SUMMARY Bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems utilize sequence-specific RNA-guided nucleases to defend against bacteriophage infection. As a counter-measure, numerous phages are known that produce proteins to block the function of Class 1 CRISPR-Cas systems. However, currently no proteins are known to inhibit the widely used Class 2 CRISPR-Cas9 system. To find these inhibitors, we searched cas9-containing bacterial genomes for the co-existence of a CRISPR spacer and its target, a potential indicator for CRISPR inhibition. This analysis led to the discovery of four unique type II-A CRISPR-Cas9 inhibitor proteins encoded by Listeria monocytogenes prophages. More than half of L. monocytogenes strains with cas9 contain at least one prophage-encoded inhibitor, suggesting widespread CRISPR-Cas9 inactivation. Two of these inhibitors also blocked the widely used Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 when assayed in Escherichia coli and human cells. These natural Cas9-specific “anti-CRISPRs” present tools that can be used to regulate the genome engineering activities of CRISPR-Cas9.

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Restriction factors, such as the retroviral complementary DNA deaminase APOBEC3G, are cellular proteins that dominantly block virus replication1-3. The AIDS virus, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), produces the accessory factor Vif, which counteracts the host’s antiviral defence by hijacking a ubiquitin ligase complex, containing CUL5, ELOC, ELOB and a RING-box protein, and targeting APOBEC3G for degradation4-10. Here we reveal, using an affinity tag/purification mass spectrometry approach, that Vif additionally recruits the transcription cofactor CBF-β to this ubiquitin ligase complex. CBF-β, which normally functions in concert with RUNX DNA binding proteins, allows the reconstitution of a recombinant six-protein assembly that elicits specific polyubiquitination activity with APOBEC3G, but not the related deaminase APOBEC3A. Using RNA knockdown and genetic complementation studies, we also demonstrate that CBF-β is required for Vif-mediated degradation of APOBEC3G and therefore for preserving HIV-1 infectivity. Finally, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Vif also binds to and requires CBF-β to degrade rhesus macaque APOBEC3G, indicating functional conservation. Methods of disrupting the CBF-β–Vif interaction might enable HIV-1 restriction and provide a supplement to current antiviral therapies that primarily target viral proteins.

Highlights d SARS-CoV-2 replication induces a delayed IFN response in lung epithelial cells d MDA5 and LGP2 are the major sensors recognizing SARS-CoV-2 infection d Viral intermediates activate the IFN response through MDA5mediated sensing d IRF3, IRF5, and NF-kB/p65 are required for the IFN response induced by SARS-CoV-2

Cellular proteins called "restriction factors" can serve as powerful blockades to HIV replication, but the virus possesses elaborate strategies to circumvent these barriers. First, we discuss general hallmarks of a restriction factor. Second, we review how the viral Vif protein protects the viral genome from lethal levels of cDNA deamination by promoting APOBEC3 protein degradation; how the viral Vpu, Env, and Nef proteins facilitate internalization and degradation of the virus-tethering protein BST-2/tetherin; and how the viral Vpx protein prevents the premature termination of reverse transcription by degrading the dNTPase SAMHD1. These HIV restriction and counter-restriction mechanisms suggest strategies for new therapeutic interventions. Restriction Factor HallmarksRestriction factors have at least four defining characteristics (see Fig. 1A). First and foremost, a restriction factor must directly and dominantly cause a significant decrease in HIV infectivity. This is often determined by cotransfecting cell lines such as HEK293 and HeLa with a molecular clone of the virus, with or without a plasmid expressing the restriction factor, and measuring the amount and infectivity of virus recovered in the cell culture medium after 1-2 days of incubation. Such assays are ideally done over a range of restriction factor expression, with the highest levels often imposing log-scale drops in viral infectivity (see Fig. 1B). This "single-cycle" assay for viral replication is useful for testing the impact of viral mutations and/or restriction factor variations.Second, if a restriction factor is a true threat to viral replication, then the predecessors of HIV invariably evolved an equally potent counter-restriction mechanism that still exists in the present day virus. For instance, titrating a counter-restriction factor into the aforementioned single-cycle infectivity experiment can result in a full recovery of viral infectivity despite the presence of an active restriction factor (Fig. 1B). Viruses lacking these various countermeasures are able to replicate in some, but not all, cell types depending on the expression level of the relevant restriction factor. Cell lines that support replication are termed "permissive," and those that do not are termed "nonpermissive." This life/death dichotomy has been elegantly exploited to identify several restriction factors and their corresponding viral antagonists.Third, because the interactions between restriction and counter-restriction factors occur through direct protein-protein interactions, the restriction factor often shows signatures of rapid evolution. In general, mutations are maintained in a population only if they confer a selective advantage. If a host species experiences iterative rounds of pathogenic pressure, altered variants of host restriction factors that are no longer susceptible to the pathogen's counteraction mechanism are selected. Over evolutionary time, this results in an overabundance of amino acid substitution mutations in these genes relative to non-amino acid...

Host proteins are essential for entry and replication of HIV and provide important non-viral therapeutic targets. Large-scale RNAi-based screens have identified nearly a thousand candidate host factors, but with little agreement among studies and few validated factors. Here, we demonstrate that a genome-wide CRISPR-based screen identifies bona fide host factors in a physiologically relevant cell system. We identify five factors, including CD4 and CCR5, that are required for HIV infection yet dispensable for cellular proliferation and viability. TPST2 and SLC35B2 act in a common pathway to sulfate CCR5 on extracellular tyrosine residues, facilitating recognition by HIV envelope. ALCAM mediates cell aggregation, which is required for cell-to-cell HIV transmission. We validate these pathways in primary human CD4+ T cells through Cas9-mediated knockout and antibody blockade. Our findings indicate that HIV infection and replication rely on a limited set of host-dispensable genes and suggest focusing on these pathways for therapeutic intervention.

SUMMARY New genetic tools are needed to understand the functional interactions between HIV and human host factors in primary cells. We recently developed a method to edit the genome of primary CD4+ T cells by electroporation of CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). Here, we adapted this methodology to a high-throughput platform for the efficient, arrayed editing of candidate host factors. CXCR4 or CCR5 knock-out cells generated with this method are resistant to HIV infection in a tropism-dependent manner, whereas knock-out of LEDGF or TNPO3 results in a tropism-independent reduction in infection. CRISPR/Cas9 RNPs can furthermore edit multiple genes simultaneously, enabling studies of interactions among multiple host and viral factors. Finally, in an arrayed screen of 45 genes associated with HIV integrase, we identified several candidate dependency/restriction factors, demonstrating the power of this approach as a discovery platform. This technology should accelerate target validation for pharmaceutical and cell-based therapies to cure HIV infection.

The Vif protein of HIV-1 allows virus replication by degrading several members of the host-encoded APOBEC3 family of DNA cytosine deaminases. Polymorphisms in both host APOBEC3 genes and the viral vif gene have the potential to impact the extent of virus replication among individuals. The most genetically diverse of the seven human APOBEC3 genes is APOBEC3H with seven known haplotypes. Overexpression studies have shown that a subset of these variants express stable and active proteins, whereas the others encode proteins with a short half-life and little, if any, antiviral activity. We demonstrate that these stable/unstable phenotypes are an intrinsic property of endogenous APOBEC3H proteins in primary CD4+ T lymphocytes and confer differential resistance to HIV-1 infection in a manner that depends on natural variation in the Vif protein of the infecting virus. HIV-1 with a Vif protein hypo-functional for APOBEC3H degradation, yet fully able to counteract APOBEC3D, APOBEC3F, and APOBEC3G, was susceptible to restriction and hypermutation in stable APOBEC3H expressing lymphocytes, but not in unstable APOBEC3H expressing lymphocytes. In contrast, HIV-1 with hyper-functional Vif counteracted stable APOBEC3H proteins as well as all other endogenous APOBEC3s and replicated to high levels. We also found that APOBEC3H protein levels are induced over 10-fold by infection. Finally, we found that the global distribution of stable/unstable APOBEC3H haplotypes correlates with the distribution a critical hyper/hypo-functional Vif amino acid residue. These data combine to strongly suggest that stable APOBEC3H haplotypes present as in vivo barriers to HIV-1 replication, that Vif is capable of adapting to these restrictive pressures, and that an evolutionary equilibrium has yet to be reached.