SUMMARY The RNA modification N6-methyladenosine (m6A) post-transcriptionally regulates RNA function. The cellular machinery that controls m6A includes methyltransferases and demethylases that add or remove this modification as well as m6A-binding YTHDF proteins that promote the translation or degradation of m6A-modified mRNA. We demonstrate that m6A modulates infection by hepatitis C virus (HCV). Depletion of m6A-methyltransferases or an m6A-demethylase respectively increases and decreases infectious HCV particle production. During HCV infection, YTHDF proteins relocalize to lipid droplets, sites of viral assembly, and their depletion increases infectious viral particles. We further mapped m6A sites across the HCV genome and determine that inactivating m6A in one viral genomic region increases viral titer without affecting RNA replication. Additional mapping of m6A on the RNA genomes of other Flaviviridae, including dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and West Nile virus, identifies conserved regions modified by m6A. Together, this work identifies m6A as a conserved regulatory mark across Flaviviridae genomes.

Summary Covalent addition of a methyl group to the adenosine N6 (m6A) is an evolutionarily conserved and common RNA modification that is thought to modulate several aspects of RNA metabolism. While the presence of multiple m6A editing sites on diverse viral RNAs was reported starting almost 40 years ago, how m6A editing affects virus replication has remained unclear. Here, we used photo-crosslinking-assisted m6A sequencing techniques to precisely map several m6A editing sites on the HIV-1 genome and report that they cluster in the HIV-1 3’ untranslated region (3'UTR). Viral 3'UTR m6A sites or analogous cellular m6A sites strongly enhanced mRNA expression in cis by recruiting the cellular YTHDF m6A “reader” proteins. Reducing YTHDF expression inhibited, while YTHDF overexpression enhanced, HIV-1 protein and RNA expression, and virus replication in CD4+ T cells. These data identify m6A editing, and the resultant recruitment of YTHDF proteins, as major positive regulators of HIV-1 mRNA expression.

Summary Many viral RNAs are modified by methylation of the N6 position of adenosine (m6A). m6A is thought to regulate RNA splicing, stability, translation and secondary structure. Influenza A virus (IAV) expresses m6A-modified RNAs but the effects of m6A on this segmented RNA virus remain unclear. We demonstrate that global inhibition of m6A addition inhibits IAV gene expression and replication. In contrast, overexpression of the cellular m6A “reader” protein YTHDF2 increases IAV gene expression and replication. To address whether m6A residues modulate IAV RNA function in cis, we mapped m6A residues on the IAV plus (mRNA) and minus (vRNA) strands and used synonymous mutations to ablate m6A on both strands of the hemagglutinin (HA) segment. These mutations inhibited HA mRNA and protein expression, while leaving other IAV mRNAs and proteins unaffected, and also resulted in reduced IAV pathogenicity in mice. Thus, m6A residues in IAV transcripts enhance viral gene expression.

High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs), including HPV-16 and HPV-18, are the causative agents of cervical carcinomas and are linked to several other tumors of the anogenital and oropharyngeal regions. The majority of HPV-induced tumors contain integrated copies of the normally episomal HPV genome that invariably retain intact forms of the two HPV oncogenes E6 and E7. E6 induces degradation of the cellular tumor suppressor p53, while E7 destabilizes the retinoblastoma (Rb) protein. Previous work has shown that loss of E6 function in cervical cancer cells induces p53 expression as well as downstream effectors that induce apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Similarly, loss of E7 allows increased Rb expression, leading to cell cycle arrest and senescence. Here, we demonstrate that expression of a bacterial Cas9 RNA-guided endonuclease, together with single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) specific for E6 or E7, is able to induce cleavage of the HPV genome, resulting in the introduction of inactivating deletion and insertion mutations into the E6 or E7 gene. This results in the induction of p53 or Rb, leading to cell cycle arrest and eventual cell death. Both HPV-16-and HPV-18-transformed cells were found to be responsive to targeted HPV genome-specific DNA cleavage. These data provide a proof of principle for the idea that vector-delivered Cas9/sgRNA combinations could represent effective treatment modalities for HPV-induced cancers. IMPORTANCEHuman papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the causative agents of almost all cervical carcinomas and many other tumors, including many head and neck cancers. In these cancer cells, the HPV DNA genome is integrated into the cellular genome, where it expresses high levels of two viral oncogenes, called E6 and E7, that are required for cancer cell growth and viability. Here, we demonstrate that the recently described bacterial CRISPR/Cas RNA-guided endonuclease can be reprogrammed to target and destroy the E6 or E7 gene in cervical carcinoma cells transformed by HPV, resulting in cell cycle arrest, leading to cancer cell death. We propose that viral vectors designed to deliver E6-and/or E7-specific CRISPR/Cas to tumor cells could represent a novel and highly effective tool to treat and eliminate HPV-induced cancers. C ervical carcinomas arise as a result of infection by human papillomavirus (HPV), most commonly high-risk HPV serotype HPV-16 or HPV-18 (1-4). Tumorigenesis results primarily from the deregulated expression of two viral oncoproteins, termed E6 and E7, which induce the degradation of the host cell tumor suppressors p53 and retinoblastoma (Rb) protein, respectively (2-7). This suggests that inactivation of either E6 or E7 expression in cervical carcinoma cells should result in the induction of p53 or Rb, respectively, as these proteins normally remain fully intact in cervical carcinoma cells. In fact, repression of E6 expression not only induces p53 but also upregulates the downstream effectors of p53 function, including proapoptotic proteins and the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor...

BackgroundCRISPR-Cas systems have been broadly embraced as effective tools for genome engineering applications, with most studies to date utilizing the Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9. Here we characterize and manipulate the smaller, 1053 amino acid nuclease Staphylococcus aureus Cas9.ResultsWe find that the S. aureus Cas9 recognizes an NNGRRT protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) and cleaves target DNA at high efficiency with a variety of guide RNA (gRNA) spacer lengths. When directed against genomic targets with mutually permissive NGGRRT PAMs, the S. pyogenes Cas9 and S. aureus Cas9 yield indels at comparable rates. We additionally show D10A and N580A paired nickase activity with S. aureus Cas9, and we further package it with two gRNAs in a single functional adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector. Finally, we assess comparative S. pyogenes and S. aureus Cas9 specificity using GUIDE-seq.ConclusionOur results reveal an S. aureus Cas9 that is effective for a variety of genome engineering purposes, including paired nickase approaches and all-in-one delivery of Cas9 and multiple gRNA expression cassettes with AAV vectors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-015-0817-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major human pathogen, with over 240 million individuals suffering from chronic HBV infections. These can persist for decades due to the lack of therapies that can effectively target the stable viral covalently closed circular (ccc) DNA molecules present in infected hepatocytes. Using lentiviral transduction of a bacterial Cas9 gene and single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) specific for HBV, we observed effective inhibition of HBV DNA production in in vitro models of both chronic and de novo HBV infection. Cas9/sgRNA combinations specific for HBV reduced total viral DNA levels by up to ~1000-fold and HBV cccDNA levels by up to ~10-fold and also mutationally inactivated the majority of the residual viral DNA. Together, these data provide proof of principle for the hypothesis that CRISPR/Cas systems have the potential to serve as effective tools for the depletion of the cccDNA pool in chronically HBV infected individuals.

Highlights d HIV-1 mRNA in infected cells are highly modified by addition of m 5 C d These m 5 C residues are added in the nucleus by the host NSUN2 methyltransferase d Loss of NSUN2, and hence loss of m 5 C addition, inhibits HIV-1 mRNA translation d NSUN2 deficiency perturbs ribosomal recruitment and HIV-1 RNA alternative splicing

We have used genome editing to generate inactivating deletion mutations in all three copies of the dicer (hdcr) gene present in the human cell line 293T. As previously shown in murine ES cells lacking Dicer function, hDcr-deficient 293T cells are severely impaired for the production of mature microRNAs (miRNAs). Nevertheless, RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs) present in these hDcr-deficient cells are readily programmed by transfected, synthetic miRNA duplexes to repress mRNAs bearing either fully or partially complementary targets, including targets bearing incomplete seed homology to the introduced miRNA. Using these hDcr-deficient 293T cells, we demonstrate that human pre-miRNA processing can be effectively rescued by ectopic expression of the Drosophila Dicer 1 protein, but only in the presence of the PB isoform of Loquacious (Loqs-PB), the fly homolog of the hDcr cofactor TRBP. In contrast, Drosophila Dicer 2, even in the presence of its cofactors Loqs-PD and R2D2, was unable to support human pre-miRNA processing. Interestingly, although ectopic Drosophila Dicer 1/Loqs-PB or hDcr both rescued pre-miRNA processing effectively in these hDcr-deficient cells, there were significant differences in the ratio of the miRNA isoforms that were produced, especially in the case of miR-30 family members, and we also noted differences in the relative expression level of miRNAs vs. passenger strands for a subset of human miRNAs. These data demonstrate that the mechanisms underlying the accurate processing of pre-miRNAs are largely, but not entirely, conserved between mammalian and insect cells.