Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1656 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA1
Author for correspondence: Judd Aiken. Fax +1 608 262 7420. e-mail aiken{at}ahabs.wisc.edu
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Abstract |
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Introduction |
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According to the conformational hypothesis of strain variation, distinct PrPSc infectious conformers are able to impart their particular properties onto host PrPC (Cohen & Prusiner, 1998 ). PrPSc conformations are an important component of TSE strain diversity (Parchi et al., 1996
; Collinge et al., 1996
; Telling et al., 1996
; Hill et al., 1997
; Rubenstein et al., 1998
; Safar et al., 1998
; Aucouturier et al., 1999
; Kuczius & Groshup, 1999
; Bartz et al., 2000
), suggesting that different biochemical properties of PrPSc account for the strain phenotypes observed in vivo.
The in vitro assay for the conversion reaction of PrPC to PrPSc, in the presence of exogenous PrPSc (Kocisko et al., 1994 ), reproduces several biological properties of the in vivo TSE infection such as strain-diversity, species-specificity and PrP polymorphism barrier phenomena (Bessen et al., 1995
; Kocisko et al., 1995
; Raymond et al., 1997
; Bossers et al., 1997
). In the present study, recombinant HaPrPC, expressed in a non-mammalian system (baculovirus-infected insect cells), was readily converted to a proteinase K (PK)-resistant form in a cell-free system. These conversion reactions were performed using PrPSc purified from two strains of hamster-adapted TME in combination with 35S-labelled recombinant hamster (Ha)PrPC (35S-bacHaPrPC). In addition to the distinguishing PK cleavage site (Bessen et al., 1995
), another strain-specific property of hamster-adapted TME, differential PK resistance, was found to be transmitted to the newly converted 35S-bacHaPrP-res. These studies show that recombinant PrP from a non-mammalian source can be converted into PrP-res forms, whose properties mimic in vivo PrPSc.
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Methods |
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Cell and virus culture.
Cultures of Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf21 cells) were cotransfected with the pBlueBacIII-HaPrPC construct and linearized baculovirus DNA using the Invitrogen Bac-N-Blue transfection kit. Seventy-four purified plaques of the recombinant virus were used to infect Sf21 cultures and screened for expression of bacHaPrPC by SDSPAGE and Western immunoblotting using the anti-PrP monoclonal antibody 3F4 (Kascsak et al., 1987 ). One stable, high expression virus (BacIII-HaPrPC) was selected and used for the remainder of the study.
Purification of the 35S-bacHaPrPC.
Cells expressing bacHaPrPC were labelled for 3 h with 1 mCi [35S]methionine/[35S]cysteine (Expre35S35S Protein labelling mix, DuPontNEN) per 25 cm3 flask of 80% confluent cells in methionine- and cysteine-deficient Graces insect medium (Sigma). The cells were lysed in ice with LB buffer (0·05 M TrisHCl, pH 7·4; 0·15 M NaCl; 0·5% Triton X-100; 0·5% sodium deoxycholate) and the radiolabelled proteins were immunoprecipitated in buffer A [0·05 M TrisHCl, pH 8·2; 0·15 M NaCl; 2% (w/v) N-laurylsarcosine; 0·4% (w/v) lecithin] using the 3F4 antibody and protein ASepharose beads (Caughey et al., 1995 ). The 35S-bacHaPrPC was eluted from the antibodyprotein ASepharose complex in 0·1 M acetic acid and stored at 4 °C (Kocisko et al., 1996
).
Animal bioassay.
BacHaPrPC was tested for infectivity using an animal bioassay. Syrian Golden hamsters (n=8) were intracerebrally inoculated with 200250 ng of the recombinant protein in PBS (50 µl). Hamsters were monitored for clinical signs of TSE for 400 days.
Isolation of PrPSc.
PrPSc-enriched fractions were prepared from the brains of Syrian Golden hamsters (infected with either the hyper or drowsy strain of hamster-adapted TME) as described (Caughey et al., 1995 ).
Protein concentration assay.
Protein concentrations were measured with the Bio-Rad protein assay.
Cell-free conversion reaction.
PrPSc-enriched preparations (12 mg/ml) were partially denatured by incubation in 2·5 M guanidine hydrochloride (Gdn-HCl) for 7 h at 37 °C. Aliquots of denatured PrPSc (23 µg) and the 35S-bacHaPrPC solution (50 ng) were mixed, diluted to 1 M Gdn-HCl in conversion buffer (1% N-laurylsarcosine; 5 mM cetylpyridinium chloride; 50 mM sodium citrate, pH 6·0), sonicated for 10 s and incubated at 37 °C for 2 days (Caughey et al., 1995 ). To measure proteinase K resistance to PK, the samples were treated with 25 µg/ml PK at 37 °C for 1 h. A PK inhibitor (Pefabloc; Boehringer Mannheim) and 20 µg of a carrier protein (thyroglobulin) were added and the proteins were precipitated in 4 vols of methanol at -20 °C. The resulting pellet was boiled in sample buffer and fractionated by SDSPAGE. Conversion of 35S-bacHaPrPC was analysed by the presence and size of the protease-resistant 35S-labelled material (35S-bacHaPrP-res) by autoradiography and quantified using a Phosphoimager (Molecular Dynamics) and ImageQuant software.
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Results |
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Conversion of bacHaPrPC to protease-resistant form
To determine whether bacHaPrPC could act as a substrate for conversion to a PK-resistant form in a cell-free system, 35S-bacHaPrPC was incubated for 2 days with partially denatured PrPHY. PK-resistant 35S-bacHaPrPC was observed after PK digestion. The PK digestion products exhibited a 67 kDa decrease in molecular mass as expected for PK cleavage of PrPSc (Fig. 2A). 35S-bacHaPrPC incubated under the same conditions in the absence of PrPSc-enriched preparations was completely digested by PK (Fig. 2A
), indicating that the conversion was PrPSc-dependent. The conversion efficiencies of 35S-bacHaPrPC to 35S-bacHaPrP-res were
2530%. 35S -PrP-res products were not observed when more extensively denatured PrPSc (6 M Gdn-HCl) was used in the reaction (data not shown). The conversion of bacHaPrPC into protease-resistant forms increased as a function of time (Fig. 2A
, B
). Serial dilution of the PrPSc-enriched preparations resulted in the absence of conversion at PrPSc concentrations below 100 µg/ml (Fig. 2C
), suggesting that a critical PrPSc concentration was required for conversion.
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Discussion |
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The prion hypothesis predicts that PrPSc display self-converting activity by interacting with PrPC (Prusiner, 1998 ). We tested the ability of bacHaPrP to acquire a PrPSc-like conformation in the presence of PrPSc-enriched preparations. Since previous cell-free conversion experiments used recombinant PrPC expressed in mammalian cell lines or PrP immunoprecipitated from brain homogenates, it is possible that other putative factor(s) may copurify with the prion protein and affect these reactions (Westaway et al., 1998
). A number of studies have shown that bacterial chaperones (DebBurman et al., 1997
), transition metals (McKenzie et al., 1998
, 1999
) and cell lysates (Saborio et al., 1999
) can facilitate the in vitro formation of PK-resistant protein. Our data demonstrate that recombinant HaPrPC synthesized in a non-mammalian expression system can be converted in vitro into PK-resistant form upon interaction with PrPSc-enriched preparations. Since 35S-bacHaPrPC and PrPSc molecules constituted the main components of the assay, our data indicate that the formation of PrP-res is the result of the PrPScself ability to propagate. These results also reinforce the specificity of the PrPCPrPSc interactions and the utility of the cell-free assay, although they do not eliminate the possible requirement of accessory molecules that may be essential and/or influence PrP-res formation. Similar to conversion studies using mammalian HaPrPC (Kocisko et al., 1994
; Bessen et al., 1995
), post-translational modifications of PrPC do not seem to be required for the conversion reaction. This suggests that, independent of the cell source where the primary polypeptide was expressed, the conformation(s) imposed by the primary HaPrP sequence is sufficient for its ability to act as a substrate in the in vitro assay. Correspondingly, the converting activity of PrPSc was also functional upon interacting with bacHaPrPC. Our data, therefore, represent the first study of functional PrPSc-converting activity of non-mammalian derived HaPrPC.
The acquisition of PK resistance of baculovirus-expressed HaPrPC upon incubation with partially denatured PrPSc, including the specific PK-cleavage site characteristic of PrPSc, is time-dependent and requires a critical PrPSc concentration. This pattern was consistent with other studies (Caughey et al., 1995 , 1997
), indicating that PrPSc aggregates are critical for converting activity and support the nucleated polymerization model for the PrPC-to-PrPSc transition (Harper & Lansbury, 1997
). The slight size increase of the converted material observed during the time-course of 35S-bacHaPrP-res formation (Fig. 2A
) suggests that, in the early stages of the reaction, the converted material adopts a conformation that is less structured and, therefore, more accessible to PK digestion. Efficiency levels for the formation of 35S-bacHaPrP-res (2530%) are comparable to cell-free conversions using mammalian cell-derived recombinant PrPC (Caughey et al., 1995
; Raymond et al., 1997
; Bossers et al., 1997
). In some conversion reactions, two different bands were observed (Fig. 2C
), possibly a result of gel running conditions.
To further characterize the specificity of the cell-free conversion assay using baculovirus-expressed PrPC, PrPHY- and PrPDY-enriched preparations were tested for their ability to convert bacHaPrPC into strain-specific products. We characterized the conversion through the analysis of two strain-specific biochemical markers, the molecular size difference after PK digestion and the degree of PK resistance. As a result of conversion of recombinant PrPC driven by either PrPHY or PrPDY, the converted material displays not only the electrophoretic mobility shift characteristic for each strain after PK digestion (Bessen et al., 1995 ) but also the relative resistance to PK. These data indicate that, upon propagation of the PrPSc-state, insect cell-derived HaPrP can acquire different PrPSc conformations and that strain-specific PrP-res properties can be also reproduced when this source of PrP was used as a conversion substrate. The acquisition of both strain biochemical properties by the 35S-bacHaPrPC and the fact that these properties rely on the PrPSc conformation strongly suggest that in vivo derived PrPSc can specifically propagate its own strain-specific conformation into bacHaPrP. Our results provide additional evidence that the cell-free assay reproduces, in vitro and at the molecular level, strain properties of hamster-adapted TME agent.
In hamster-adapted TME, PrPDY accumulates at a slower rate than PrPHY (McKenzie et al., 1996 ). These observations could result from strain-specific differences in conformational conversion rates and/or metabolic clearance of the converted products. The efficiency of conversion using our standard PK digestion treatment (25 µg/ml, 1 h, 37 °C) was 2530% (±7%) in both PrPHY- and PrPDY-derived products. Under these conditions, we do not observe differences in conversion activity between the two strains. There is, however, a remarkable effect on the strain-properties of the converted products when higher concentrations of PK or longer protease-digestion periods are used (Fig. 4
). As time of digestion and/or PK concentration increase (50100 µg/ml), the 35S-DY-like converted product exhibits a higher susceptibility to PK (Fig. 4
AC
). These results suggest that the strain-derived products do not have distinguishing converting efficiencies but rather conformational differences that determine their stability and accessibility to PK cleavage. Therefore, our data argue that differential turnover of PrPHY and PrPDY could account for the differences observed in the incubation period upon their transmission into hamsters. In contrast to these observations, Bessen et al. (1995)
reported different converting efficiencies between the strain-specific converted products. Furthermore, the investigators did not detect differences in PK sensitivity in the converted products. The discrepancies with our observations are perhaps the result of different experimental conditions used in the assay (conversion buffer composition, recombinant HaPrP source, PK concentrations and digestion times). It should be emphasized that, similar to our findings, in vivo PrPHY is more resistant to PK than PrPDY.
Although the infectious nature of the converted products remains to be determined, we have demonstrated that recombinant HaPrP expressed in non-mammalian systems can be converted in vitro into PrP-res in the presence of PrPSc. Moreover, conformational differences between PrPHY and PrPDY that account for their strain-specific biochemical properties were faithfully transferred into insect cell-derived-HaPrP. Altogether these data support the self-propagating activity of PrPSc. It has been proposed that the in vivo PrP conformational transition requires the presence of molecular chaperones (Prusiner, 1998 ). The use of defined components in the conversion reactions should facilitate the identification of potential cofactors involved in PrPSc formation.
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Acknowledgments |
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References |
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Received 5 June 2000;
accepted 30 June 2000.