Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, 80 Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1GA, UK
Correspondence
Richard J. Jackson
rjj{at}mole.bio.cam.ac.uk
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ABSTRACT |
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INTRODUCTION |
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The dicistronic mRNA assay was used as a functional assay in the purification of two activities from HeLa cell extract that bound to the human rhinovirus-2 (HRV-2) 5'-UTR and stimulated translation from the HRV-2 IRES (Hunt & Jackson, 1999). These were identified as polypyrimidine-tract-binding protein (PTB; Hunt & Jackson, 1999
) and upstream of N-ras (unr; Hunt et al., 1999
).
unr is encoded by a gene so closely linked to N-ras that it was thought that there might be co-ordinated transcription of the two (Jeffers et al., 1990), although transcriptional interference of N-ras by unr has proved to have only a weak effect (Boussadia et al., 1997
). It is an essential gene: the homozygous knockout is embryonic lethal in mice, but only at around 10 days, which implies that unr is not essential for general cell viability and cell division, but must be essential for certain stages in differentiation (Boussadia et al., 1997
). It has a broad tissue and cell-type distribution (Lopez-Fernandez et al., 1995
), and is largely cytoplasmic (Jacquemin-Sablon et al., 1994
). There are two known isoforms differing by the inclusion or exclusion of the optional exon 5 (Boussadia et al., 1993
) with a 10 : 1 ratio in abundance of the smaller to larger isoforms. unr is a member of the cold-shock family of single-stranded nucleic acid-binding proteins (Doniger et al., 1992
). However, it is exceptional amongst this family in that it has five copies of the cold-shock domain (CSD), each of which has an unusual amino acid sequence signature motif, FFH, in part of the RNA-binding surface, whereas all other members of the family have FVH in this position (Doniger et al., 1992
). The occurrence of this unusual motif in all five CSDs implies that unr arose by repeated duplication of a protein that originally had just one domain.
To investigate the function of unr in translation of HRV-2 RNA, the role of each individual CSD was studied by the generation of five mutants, each with a point mutation in a different CSD. The effect of mutation of each of the CSDs on the ability of unr to stimulate translation from the HRV-2 IRES, and to bind to the HRV-2 5'-UTR and its subdomains, was studied.
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METHODS |
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pXLJHRV10-611, encoding a dicistronic mRNA consisting of the Xenopus laevis cyclin B2 ORF, nt 10611 of the HRV-2 5'-UTR and the NS' ORF, has been described previously (Borman & Jackson, 1992). It was linearized with EcoRI prior to transcription to generate dicistronic mRNAs for in vitro translation assays.
Site-directed mutagenesis.
This was done with a QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene). Complementary oligonucleotides were designed that encompassed the proposed site of mutation: CSD 1*, 5'-CCTCTTACGGAGCTATTCAGTGTTCAGAACG-3' and 5'-CGTTCTGAACACTGAATAGCTCCGTAAGAGG-3'; CSD 2*, 5'-GAGGCATTTGGCGCTATTGAAAGAGGTGATG-3' and 5'-CATCACCTCTTTCAATAGCGCCAAATGCCTC-3'; CSD 3*, 5'-GATGGTTTTGGTGCCATCAAGTGTGTGGATC-3' and 5'-GATCCACACACTTGATGGCACCAAAACCATC-3'; CSD 4*, 5'-GATAATTTTGGAGCTATTGAAACAGCCAATC-3' and 5'-GATTGGCTGTTTCAATAGCTCCAAAATTATC-3'; CSD 5*, 5'-GATCAGTTTGGCGCCATTAACTATGAAGTAGG-3' and 5'-CCTACTTCATAGTTAATGGCGCCAAACTGATC-3'. Reactions were set up according to the supplier's recommendations. The reaction underwent 16 cycles of amplification at 95 °C for 30 s, 55 °C for 1 min and 68 °C for 2 min per kb plasmid length, in a thermal cycler. The reaction mixture was incubated with DpnI at 37 °C for 1 h, and 1/10 of the reaction volume was used to transform Escherichia coli TG1 cells.
In vitro transcription and translation.
Uncapped mRNAs for use in translation assays were generated by in vitro transcription of the linearized plasmid template with T7 RNA polymerase, as described previously (Dasso & Jackson, 1989). Translation assays were carried out in RRL that had been treated with micrococcal nuclease according to the protocol of Jackson & Hunt (1983)
, and were set up as described previously (Hunt & Jackson, 1999
).
UV cross-linking assays.
High specific activity 32P-labelled RNA probes were synthesized as described previously (Hunt & Jackson, 1999) and the yield of RNA was quantified as described by Dasso & Jackson (1989)
. All RNA probes were adjusted to a concentration of 10 nM. UV cross-linking reactions were carried out according to Hunt & Jackson (1999)
, with a final concentration of 1 nM RNA probe.
Gel-shift assays.
RNA probes were synthesized as described above for UV cross-linking, except that after quantification the probes were adjusted to a concentration of 2 nM. Gel-shift reactions were set up containing 10 mM HEPES/KOH, pH 7·5, 3 mM MgCl2, 5 % glycerol, 1 mM DTT, 90 mM KCl, 1 µg E. coli 23S rRNA, 16 units RNA-guard (Amersham Biosciences), the protein(s) to be assayed and 2 fmol 32P-labelled probe, in a final volume of 10 µl (final concentration of RNA probe 0·2 nM). The reactions were incubated at room temperature for 15 min, separated by native TBE-PAGE at 4 °C and analysed by autoradiography.
Overexpression of recombinant proteins.
His-tagged PTB (pET28aPTB) was overexpressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) cells and purified on Ni2+NTA agarose (Qiagen) according to the supplier's recommendations.
His-tagged unr and unr CSD mutants were overexpressed in insect (Sf9) cells by infection with His-tagged unr-expressing recombinant baculoviruses. These baculoviruses were generated according to the supplier's recommendations (which included plaque purification of recombinant baculoviruses) using linearized baculovirus DNA (Invitrogen) and a pBlueBac4 vector modified to contain the ORF of unr or unr CSD mutants and a C-terminal His tag. These proteins were also purified on Ni2+NTA agarose.
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RESULTS |
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Translation activity of unr CSD mutants
The wild-type and mutant unr proteins were used to supplement RRL programmed with a dicistronic mRNA transcribed in vitro from linearized pXLJHRV10-611 such that cyclin B2 was the upstream cistron, translated by a 5'-end-dependent scanning mechanism, and NS' was the downstream cistron, whose translation was dependent on the efficient use of the HRV-2 IRES. Wild-type unr is known to stimulate translation of the NS' cistron in this system by 1·3- to 1·8-fold, but this stimulation is greatly increased (68-fold) if the system is also supplemented with PTB (Hunt et al., 1999). Therefore, the unr CSD mutants could be tested for translation stimulation activity on their own, and in combination with PTB, by comparison of the yields of NS' relative to cyclin B2. Fig. 2
(a) shows the results of this dicistronic mRNA assay. Fig. 2(b)
represents the results of three independent experiments with quantification of the yield of radiolabelled NS' and cyclin B2 by densitometric analysis.
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All the CSD mutants were severely impaired in their ability to stimulate translation of the NS' cistron when added in combination with PTB: the yield of NS' was 23-fold that observed with unsupplemented lysate (Fig. 2b, lanes 1315, 1921, 2527, 3133 and 3739). Indeed, CSD mutants 4* and 5* could not stimulate translation beyond approximately twofold even in the presence of 200 nM protein, indicating that they had achieved their maximum activity. When added on their own to the lysate, the CSD mutants stimulated IRES-dependent translation by less than 1·5-fold. Although this was less than the stimulation caused by wild-type unr alone, the difference between the effects of wild-type unr and the mutants was less clear than in the presence of PTB, because of the low levels of NS' product. The results shown here were reproducible with several different protein preparations. These results clearly showed that the point mutation of a single CSD of unr is enough to restrict the translation stimulation activity of the entire protein: all five CSDs are required for unr to be active in stimulating HRV-2 RNA translation.
Effect of unr mutants on wild-type unr activity
As each of the five mutant proteins retained four intact CSDs with the potential to bind to RNA, it was possible that they might bind to the HRV-2 5'-UTR and inhibit the activity of wild-type unr in driving IRES-dependent translation. This was tested by carrying out translation assays in which a basal level of translation stimulation was achieved by addition of 25 nM wild-type unr and 200 nM PTB, and the mutant proteins were added at concentrations of 50, 100 or 200 nM (Fig. 3). As a control, 50, 100 and 200 nM wild-type unr was added instead of mutant proteins, and a dose-dependent increase in the stimulation of translation was seen (lanes 2124). Addition of unr mutants 1* and 2* did not have any inhibitory effect on translation at any concentration tested (lanes 68 and 911). Mutants 3* and 4* inhibited translation by approximately 25 % (lanes 1214 and 1517), an effect seen with a twofold molar excess of mutant to wild-type unr protein, whereas mutant 5* inhibited, again by about 25 %, but only when added at eightfold molar excess over wild-type unr (lanes 1820). Thus, although some inhibition of translation from the HRV-2 IRES was seen with some of the mutants, in no case was the inhibition as strong as would be expected if they were acting as dominant negative mutants but, rather, it would seem that some of them can act as weak competitors against wild-type unr.
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In gel-shift assays with 400 nM wild-type unr and with the full-length HRV 5'-UTR as probe, all of the probe was shifted into two slower-migrating complexes, suggesting the formation of complexes with either one or two molecules of unr bound to the RNA (Fig. 4, lane 2). Each of the five unr mutants was able to shift approximately half of the probe into a complex corresponding to the faster migrating of the two seen when wild-type unr was used (the complex presumed to represent one molecule of unr bound to the RNA), but no secondary shifts were observed (Fig. 4
, lanes 37). Therefore, all the mutant proteins showed reduced activity in binding the HRV-2 5'-UTR, although little difference was detected between the five mutants. The relatively high concentrations of wild-type and mutant unr were used to see binding of the mutant proteins to the RNA probe. At lower concentrations, wild-type unr was able to give the shifts shown, but the mutants were unable to shift the RNA. These results were reproducible with a number of different protein preparations. The gel-shift assays were also carried out in the presence of PTB. This resulted in a primary PTB shift and a supershift with both wild-type unr and the mutants (data not shown). PTB thus did not affect the trend of RNA binding by wild-type unr and the mutants.
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unr mutants are unable to complement each other in in vitro translation assays
The gel-shift assays described above, in which two RNAprotein complexes were observed between wild-type unr and the HRV-2 5'-UTR, suggested that two molecules of wild-type unr are able to bind to the HRV-2 5'-UTR. In contrast, none of the CSD mutants was able to form the slower migrating RNAprotein complex with the 5'-UTR. If two molecules of unr are required to bind to the 5'-UTR for IRES activity, it is possible that two different unr CSD mutants would be able to form a complex on the 5'-UTR such that the two mutants would complement each other. All possible combinations of unr mutants were tested in the dicistronic mRNA assay in the presence of PTB; however, none of the combinations of mutants stimulated translation above the level observed with PTB alone (data not shown). This confirmed that the RNA-binding activity of all five CSDs within each molecule of unr is required for stimulating translation from the HRV-2 IRES.
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DISCUSSION |
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The results of in vitro dicistronic mRNA translation assays in RRL comparing the ability of wild-type unr and the CSD mutants to stimulate translation from the HRV-2 IRES showed that mutation of a single CSD severely reduced the ability of the protein to stimulate translation; this was particularly clear when the mutants were added in combination with PTB. It might have been expected that there would be some redundancy between the five CSDs of unr, such that only mutation of key CSDs, or multiple CSD knockouts, would be severely detrimental to the activity of the protein. However, this was not the case, indicating that each of the five CSDs of unr has an important role in its translation stimulation activity.
Despite the fact that each of the mutants still contained four active RNA-binding domains, the mutant proteins were not able to significantly prevent wild-type unr binding to the IRES and performing its role in translation. Thus, the RNA-binding activity of the mutant proteins is greatly affected by the knockout of any single CSD. There were differences in that CSD mutant proteins 1 and 2 did not inhibit translation at all, even at high concentrations, whereas mutants 3, 4 and 5 inhibited translation a little, up to 25 %, when the mutant protein was eightfold in excess of the wild-type protein. This may indicate that mutation of CSDs 1 and 2 of unr results in a lower binding affinity for the full-length IRES than mutation of CSDs 3, 4 and 5.
These results were corroborated by gel-shift assays, in which all the mutants were impaired in their ability to bind to the full-length IRES. Wild-type unr was able to shift all the probe into two complexes, probably corresponding to one and two molecules of unr binding to the IRES, respectively, at the concentration tested, but none of the mutants was able to shift more than half of the probe, and they were able to form the primary complex only, which probably corresponds to a single molecule of unr binding to the IRES. Thus, it seems that mutation of a single CSD of unr prevents the formation of a physiological (unr)2IRES complex, and this may account for the low translation stimulatory activity of the mutants. The results of complementation assays testing the ability of combinations of unr CSD mutants to stimulate HRV-2 IRES-dependent translation suggested that both molecules of unr in a putative (unr)2IRES complex require all five CSDs for activity.
Since binding of all the mutants to the full-length IRES was similar, binding to individual subdomains of the IRES over a range of concentrations was investigated to judge any differences between the binding activity of the five mutant proteins and hence determine whether individual CSDs of unr could be mapped to individual subdomains of the HRV-2 5'-UTR. The gel-shift assays indicated that there were differences in the ability to bind RNA, with CSD mutants 3, 4 and 5 able to shift the subdomain probes better than mutants 1 and 2. This is in agreement with the results of the translation assay, in which CSD mutants 1 and 2 were unable to inhibit the activity of wild-type unr. These results are also validated by the work of Triqueneaux et al. (1999), in which CSD 1 of unr was shown to have higher RNA-binding activity than CSD 5. However, differences between binding to each of the subdomains were less evident, and the same hierarchy of binding activity was seen in each case. This suggests that the mutant unr proteins may be binding to these subdomains non-specifically, reflecting the way they interact with the full-length IRES. Although the UV cross-linking assays did not show exactly the same trends as the gel-shift assays, again the trend was consistent among the different IRES subdomains used as a probe. In these experiments, the CSD 4* mutant was labelled less strongly by the RNA probes than were the other mutant proteins, perhaps suggesting that there are fewer U residues where CSD 4 is binding the RNA. The lack of discrimination between the subdomain RNAs indicated that the unr mutants are binding in a non-specific manner. This was also confirmed by modification interference assays, in which no specific nucleotides were detected that affected binding of the unr mutant proteins to the HRV-2 5'-UTR.
To conclude, mutation of any of the five CSDs of unr has a severe detrimental effect on the activity of unr in stimulating translation from the HRV-2 IRES. In vitro binding assays show that the affinity of the mutants for the IRES or any of its subdomains is greatly reduced in comparison with the wild-type protein, and that the reason for the poor translation activity may be the inability of the protein to form a physiological proteinIRES complex.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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REFERENCES |
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Received 18 February 2004;
accepted 26 April 2004.