Hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) has been shown to antagonize numerous cellular pathways, including the antiviral interferon-␣ response. However, the capacity of this protein to interact with the viral polymerase suggests a more direct role for NS5A in genome replication. In this study, we employed two bacterially expressed, soluble derivatives of NS5A to probe for novel functions of this protein. We find that NS5A has the capacity to bind to the 3-ends of HCV plus and minus strand RNAs. The high affinity binding site for NS5A in the 3-end of plus strand RNA maps to the polypyrimidine tract, an element known to be essential for genome replication and infectivity. NS5A has a preference for single-stranded RNA containing stretches of uridine or guanosine. Values for the equilibrium dissociation constants for high affinity binding sites were in the 10 nM range. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by Western blotting revealed the presence of unphosphorylated NS5A in Huh-7 cells stably expressing the subgenomic replicon. Moreover, RNA immunoprecipitation and NS5A pull-down experiments showed the capacity of replicon-derived NS5A to bind to synthetic RNA and the HCV genome, respectively. Deletion of all of the casein kinase II phosphorylation sites in NS5A supported stable replication of a subgenomic replicon in Huh-7. However, this derivative could not be labeled with inorganic phosphate, suggesting that extensive phosphorylation of NS5A is not required for the replication functions of NS5A. The discovery that NS5A is an RNA-binding protein defines a new functional target for development of agents to treat HCV infection and a new structural class of RNA-binding proteins.

No abstract

Aflatoxin B1, a potently carcinogenic fungal metabolite, is converted to the biologically active form by chemical oxidation using dimethyldioxirane and enzymatically by cytochrome P450 mixed-function oxidases. Both processes give rise to mixtures of the exo-and endo-8,9-epoxides. Methanolysis studies reveal exclusive trans opening of both epoxides under neutral conditions in CHjOH and CH30H/H20 mixtures; an S N~ mechanism is postulated. Under acidic conditions, the ex0 isomer gives mixtures of trans and cis solvolysis products, suggesting that the reaction is, at least in part, S N~; the endo isomer gives only the trans product. The ex0 isomer reacts with DNA by attack of the nitrogen atom at the 7 position of guanine on C8 of the epoxide to give the trans adduct; the endo epoxide fails to form an adduct at this or any other site in DNA. The exo isomer is strongly mutagenic in a base-pair reversion assay employing Salmonella typhimurium; the endo isomer is essentially nonmutagenic. Aflatoxin Bl and its derivatives intercalate in DNA. These results are consistent with a mechanism in which intercalation of the exo epoxide optimally orients the epoxide for an sN2 reaction with guanine but intercalation of the endo isomer places the epoxide in an orientation which precludes reaction. Thus, while the exo epoxide is a potent mutagen, the endo epoxide fails to react with DNA.

Helicases are molecular motors that unwind double-stranded DNA or RNA. In addition to unwinding nucleic acids, an important function of these enzymes seems to be the disruption of protein-nucleic acid interactions. Bacteriophage T4 Dda helicase can displace proteins bound to DNA, including streptavidin bound to biotinylated oligonucleotides. We investigated the mechanism of streptavidin displacement by varying the length of the oligonucleotide substrate. We found that a monomeric form of Dda catalyzed streptavidin displacement; however, the activity increased when multiple helicase molecules bound to the biotinylated oligonucleotide. The activity does not result from cooperative binding of Dda to the oligonucleotide. Rather, the increase in activity is a consequence of the directional bias in translocation of individual helicase monomers. Such a bias leads to protein-protein interactions when the lead monomer stalls owing to the presence of the streptavidin block.

Helicases are enzymes that use energy derived from nucleoside triphosphate hydrolysis to unwind double-stranded (ds) DNA, a process vital to virtually every phase of DNA metabolism. The helicases used in this study, gp41 and Dda, are from the bacteriophage T4, an excellent system for studying enzymes that process DNA. gp41 is the replicative helicase and has been shown to form a hexamer in the presence of ATP. In this study, protein cross-linking was performed in the presence of either linear or circular single-stranded (ss) DNA substrates to determine the topology of gp41 binding to ssDNA. Results indicate that the hexamer binds ssDNA by encircling it, in a manner similar to that of other hexameric helicases. A new assay was developed for studying enzymatic activity of gp41 and Dda on single-stranded DNA. The rate of dissociation of streptavidin from various biotinylated oligonucleotides was determined in the presence of helicase by an electrophoretic mobility shift assay. gp41 and Dda were found to significantly enhance the dissociation rate of streptavidin from biotin-labeled oligonucleotides in an ATP-dependent reaction. Helicase-catalyzed dissociation of streptavidin from the 3'-end of a biotin-labeled 62-mer oligonucleotide occurred with a first-order rate of 0.17 min-1, which is over 500-fold faster than the spontaneous dissociation rate of biotin from streptavidin. Dda activity leads to even faster displacement of streptavidin from the 3' end of the 62-mer, with a first-order rate of 7.9 s-1. This is more than a million-fold greater than the spontaneous dissociation rate. There was no enhancement of streptavidin dissociation from the 5'-biotin-labeled oligonucleotide by either helicase. The fact that each helicase was capable of dislodging streptavidin from the 3'-biotin label suggests that these enzymes are capable of imparting a force on a molecule blocking their path. The difference in displacement between the 5' and 3' ends of the oligonucleotide is also consistent with the possibility of a 5'-to-3' directional bias in translocation on ssDNA for each helicase.

Hepatitis C virus non-structural protein 3 contains a serine protease and an RNA helicase. Protease cleaves the genomeencoded polyprotein and inactivates cellular proteins required for innate immunity. Protease has emerged as an important target for the development of antiviral therapeutics, but drug resistance has turned out to be an obstacle in the clinic. Helicase is required for both genome replication and virus assembly. Mechanistic and structural studies of helicase have hurled this enzyme into a prominent position in the field of helicase enzymology. Nevertheless, studies of helicase as an antiviral target remain in their infancy. Hepatitis C virus (HCV)3 infection is a leading cause of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV is the founding member of the Hepacivirus genus of the family Flaviviridae (1). The HCV genome is a single-stranded RNA of positive polarity that is on the order of 9000 nucleotides (nt) in length (Fig. 1a). The 5Ј-non-translated region (NTR) contains a terminal stem-loop that is a required cis-acting replication element and the internal ribosome entry site. The 3Ј-NTR contains a cis-acting replication element that consists of an RNA stem-loop of variable sequence, a polyuridine/polypyrimidine tract of variable length, and a highly conserved "X-tail. " The variability observed in the 3Ј-NTR and elsewhere in the genome is sufficient to permit classification of HCV into six distinct genotypes.The HCV genome encodes a single open reading frame, the translation of which is directed by the internal ribosome entry site. The HCV polyprotein is on the order of 3000 amino acids long and can be divided into a structural region (C-p7 proteins) and a non-structural (NS) region (NS2-NS5B proteins) (Fig. 1a). Cleavage of the HCV polyprotein occurs co-and posttranslationally by host (structural region) and viral (non-structural region) proteases. Only the NS3-NS5B region of the polyprotein is required for genome replication in cell culture (2). NS5B is the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (3). NS5A is a phosphoprotein (4) capable of specifically interacting with the 3Ј-NTR of the HCV genome (5), other non-structural proteins (6), and numerous cellular proteins (7,8). NS5A also functions in virus assembly (9, 10). NS4B is an integral membrane protein that is required for assembly of the "membranous web," the organelle used for RNA replication (11,12). NS4A is a cofactor for NS3 that directs the localization of NS3 and modulates its enzymatic activities (13). The N-terminal one-third of NS3 contains the protease activity responsible for processing of the non-structural region of the polyprotein (Fig. 1b) (14 -16) and some cellular proteins (17-19). The C-terminal two-thirds of NS3 is an RNA helicase of the DExH family (Fig. 1c) (20). The biological function of the RNA helicase activity is not known but may include 1) RNA folding/remodeling (21), 2) enhancement of polymerase processivity (22), and/or 3) genome encapsidation (23).The significance, if any, of having the major viral p...

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) is believed to be the central catalytic enzyme responsible for HCV replication but there are many unanswered questions about how its activity is controlled. In this study we reveal that two other HCV proteins, NS3 (a protease/helicase) and NS4B (a hydrophobic protein of unknown function), physically and functionally interact with the NS5B polymerase. We describe a new procedure for generating highly pure NS4B, and use this protein in biochemical studies together with NS5B and NS3. To study the functional effects of the protein-protein interactions, we have developed an in vitro replication assay using the natural noncoding 3 regions of the respective positive ((؉)-3 -untranslated region) and negative ((؊)-3 -terminal region) RNA strands of the HCV genome. Our studies show that NS3 dramatically modulates template recognition by NS5B and changes the synthetic products generated by this enzyme. The use of an NTPase-deficient mutant form of NS3 demonstrates that the NTPase activity (and thus helicase activity) of this protein is specifically required for these effects. Moreover, NS4B is found to be a negative regulator of the NS3-NS5B replication complex. Overall, these results reveal that NS3, NS4B, and NS5B can interact to form a regulatory complex that could feature in the process of HCV replication.Hepatitis C virus (HCV) 1 is a major pathogen of parenterally transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis (1) and often causes the development of malignant chronic disease, including liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (2). With nearly 3% of the population of the world infected with HCV and no protective vaccine available at present, this disease has emerged as a serious global health problem since the virus was first identified (3, 4). HCV is a positive-stranded RNA virus with a genome of ϳ9400 bp. This genomic RNA initially directs the synthesis of at least 10 structural and nonstructural viral proteins (5). Following that, it is utilized by the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (the nonstructural protein 5B; NS5B) as template to generate a complementary negative-stranded RNA. Once synthesized, the negative strands are transcribed into new molecules of positive-stranded genomic RNA, which in turn provide additional templates for viral protein synthesis as well as genomic RNA for the production of progeny virus (5, 6). However, the molecular events that mediate this process remain largely unclear.Several attempts to dissect the mechanistic details of the viral replication cycle have been reported to date. The focal point of such investigations has been NS5B, which possesses an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity and is believed to be the key enzyme catalyzing HCV RNA synthesis (7-14). Its crystal structure reveals that it contains the classical finger, palm, and thumb subdomains of the polymerases with the unique feature of a more fully enclosed active site tunnel (15)(16)(17), and a recent report by Bressanelli and colleagues (18) has provided add...

The E. coli single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB) binds to the fork DNA helicases RecG and PriA in vitro. Typically for binding to occur, 1.3 M ammonium sulfate must be present, bringing into question the validity of these data as these are non-physiological conditions. To determine whether SSB can bind to these helicases, we examined binding in vivo. First, using fluorescence microscopy, we show that SSB localizes PriA and RecG to the vicinity of the inner membrane in the absence of DNA damage. Localization requires that SSB be in excess over the DNA helicases and the SSB C-terminus and both PriA and RecG be present. Second, using purification of tagged complexes, our results demonstrate that SSB binds to PriA and RecG in vivo, in the absence of DNA. We propose that this may be the “storage form” of RecG and PriA. We further propose that when forks stall, RecG and PriA are targeted to the fork by SSB which, by virtue of its high affinity for single stranded DNA, allows these helicases to out compete other proteins. This ensures their actions in the early stages of the rescue of stalled replication forks.