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The pocket proteins retinoblastoma protein (pRb), p107 and p130 are the key targets of oncoproteins expressed by DNA tumor viruses. Some of these viral proteins contain an LXCXE motif that mediates the interaction with the three pocket proteins and the inhibition of the pRb SUMOylation. Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) contains at least two proteins that can regulate pRb function but, so far, a KSHV-encoded protein targeting p107 and p130 has not been identified. Here, we show that the KSHV latent protein LANA2 binds to pRb, p107 and p130. LANA2 contains an LXCXE motif that is required for bypassing pRb-mediated cell-cycle arrest and for inhibiting pRb SUMOylation. Finally, we demonstrate that, in addition to pRb, both p107 and p130 can be SUMOylated, and this modification is also inhibited by LANA2 in an LXCXE-dependent manner. These results demonstrate, for the first time, the SUMOylation of p107 or p130 and, so far, they represent the first example of a KSHV protein able to interact with the three pocket proteins and to inhibit their conjugation to SUMO.

Summary Background and objective Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)-inducible protein-10 (IP-10), soluble (s) CD163 and sCD14 play an important role in the pathogenesis of HCV and HIV infection and are involved in inflammation and liver fibrosis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate at a single time point, plasma soluble biomarkers and inflammatory monocytes subsets in different groups of subjects: (i) HIV monoinfected patients on suppressive ART; (ii) HIV/HCV coinfected patients on ART, with undetectable HIV viremia (including either subjects who had active HCV replication or those who cleared HCV); (iii) HCV monoinfected individual with active viral replication. Methods Hundred and twenty-nine plasma samples were analyzed including HCV and HIV monoinfected patients, HIV/HCV coinfected patients, with active HCV infection (AHI) or with HCV viral clearance (VHC) and healthy donors (HD). Levels of IP-10, sCD163 and sCD14 were measured by ELISA. Absolute cell counts of monocyte subpopulations were enumerated in whole blood by using flow cytometric analyses. Results IP-10 and sCD163 plasma levels were higher in HCV monoinfected and in AHI coinfected pts compared to HIV monoinfected and HD, whereas sCD14 levels were higher only in HIV monoinfected patients. Considering the degree of fibrosis, sCD163 and sCD14 levels positively correlated with kPa values (as assessed by fibroscan) and FIB-4 in HCV monoinfected group. On the other hand, IP-10 did not correlate with the fibrosis stage and it was found increased also in patients with low fibrosis. Moreover, we found an increase of the inflammatory NCM subset, in non-cirrhotic HCV subjects, while no alterations were observed in HIV, AHI and VHC. Conclusions Our study suggests a scenario in which active HCV infection is associated with a strong pro-inflammatory state, even in the initial stage of liver fibrosis, regardless the presence of HIV coinfection, thus underlying the need of an early anti-HCV treatment.

Tumor suppressor p53 is known to be a direct transcriptional target of type I interferons (IFNs), contributing to virus-induced apoptosis, and in turn activating itself the interferon pathway. Acetylation, among many other post-translational modifications of p53, is thought to exert a crucial role regulating p53 activity. Here, we examined the contribution of this modification on the antiviral activity mediated by p53. Our results show that virus infection induces p53 acetylation at lysine 379, and that this modification is absolutely required for p53-dependent transcriptional transactivation of both, pro-apoptotic and IFN-stimulated genes induced by virus infection, and for p53-mediated control of virus replication. Thus, our study identifies p53 acetylation as an indispensable event that enables the p53-mediated antiviral response.

The rotavirus (RV) non-structural protein 5, NSP5, is encoded by the smallest of the 11 genomic segments and localizes in ‘viroplasms’, cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in which viral RNA replication and packaging take place. NSP5 is essential for the replicative cycle of the virus because, in its absence, viroplasms are not formed and viral RNA replication and transcription do not occur. NSP5 is produced early in infection and undergoes a complex hyperphosphorylation process, leading to the formation of proteins differing in electrophoretic mobility. The role of hyperphosphorylation of NSP5 in the replicative cycle of rotavirus is unknown. Previous in vitro studies have suggested that the cellular kinase CK1α is responsible for the NSP5 hyperphosphorylation process. Here it is shown, by means of specific RNA interference, that in vivo, CK1α is the enzyme that initiates phosphorylation of NSP5. Lack of NSP5 hyperphosphorylation affected neither its interaction with the virus VP1 and NSP2 proteins normally found in viroplasms, nor the production of viral proteins. In contrast, the morphology of viroplasms was altered markedly in cells in which CK1α was depleted and a moderate decrease in the production of double-stranded RNA and infectious virus was observed. These data show that CK1α is the kinase that phosphorylates NSP5 in virus-infected cells and contribute to further understanding of the role of NSP5 in RV infection.

Rotavirus genomes contain 11 double-stranded (ds) RNA segments. Genome segment 11 encodes the non-structural protein NSP5 and, in some strains, also NSP6. NSP5 is produced soon after viral infection and localizes in cytoplasmic viroplasms, where virus replication takes place. RNA interference by small interfering (si) RNAs targeted to genome segment 11 mRNA of two different strains blocked production of NSP5 in a strain-specific manner, with a strong effect on the overall replicative cycle: inhibition of viroplasm formation, decreased production of other structural and non-structural proteins, synthesis of viral genomic dsRNA and production of infectious particles. These effects were shown not to be due to inhibition of NSP6. The results obtained strengthen the importance of secondary transcription/translation in rotavirus replication and demonstrate that NSP5 is essential for the assembly of viroplasms and virus replication.

Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; The dsRNA-dependent kinase PKR is an interferon-inducible protein with ability to phosphorylate the α subunit of the eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF)-2 complex, resulting in a shut-off of general translation, induction of apoptosis, and inhibition of virus replication. Here we analyzed the modification of PKR by the small ubiquitin-like modifiers SUMO1 and SUMO2 and evaluated the consequences of PKR SUMOylation. Our results indicate that PKR is modified by both SUMO1 and SUMO2, in vitro and in vivo. We identified lysine residues Lys-60, Lys-150, and Lys-440 as SUMOylation sites in PKR. We show that SUMO is required for efficient PKR-dsRNA binding, PKR dimerization, and eIF2α phosphorylation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that SUMO potentiates the inhibition of protein synthesis induced by PKR in response to dsRNA, whereas a PKR SUMOylation mutant is impaired in its ability to inhibit protein synthesis and shows reduced capability to control vesicular stomatitis virus replication and to induce apoptosis in response to vesicular stomatitis virus infection. In summary, our data demonstrate the important role of SUMO in processes mediated by the activation of PKR. Yes

Several findings in the paper by Sen et al. entitled “Hyperphosphorylation of the rotavirus NSP5 protein is independent of serine 67 or NSP2, and the intrinsic insolubility of NSP5 is regulated by cellular phosphatases” (5) seem to contradict previous published findings from our laboratory. The authors also state that “… hyperphosphorylated NSP5 is predominantly present in previously unrecognized cellular fractions that are insoluble in 0.2% SDS.” We were puzzled by the fact that not a single experiment in this paper was performed with the natural protein. In all cases NSP5 was fused with a His6-G, GAL4, or Myc tag, but the conclusions were extended to the behavior of wild-type NSP5 (wtNSP5). Based on previous results showing that the addition of a tag at the amino terminus of NSP5 drastically changes the characteristics of the protein (e.g., viroplasm-like structure formation without NSP2 [4; unpublished results]), we addressed this point by expressing various NSP5 constructs either untagged or N-terminally tagged with the SV5 peptide (3). As shown in Fig. ​Fig.1A1A and in agreement with previous results of this group (2, 3), the soluble fraction of wild-type NSP5 and its mutants NSP5a (Ser63, 65, 67Ala) and NSP5-Ser67Ala were little or not phosphorylated, whereas the mutation of Ser67 into aspartic acid (NSP5-S67D) was associated with hyperphosphorylation of NSP5. In contrast, tagging of NSP5 at the N terminus increased hyperphosphorylation of SV5-NSP5 and SV5-NSP5-S67D, whereas the effect on the mutants SV5-NSP5a and SV5-NSP5-S67A was reduced. Analysis of the insoluble fractions showed that the relative amounts of the nontagged NSP5 constructs were less than 10% of the total and did not show a phosphorylation pattern different from that of the soluble fraction (Fig. ​(Fig.1A).1A). By contrast, N-tagged constructs showed a pattern of increased phosphorylation in the insoluble fraction, yet this represented in all cases not more than 20% of the total. These results demonstrate that there is a substantial difference in the behavior of tagged versus nontagged NSP5 proteins. FIG. 1. Western blot analysis (anti-NSP5) of soluble and insoluble fractions of untagged or N-terminally tagged wild-type and mutant NSP5, expressed in MA104 cells. Cells were lysed as described previously (2). Aliquots corresponding to 10% of supernatants from ... Sen et al. further claim that NSP5 phosphorylation is independent of NSP2. We addressed this point as well by analyzing NSP5 phosphorylation when coexpressed with NSP2, both in the soluble and insoluble fractions. We found, in agreement with our previous results (1), that NSP2 was able to induce hyperphosphorylation of wtNSP5, with identical forms being present in the insoluble fraction but with the amount representing less than 10% (Fig. ​(Fig.1B).1B). Finally, and very importantly, at least 90% of the total amount of wtNSP5 derived from virus-infected cells was present in the soluble fraction (Fig. ​(Fig.1C).1C). Therefore, we can rule out the possibility that lack of analysis of the insoluble fractions could have led to misinterpretation of our previously published data. Our results clearly show that without the control of the natural protein, the use of tagged-NSP5 constructs can produce spurious and misleading results. Daring statements on biochemical properties of NSP5 seem to be premature when the data on which they are based are derived only from proteins modified by the addition of tags.

Posttranslational modification by SUMO provides functional flexibility to target proteins. Viruses interact extensively with the cellular SUMO modification system in order to improve their replication, and there are numerous examples of viral proteins that are SUMOylated. However, thus far the relevance of SUMOylation for rotavirus replication remains unexplored. In this study, we report that SUMOylation positively regulates rotavirus replication and viral protein production. We show that SUMO can be covalently conjugated to the viroplasm proteins VP1, VP2, NSP2, VP6, and NSP5. In addition, VP1, VP2, and NSP2 can also interact with SUMO in a noncovalent manner. We observed that an NSP5 SUMOylation mutant protein retains most of its activities, such as its interaction with VP1 and NSP2, the formation of viroplasm-like structures after the coexpression with NSP2, and the ability to complement in trans the lack of NSP5 in infected cells. However, this mutant is characterized by a high degree of phosphorylation and is impaired in the formation of viroplasm-like structures when coexpressed with VP2. These results reveal for the first time a positive role for SUMO modification in rotavirus replication, describe the SUMOylation of several viroplasm resident rotavirus proteins, and demonstrate a requirement for NSP5 SUMOylation in the production of viroplasm-like structures.

The crucial function of the PTEN tumor suppressor in multiple cellular processes suggests that its activity must be tightly controlled. Both, membrane association and a variety of post-translational modifications, such as acetylation, phosphorylation, and mono- and polyubiquitination, have been reported to regulate PTEN activity. Here, we demonstrated that PTEN is also post-translationally modified by the small ubiquitin-like proteins, small ubiquitin-related modifier 1 (SUMO1) and SUMO2. We identified lysine residue 266 and the major monoubiquitination site 289, both located within the C2 domain required for PTEN membrane association, as SUMO acceptors in PTEN. We demonstrated the existence of a crosstalk between PTEN SUMOylation and ubiquitination, with PTEN-SUMO1 showing a reduced capacity to form covalent interactions with monoubiquitin and accumulation of PTEN-SUMO2 conjugates after inhibition of the proteasome. Moreover, we found that virus infection induces PTEN SUMOylation and favors PTEN localization at the cell membrane. Finally, we demonstrated that SUMOylation contributes to the control of virus infection by PTEN.

The vaccinia virus (VACV) E3 protein is essential for virulence and has antiapoptotic activity and the ability to impair the host innate immune response. Here we demonstrate that E3 interacts with SUMO1 through a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)-interacting motif (SIM). SIM integrity is required for maintaining the stability of the viral protein and for the covalent conjugation of E3 to SUMO1 or SUMO2, a modification that has a negative effect on the E3 transcriptional transactivation of the p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) and APAF-1 genes. We also demonstrate that E3 is ubiquitinated, a modification that does not destabilize the wild-type protein but triggers the degradation of an E3- SIM mutant. This report constitutes the first demonstration of the important roles that both SUMO and ubiquitin play in the regulation of the VACV protein E3., Funding at the laboratory of C.R. is provided by BFU-2008-03784. M.E. is supported by SAF2008-02036 and Foundation Botín. M.C. and L.M.-V. are supported by the Juan de la Cierva Programme. J.G.-S. is supported by an IFARHU-SENACYT predoctoral fellowship from Panama. P.G. is supported by a JAE predoctoral fellowship from the CSIC. S.G. holds a research contract from the program Ramón y Cajal of Spain

The multifunctional Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) latent protein latency-associated nuclear antigen 2 (LANA2) has a critical role in KSHV-induced B-cell malignancies. LANA2 increases the level of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)2-ubiquitin-modified PML and induces the disruption of PML oncogenic domains (PODs) by a process that requires a non-covalent SUMO interaction domain (SIM) in LANA2. We now demonstrate that LANA2 is covalently conjugated to SUMO1 and SUMO2 both in vitro and in latently KSHV-infected B-cells. We show that a LANA2 SIM mutant exhibits a slightly altered sumoylation pattern, which suggests that non-covalent SUMO interactions represent a mechanism for determining SUMO substrate recognition and modification. In addition, several lysine residues were mapped as SUMO conjugation sites. A sumoylation-deficient mutant shows impaired ability to induce disruption of PODs, which suggests that either directly bound or covalently conjugated SUMO moieties may act as a bridge for interaction between LANA2 and other SUMO-modified or SUMO-interacting proteins required for disruption of PODs.

SIRT1, the closest mammalian homolog of yeast Sir2, is an NAD(+)-dependent deacetylase with relevant functions in cancer, aging, and metabolism among other processes. SIRT1 has a diffuse nuclear localization but is recruited to the PML nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) after PML upregulation. However, the functions of SIRT1 in the PML-NBs are unknown. In this study we show that primary mouse embryo fibroblasts lacking SIRT1 contain reduced PML protein levels that are increased after reintroduction of SIRT1. In addition, overexpression of SIRT1 in HEK-293 cells increases the amount of PML protein whereas knockdown of SIRT1 reduces the size and number of PML-NBs and the levels of PML protein in HeLa cells. SIRT1 stimulates PML sumoylation in vitro and in vivo in a deacetylase-independent manner. Importantly, the absence of SIRT1 reduces the apoptotic response of vesicular stomatitis virus-infected cells and favors the extent of this PML-sensitive virus replication. These results show a novel function of SIRT1 in the control of PML and PML-NBs.

Resveratrol is a natural compound produced by certain plants on various stimuli. In recent years, extensive research on resveratrol has been carried out, demonstrating its capacity to prevent a wide variety of conditions, including cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and to control fungal, bacterial and viral infections. In the present review, we summarize the current knowledge of the activity of resveratrol against viral infection and describe the possible molecular pathways through which resveratrol exerts its antiviral activity.

Rotavirus genome replication and the first steps of virus morphogenesis take place in cytoplasmic viral factories, called viroplasms, containing four structural (VP1, VP2, VP3 and VP6) and two non-structural (NSP2 and NSP5) proteins. NSP2 and NSP5 have been shown to be essential for viroplasm formation and, when co-expressed in uninfected cells, to form viroplasm-like structures (VLS). In the present work, VLS formation was shown upon co-expression of NSP5 with the core protein VP2 despite the absence of NSP2, indicating a central role for NSP5 in VLS assembly. Since VP2 and NSP2 also induce NSP5 hyperphosphorylation, the possible correlation between VLS formation and the NSP5 phosphorylation status was investigated without evidence of a direct link. In VLS induced by NSP2, the polymerase VP1 was recruited, while the middle layer protein VP6 was not, forming instead tubular structures. On the other hand, VLS induced by VP2 were able to recruit both VP1 and VP6. More importantly, in VLS formed when NSP5 was expressed with both inducers, all viroplasmic proteins were found co-localized, resembling their distribution in viroplasms. Our results suggest a key role for NSP5 in architectural assembly of viroplasms and in recruitment of viroplasmic proteins. A new role for VP2 as an inducer of viroplasms and of NSP5 hyperphosphorylation is also described. These data may contribute to the understanding of rotavirus morphogenesis.

The retinoblastoma protein Rb is a tumor suppressor involved in cell cycle control, differentiation, and inhibition of oncogenic transformation. Besides these roles, additional functions in the control of immune response have been suggested. In the present study we investigated the consequences of loss of Rb in viral infection. Here we show that virus replication is increased by the absence of Rb, and that Rb is required for the activation of the NF-kB pathway in response to virus infection. These results reveal a novel role for tumor suppressor Rb in viral infection surveillance and further extend the concept of a link between tumor suppressors and antiviral activity, M.E. is funded by BIO2005-06264 and Fundación Botín. A.V. and C.R. are funded by SAF-06868 and BFU2005-00599, respectively, Fundación Mutua Madrileña, and CCG08-CSIC/SAL-3441 (CR). M.A.G. is supported by the CSIC I3P Program and J. G-S. is supported by the IFARHU-SENACYT Program from Panama. M.C. is supported by Fundación Botín and Juan de la Cierva Program. L.M-V. is supported by Comunidad de Madrid. P.G. is supported by the JAE-CSIC predoctoral Program. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Rotavirus morphogenesis starts in intracellular inclusion bodies called viroplasms. RNA replication and packaging are mediated by several viral proteins, of which VP1, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and VP2, the core scaffolding protein, were shown to be sufficient to provide replicase activity in vitro. In vivo, however, viral replication complexes also contain the nonstructural proteins NSP2 and NSP5, which were shown to be essential for replication, to interact with each other, and to form viroplasm-like structures (VLS) when coexpressed in uninfected cells. In order to gain a better understanding of the intermediates formed during viral replication, this work focused on the interactions of NSP5 with VP1, VP2, and NSP2. We demonstrated a strong interaction of VP1 with NSP5 but only a weak one with NSP2 in cotransfected cells in the absence of other viral proteins or viral RNA. By contrast, we failed to coimmunoprecipitate VP2 with anti-NSP5 antibodies or NSP5 with anti-VP2 antibodies. We constructed a tagged form of VP1, which was found to colocalize in viroplasms and in VLS formed by NSP5 and NSP2. The tagged VP1 was able to replace VP1 structurally by being incorporated into progeny viral particles. When applying anti-tag-VP1 or anti-NSP5 antibodies, coimmunoprecipitation of tagged VP1 with NSP5 was found. Using deletion mutants of NSP5 or different fragments of NSP5 fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein, we identified the 48 C-terminal amino acids as the region essential for interaction with VP1.

Intracellular antibodies or intrabodies (ICAbs) have great potential in protein knockout strategies for intracellular antigens. In this study, they have been used to investigate the role of the rotavirus non-structural protein NSP5 in the virus replication cycle. Intracellular antibody-capture technology was used to select single-chain Fv format (scFv) ICAbs against an NSP5 mutant. Five different specific ICAbs were selected and expressed in MA104 cells, in the scFv format, as cytoplasmic- and nuclear-tagged forms. By confocal microscopy, it was found that three of these ICAbs recognized the full-length wild-type NSP5 specifically, forming antigen-specific aggresomes in the cytoplasm of cotransfected cells. Expression of the ICAbs in rotavirus-infected cells largely reduced the assembly of viroplasms and cellular cytopathic effect. Replication of dsRNA was partially inhibited, despite there being no reduction in virus titre. These results demonstrate for the first time a key role for NSP5 during the virus replicative cycle.

9 p. The NF-κB pathway is regulated by multiple post-translational modifications including phosphorylation, ubiquitylation and SUMOylation. Many of these modifications act on the natural inhibitor IκBα modulating its capacity to control signal-mediated NF-κB activity. While the canonical pathway involving the phosphorylation and polyubiquitylation of IκBα has been well characterized, the role of these post-translational modifications in the control of basal NF-κB activity has not been deeply explored. Using the recently developed Tandem-repeated Ubiquitin Binding Entities (also known as ubiquitin traps) to capture ubiquitylated proteins, we identified monoubiquitylated forms of IκBα from multiple rat organs and cell types. The identification of these forms was demonstrated through different procedures such as immunoprecipitations with specific ubiquitin antibodies or His6-Ubiquitin pull downs. Monoubiquitylated forms of IκBα are resistant to TNFα-mediated degradation and can be captured using TUBEs, even after proteasome inhibitors treatment. As it occurs for monoSUMOylation, monoubiquitylation is not dependent of the phosphorylation of IκBα on the serines 32/36 and is not optimally degraded after TNFα stimulation. A ubiquitin-IκBα fusion exhibits phosphorylation defects and resistance to TNFα mediated degradation similar to the ones observed for endogenous monoubiquitylated IκBα. The N-terminal attachment of a single ubiquitin moiety on the IκBα fusion results in a deficient binding to the IKKβ kinase and recruitment of the SCF ligase component βTrCP, promoting a negative impact on the NF-κB activity. Altogether, our results suggest the existence of a reservoir of monoubiquitylated IκBα resistant to TNFα-induced proteolysis, which is able to interact and repress DNA binding and NF-κB transcriptional activity. Such pool of IκBα may play an important role in the control of basal and signal-mediated NF-κB activity. This work was funded by the Ramón y Cajal Program, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia grant BFU2006-12991 and BFU2008-01108/BMC, Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) CIBERhed, Government of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country grant PI09-05, Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade of the Government of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Etortek Research Programs 2008/2009) and from the Innovation Technology Department of the Bizkaia Country. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Serine threonine kinase AKT has a central role in the cell, controlling survival, proliferation, metabolism and angiogenesis. Deregulation of its activity underlies a wide range of pathological situations, including cancer. Here we show that AKT is post-translationally modified by the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) protein. Interestingly, neither SUMO conjugation nor activation of SUMOylated AKT is regulated by the classical AKT targeting to the cell membrane or by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway. We demonstrate that SUMO induces the activation of AKT, whereas, conversely, down-modulation of the SUMO machinery diminishes AKT activation and cell proliferation. Furthermore, an AKT SUMOylation mutant shows reduced activation, and decreased anti-apoptotic and pro-tumoral activities in comparison with the wild-type protein. These results identify SUMO as a novel key regulator of AKT phosphorylation and activity.