We also recovered 651 HSV-1-derived miRNAs (Suppl. Tables 1 and 3). Six HSV-1 miRNA sequences were obtained, derived from four HSV-1 miRNA precursor hairpins (Fig. 2a). The two most common HSV-1 miRNAs were miR-H2-3p
Chromatin control of herpes simplex virus lytic and latent infection
Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2008
Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) can undergo a lytic infection in epithelial cells and a latent infection in sensory neurons. During latency the virus persists until reactivation, which leads to recurrent productive infection and transmission to a new host. How does HSV undergo such different types of infection in different cell types? Recent research indicates that regulation of the assembly of chromatin on HSV DNA underlies the lytic versus latent decision of HSV. We propose a model for the decision to undergo a lytic or a latent infection in which HSV encodes gene products that modulate chromatin structure towards either euchromatin or heterochromatin, and we discuss the implications of this model for the development of therapeutics for HSV infections.
PLoS pathogens, 2014
Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are significant human pathogens that provide one of the best-described examples of viral latency and reactivation. HSV latency occurs in sensory neurons, being characterized by the absence of virus replication and only fragmentary evidence of protein production. In mouse models, HSV latency is especially stable but the detection of some lytic gene transcription and the ongoing presence of activated immune cells in latent ganglia have been used to suggest that this state is not entirely quiescent. Alternatively, these findings can be interpreted as signs of a low, but constant level of abortive reactivation punctuating otherwise silent latency. Using single cell analysis of transcription in mouse dorsal root ganglia, we reveal that HSV-1 latency is highly dynamic in the majority of neurons. Specifically, transcription from areas of the HSV genome associated with at least one viral lytic gene occurs in nearly two thirds of latently-infected neurons and mor...
Journal of virology, 1997
During herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency, limited viral transcription takes place. This transcription has been linked to the ability of the HSV-1 genome to reactivate and consists of abundant 2.0- and 1.5-kb collinear latency-associated transcripts (LATs), spanned by minor hybridizing RNA (mLAT). The 1.5-kb LAT is derived from the 2.0-kb LAT by splicing, and both transcripts contain two large overlapping open reading frames. The molecular action mechanisms of the latency-associated gene expression are unknown, and no HSV-1 latency-encoded proteins have been convincingly demonstrated. We have cloned the entire latency-associated transcriptionally active HSV-1 DNA fragment (10.4 kb) under control of a constitutive promoter and generated a neuronal cell line (NA4) stably transfected with the viral LAT's region. NA4 cells produced the 2.0- and the 1.5-kb LATs. Northern blotting and reverse transcription-PCR analysis of RNA from NA4 cells and from trigeminal ganglia of mice...
Journal of Virology, 2022
The HSV-1 latency-associated transcript (LAT) locus contains two small noncoding RNA (sncRNA) sequences (sncRNA1 and sncRNA2) that are not microRNAs (miRNAs). We recently reported that sncRNA1 is more important for in vitro activation of the herpesvirus entry mediator than sncRNA2, but its in vivo function is not known. To determine the role, if any, of sncRNA1 during herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection in vivo, we deleted the 62-bp sncRNA1 sequence in HSV-1 strain McKrae using dLAT2903 (LAT-minus) virus, creating DsncRNA1 recombinant virus. Deletion of the sncRNA1 in DsncRNA1 virus was confirmed by complete sequencing of DsncRNA1 virus and its parental virus (i.e., McKrae). Replication of DsncRNA1 virus in tissue culture or in the eyes of infected mice was similar to that of HSV-1 strain McKrae and dLAT2903 viruses. However, the absence of sncRNA1 significantly reduced the levels of ICP0, ICP4, and gB but not LAT transcripts in infected rabbit skin cells in vitro. In contrast, the absence of sncRNA1 did reduce LAT expression in trigeminal ganglia (TG), but not in corneas, by day 5 postinfection (p.i.) in infected mice. Levels of eye disease in mice infected with DsncRNA1 or McKrae virus were similar, and despite reduced LAT levels in TG during acute DsncRNA1 infection, McKrae and DsncRNA1 viruses did not affect latency or reactivation on day 28 p.i. However, mice infected with DsncRNA1 virus were more susceptible to ocular infection than their wild-type (WT) counterparts. Expression of host immune response genes in corneas and TG of infected mice during primary infection showed reduced expression of beta interferon (IFNb) and IFNg and altered activation of key innate immune pathways, such as the JAK-STAT pathway in DsncRNA1 virus compared with parental WT virus. Our results reveal novel functions for sncRNA1 in upregulating the host immune response and suggest that sncRNA1 has a protective role during primary ocular HSV-1 infection. IMPORTANCE HSV-1 latency-associated transcript (LAT) plays a major role in establishing latency and reactivation; however, the mechanism by which LAT controls these processes is largely unknown. In this study, we sought to establish the role of the small noncoding RNA1 (sncRNA1) encoded within LAT during HSV-1 ocular infection. Our results suggest that sncRNA1 has a protective role during acute ocular infection by modulating the innate immune response to infection.