Promyelocytic leukemia (PML) nuclear bodies (also known as ND10) are nuclear substructures that contain several proteins, including PML itself, Sp100, and hDaxx. PML has been implicated in many cellular processes, and ND10 are frequently associated with the replicating genomes of DNA viruses. During herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, the viral regulatory protein ICP0 localizes to ND10 and induces the degradation of PML, thereby disrupting ND10 and dispersing their constituent proteins. ICP0-null mutant viruses are defective in PML degradation and ND10 disruption, and concomitantly they initiate productive infection very inefficiently. Although these data are consistent with a repressive role for PML and/or ND10 during HSV-1 infection, evidence in support of this hypothesis has been inconclusive. By use of short interfering RNA technology, we demonstrate that depletion of PML increases both gene expression and plaque formation by an ICP0-negative HSV-1 mutant, while having no effect on wild-type HSV-1. We conclude that PML contributes to a cellular antiviral repression mechanism that is countered by the activity of ICP0.Promyelocytic leukemia (PML) nuclear bodies (also known as ND10) are discrete nuclear substructures that are defined by the presence of the promyelocytic leukemia protein, PML. ND10 have been implicated in a great variety of processes, including oncogenesis, apoptosis, viral infection, the stress and interferon responses, DNA repair, the regulation of gene expression, and certain aspects of chromatin structure (for reviews see references 2, 3, 8, 28, and 45). ND10 become intricately associated with the parental genomes of nuclear-replicating DNA viruses, and they are modified by several viral regulatory proteins; structural modification of ND10 induced by these regulatory proteins frequently correlates with the efficiency of viral infection (for reviews, see references 9, 24, and 25). These observations have given rise to the hypothesis that ND10 structures have a repressive effect on viral infection, and viral regulatory proteins that disrupt these structures do so to relieve this repression. However, the evidence in support of this hypothesis is controversial.PML itself has been implicated in the regulation of infection by a variety of RNA viruses (34), adenoviruses (7, 35), and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) (1). In the case of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), the issues of the roles of PML protein and ND10 are complex. HSV-1 immediate-early regulatory protein ICP0 greatly increases the probability that the virus will enter lytic infection, and this activity correlates very well with ICP0-induced degradation of PML and disruption of ND10 (reviewed in references 10, 11, and 18). These observations have encouraged the hypothesis that PML and/or ND10 have a repressive effect on the development of lytic HSV-1 infection and that through its targeting of these structures ICP0 relieves this repression. Indeed, in the absence of ICP0, HSV-1 genomes have a greatly increased probability of ...

By introduction of recombinant plasmids into monkey CV1 cells, we have unambiguously demonstrated that sequences entirely within the 72 bp repeat, which is located upstream of the SV40 early region, are crucial for T-antigen expression in vivo. We have also shown that a DNA fragment containing the 72 bp repeat, inserted directly before chicken conalbumin or adenovirus-2 major late promoter sequences in chimeric plasmids where these promoters replace that of the SV40 early genes, caused a dramatic increase in the expression of T-antigen in vivo. This effect was independent of the orientation of the 72 bp repeat, but was sensitive to its location within the plasmid, when the 72 bp repeat was separated from the promoter sequences, T-antigen expression was reduced. Insertion of the 72 bp repeat into equivalent plasmids containing no known eukaryotic promoter sequences (plasmids which were not detectably expressed in vivo) gave rise to a measurable, but smaller level of expression. The stimulation of expression by the 72 bp repeat is cis-acting : it required covalent linkage to the recombinant. We discuss the possibility that the 72 bp repeat region in SV40 may act as a bi-directional entry site for RNA polymerase B such that promoter sequences linked to the repeat are more efficiently utilised.

Proteasome-dependent degradation of ubiquitinated proteins plays a key role in many important cellular processes. Ubiquitination requires the E1 ubiquitin activating enzyme, an E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, and frequently a substrate-specific ubiquitin protein ligase (E3). One class of E3 ubiquitin ligases has been shown to contain a common zinc-binding RING finger motif. We have previously shown that herpes simplex virus type 1 ICP0, itself a RING finger protein, induces the proteasome-dependent degradation of several cellular proteins and induces the accumulation of colocalizing conjugated ubiquitin in vivo. We now report that both full-length ICP0 and its isolated RING finger domain induce the accumulation of polyubiquitin chains in vitro in the presence of E1 and the E2 enzymes UbcH5a and UbcH6. Mutations within the RING finger region that abolish the in vitro ubiquitination activity also cause severe reductions in ICP0 activity in other assays. We conclude that ICP0 has the potential to act as an E3 ubiquitin ligase during viral infection and to target specific cellular proteins for destruction by the 26S proteasome.Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a significant human pathogen whose biological and clinical importance is emphasized by its ability to attain and reactivate from a latent state in sensory neurons (reviewed in reference 16). The mechanisms that control the balance between the lytic and latent states are of considerable interest yet are incompletely understood. Our past studies have concentrated on the functions and mechanisms of action of HSV-1 immediate-early regulatory protein ICP0, which is required for the efficient initiation of lytic cycle gene expression, reactivation of quiescent virus in cultured cells, and reactivation of latent virus in mouse models (for reviews, see references 5 and 15; see also references 18 and 19).ICP0 is being actively studied in a number of laboratories, and a wide spectrum of possible functions, interactions, and mechanisms of action are being revealed. Early transfection studies showed that ICP0 is able to increase the expression of a wide variety of genes in cotransfected cells, and this effect does not depend on specific promoter sequences. Since ICP0 does not bind directly to DNA (13), it is likely that it functions via interactions with other proteins. Recent studies have proposed a number of possible interactions, including USP7 (a ubiquitin-specific protease) (11), cyclin D3 (25), elongation factor EF-1␦ (23), the transcription factor BMAL1 (24), and the major HSV-1 transcriptional regulator ICP4 (42). ICP0 has also been suggested to activate cdk4 and to stabilize both cyclin D1 and cyclin D3 (40). Whatever the significance of these varied observations, it is now generally accepted that a major biological activity of ICP0 causes the disruption of specific nuclear structures known as ND10 or promyelocytic leukemia (PML) nuclear bodies in a process which correlates with the ability of ICP0 to stimulate viral infection and reactivation from quiescen...

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Herpes simplex virus immediate‐early protein Vmw110 is required for fully efficient viral gene expression and reactivation from latency. At early times of viral infection, Vmw110 localizes to discrete nuclear structures (known as ND10, PODs or Kr bodies) which contain several cellular proteins, including PML. Interestingly, the unregulated growth of promyelocytic leukaemia cells is correlated with disruption of the normal state of ND10. In this paper we show that: (i) Vmw110 affects the distribution of PML in the cell; (ii) Vmw110 proteins lacking a functional RING finger zinc‐binding domain cause the production of striking abnormal cytoplasmic and nuclear structures, some of which contain PML and other ND10 antigens; (iii) a mutant form of Vmw110 which is confined to the cytoplasm appears to result in cytoplasmic PML in some cells; (iv) normal interaction with the nuclear structures requires the C‐terminal portion of Vmw110; (v) the C‐terminal portion of Vmw110, when linked to a heterologous protein, disrupts the normal distribution of PML. The results suggest that, in normal cells, the PML protein migrates between nucleus and cytoplasm. These observations present an unexpected link between processes involved in the control of cell growth and viral infection and latency.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) mutants that fail to express the viral immediate-early protein ICP0 have a pronounced defect in viral gene expression and plaque formation in limited-passage human fibroblasts. ICP0 is a RING finger E3 ubiquitin ligase that induces the degradation of several cellular proteins. PML, the organizer of cellular nuclear substructures known as PML nuclear bodies or ND10, is one of the most notable proteins that is targeted by ICP0. Depletion of PML from human fibroblasts increases ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 gene expression, but not to wild-type levels. In this study, we report that depletion of Sp100, another major ND10 protein, results in a similar increase in ICP0-null mutant gene expression and that simultaneous depletion of both proteins complements the mutant virus to a greater degree. Although chromatin assembly and modification undoubtedly play major roles in the regulation of HSV-1 infection, we found that inhibition of histone deacetylase activity with trichostatin A was unable to complement the defect of ICP0-null mutant HSV-1 in either normal or PML-depleted human fibroblasts. These data lend further weight to the hypothesis that ND10 play an important role in the regulation of HSV-1 gene expression.Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a common human pathogen that causes recurrent infections through its ability to establish a latent state in sensory ganglia after primary epithelial infections (for a general review, see reference 58). Lytic HSV-1 infection is characterized by abundant transcription from the entire viral genome in a temporal cascade of immediate-early (IE), early, and late gene products. The IE gene products regulate the expression of later classes of viral genes. In contrast, lytic cycle genes are repressed during latency, and only the latency-associated transcripts (LATs; derived from a single locus that lies countersense to the IE gene encoding ICP0) are expressed in readily detectable amounts (8,55,69). The IE protein ICP0 is a RING finger E3 ubiquitin ligase (4) that is required for efficient entry into the lytic cycle and which can induce reactivation of latent or quiescent genomes (reviewed in references 12, 14, 15, 29-31, and 55). ICP0 influences many cellular pathways, and one of its most prominent activities is its ability to localize to and disrupt nuclear substructures known as PML nuclear bodies (also known as ND10) (reviewed in references 10, 14, 16, and 43). This disruption occurs through ICP0-induced degradation of PML (17), the key component of ND10 which is required for assembly of these structures (34, 76). HSV-1 mutants that fail to express ICP0 or that express mutant ICP0 proteins that lack RING finger activity are unable to disrupt ND10 or to degrade PML (4,11,17,44,45). Such mutants have a profound defect in HSV-1 gene expression after infection of limited-passage human fibroblasts (9,21,62,63).The strong correlation between the effects of ICP0 on ND10and its requirement for lytic virus infection prompted the hypothesis that ND10 might ...

ND10 are nuclear domains of unknown function that become abundant in response to stress. Infection by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) causes the apparent disappearance of these domains, an effect that requires the expression of the immediate eady protein ICP0. Previously, we have shown that there are a number of cellular antigens in the ND10. In this report, we show that one of these proteins is PML, a member of the CaHC ~ zinc-binding domain family which also includes ICP0. The CaHC 4 domain of ICP0 is essential for the apparent release of PML from the ND10, although the interaction of ICP0 with ND 10 is determined by a small region near its carboxy terminus. PML and other ND10 proteins are not lost after removal from ND10 but deposited at the nuclear envelope or nuclear envelope modifications during later parts of the replication cycle. ICP0 is required for the onset of low multiplicity infections, and has been implicated in the process of reactivation from HSV latency. Therefore, the interaction between ICP0 and the ND10 domains, specifically PML, may be important for the outcome of virus-cell interactions.

Intrinsic antiviral resistance represents the first line of intracellular defence against virus infection. During herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) infection this response can lead to the repression of viral gene expression but is counteracted by the viral ubiquitin ligase ICP0. Here we address the mechanisms by which ICP0 overcomes this antiviral response. We report that ICP0 induces the widespread proteasome-dependent degradation of SUMO-conjugated proteins during infection and has properties related to those of cellular SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligases (STUbLs). Mutation of putative SUMO interaction motifs within ICP0 not only affects its ability to degrade SUMO conjugates, but also its capacity to stimulate HSV-1 lytic infection and reactivation from quiescence. We demonstrate that in the absence of this viral countermeasure the SUMO conjugation pathway plays an important role in mediating intrinsic antiviral resistance and the repression of HSV-1 infection. Using PML as a model substrate, we found that whilst ICP0 preferentially targets SUMO-modified isoforms of PML for degradation, it also induces the degradation of PML isoform I in a SUMO modification-independent manner. PML was degraded by ICP0 more rapidly than the bulk of SUMO-modified proteins in general, implying that the identity of a SUMO-modified protein, as well as the presence of SUMO modification, is involved in ICP0 targeting. We conclude that ICP0 has dual targeting mechanisms involving both SUMO- and substrate-dependent targeting specificities in order to counteract intrinsic antiviral resistance to HSV-1 infection.