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Journal of Virology, April 2000, p. 3273-3283, Vol. 74, No. 7
Department of Infectious Diseases and
Microbiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
Received 10 September 1999/Accepted 13 December 1999
We have recently demonstrated that simian immunodeficiency virus
(SIV) Nef binds to the The nef gene is conserved
among the primate lentiviruses, Simian immunodeficiency
virus (SIV) and Human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and
2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2, respectively). Although nef is not
required for replication in established T-cell lines in vitro, it is a
major contributor to the maintenance of high viral loads and induction
of immunodeficiency in adult rhesus macaques (23). Nef has
no identified enzymatic activity and therefore likely exerts its
function via interaction with cellular proteins. Many diverse functions
have been attributed to Nef, including down-modulation of CD4 and major
histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) molecules from the cell
surface (8, 25, 33) and enhancement of virion infectivity
(38). Nef has also been shown to interfere with signal
transduction and protein trafficking pathways by binding to cellular
proteins such as Lck (7, 13), Hck (30),
mitogen-activated protein kinase (13), protein kinase C
theta (37), clathrin-associated adapter proteins (11,
25, 29), Another critical protein bound by SIV Nef is the invariant T-cell
receptor (TCR) The TCR complex consists of the clonotypic TCR In this report we demonstrate that SIV Nef binds to TCR Generation and analysis of yeast strains.
All manipulations
of the Y190 strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(15) followed standard yeast genetic methods
(21). Recombinant yeast strains stably expressing fusion
proteins of the Gal4 DNA binding domain (BD) and Nef (Nef/BD) were
generated by targeted integration of plasmid vector into the
trp1 locus of strain Y190 as described elsewhere
(11). The Gal4 BD fusion protein expression vector was pYTH9
(11).
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
The T-Cell Receptor
Chain Contains Two
Homologous Domains with Which Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Nef
Interacts and Mediates Down-Modulation
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ABSTRACT
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
chain of the T-cell receptor (TCR), leading
to its down-modulation from T-cell surfaces (I. Bell, C. Ashman, J. Maughan, E. Hooker, F. Cook, and T. A. Reinhart, J. Gen.
Virol. 79:2717-2727, 1998). Using a panel of human as well as rhesus
macaque TCR
cytoplasmic domain mutants, we have identified in this
report two linear peptides in the cytoplasmic domain of TCR
which
independently interact with SIV Nef. Each SIV Nef interaction domain
was sufficient in the absence of the other for interaction with SIV Nef
in a yeast two-hybrid assay. In parallel, we demonstrated that Nef
down-modulation of CD8-TCR
fusion proteins containing full-length
or truncated portions of the TCR
cytoplasmic domain occurs in
transiently transfected 293T cells. Furthermore, using proteins
expressed in Escherichia coli, a glutathione
S-transferase-Nef fusion protein coprecipitated histidine-tagged portions of the TCR
cytoplasmic domain which contained SNID-1 or SNID-2. The peptides targeted by SIV Nef, YNELNL
and YSEIGMKGERRR, are portions of the first and second of three
immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs which are important in
signal transduction, thymocyte development, and TCR biogenesis. These
results demonstrate that SIV Nef binds to two distinct domains on TCR
in the absence of other T-cell-specific factors, and that
interaction with either domain is sufficient to cause down-modulation
of TCR
.
![]()
INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
-COP (3), a p21-activated kinase-related
kinase (18, 31, 32), and a vacuolar ATPase (28).
chain, as demonstrated independently by us
(2) and others (17). We also demonstrated that
the direct interaction between SIV Nef and TCR
leads to the
down-modulation of the complex formed by the TCR and CD3 (TCR/CD3
complex) and therefore reduced availability of CD3 for stimulation by
cross-linking with anti-CD3
antibodies (2).
and
chains and
the invariant CD3
,
,
, and
chains which are assembled in
the endoplasmic reticulum and transported to the cell surface. As part
of the TCR complex, the
chain exists in large part as a
disulfide-linked homodimer. The
chain is synthesized in restricted amounts compared to the other TCR chains and is required for efficient transport of assembled TCR complexes to the cell surface (24, 40). Failure of the
chain to associate with the pre-TCR leads to lysosomal degradation of the pre-TCR (40). In addition,
TCR
plays a crucial role in signal transduction. TCR
contains three immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs) with the
consensus sequence YxxI/Lx6-8YxxI/L, where X represents any
amino acid. The sequential phosphorylation of the six tyrosines collectively present in the three ITAMs of TCR
following ligation by MHC and antigenic peptide or by CD3 cross-linking is a crucial step
in initiating activation of a T lymphocyte (22). TCR
is
also important in the process of thymic selection, and although no
individual ITAM is required, there is a direct relationship between the
number of
-chain ITAMs within the TCR/CD3 complex and the efficiency
of both positive and negative selection (35).
at two
different sites on the cytoplasmic domain, interaction with either
being capable of conferring Nef-mediated susceptibility to
down-modulation in a mammalian cell assay. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis
of these short peptide domains, which overlap ITAMs 1 and 2, demonstrated that the signature tyrosines and the +2 positions could
not be replaced by alanine and still allow SIV Nef binding.
![]()
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Yeast two-hybrid assay.
Interactions between Nef/BD fusion
protein and mutant forms of TCR
expressed as Gal4 AD fusion
proteins from pACT2 were examined in S. cerevisiae Y190
expressing the SIVmacJ5 (for brevity referred to as J5) Nef/BD as
described elsewhere (11). Transformants were grown on
minimal medium agar plates supplemented with the appropriate amino
acids but lacking tryptophan and/or leucine. The selected transformants
were stained for
-galactosidase using the substrate
5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-
-D-galactopyranoside (X-Gal)
in a colony lift, freeze-thaw fracture technique (11).
PCR and subcloning.
All PCR amplifications of the TCR
cytoplasmic domain were performed with Pfu DNA polymerase
(Stratagene) according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The
full-length human TCR
cytoplasmic domain (Hum
52-164) was
amplified using primers Tz5' (5'-GCGGAATTCTAAGAGTGAAGTTCAGCAGG-3'; nucleotides [nt] 228 to 245 in the published TCR
sequence
[42]) and Tz3
(5'-GCGCTCGAGTGTCTCATAATCTGGGCGTCT-3'; nt 604 to 624), using
as template the pACT2 cDNA clone 1.11 (2) obtained from an
H9 T-cell cDNA library. All TCR
PCR products were restriction digested with EcoRI and XhoI and ligated to
identically prepared pACT2, pCD8-pcDNA3.1(+), or pET28c vector; DNA was
sequenced using established protocols for automated or manual sequencing.
was accomplished by PCR using
Pfu polymerase. The generation of hexa-alanine replacement and alanine substitution mutants of TCR
was accomplished by overlap
extension PCR in which the mutations were specified within the
overlapping sequences. Complete details regarding these PCRs and the
respective oligonucleotide primers can be obtained from the
corresponding author.
Plasmid expression vectors with full-length and truncated sequences
encoding the TCR
cytoplasmic domain containing phenylalanine substitutions for tyrosines were generated by PCR amplification of
plasmid template pGEX-ZT4, which contains Y
F substitutions in ITAMs
1 and 2 (kindly provided by Martin Sims, Glaxo Wellcome), restriction
digestion with EcoRI and XhoI, and ligation to
similarly prepared pACT2.
For reverse transcription (RT)-PCR amplification of the rhesus macaque
TCR
cytoplasmic domain, mRNA was isolated from 2 × 106 Histopaque (Sigma)-purified, rhesus macaque peripheral
blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using the PolyATract 1000 system
(Promega). The rhesus macaque TCR
cytoplasmic domain was then
amplified by RT-PCR with primers Tz5' and Tz3 after RT using avian
myeloblastosis virus reverse transcriptase (Promega). The resulting
subcloned products were DNA sequenced.
To generate a mammalian cell expression vector which encoded fusion
proteins containing the extracellular (EX) and transmembrane (TM)
domains of CD8, and which contained multiple, unique restriction sites
just after the TM sequences, we PCR amplified the CD8
signal peptide
(SP), EX, and TM domain-encoding portions of plasmid pTFneo-CD8/
(kindly provided by Art Weiss, University of California, San Diego). Primers 5'CD8/TM (5'-GCAAGCTTACCATGGCCTTACCAGTGACC-3') and
3'CD8/TM (5'-GCCTCGAGGTACCGGATCCGAATTCCGTGGTTGCAGTAAAGGGTGA-3')
were used with Pfu polymerase and pTFneo-CD8/
as
the template for PCR. The blunt-ended products were ligated directly to
pCR-Blunt (Invitrogen), and DNA was sequenced. The
HindIII-XhoI insert was moved to the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3.1(+) (Clontech). This resulted in an
expression vector encoding the CD8
SP, EX, and TM domains, with
unique EcoRI, BamHI, and KpnI sites
immediately 3' to the sequences encoding the TM domain.
EcoRI/XhoI inserts encoding portions of the human
and rhesus macaque TCR
cytoplasmic domain were ligated in frame to
identically prepared pcDNA3.1/CD8.
Expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli and use in coprecipitations. J5 Nef-(glutathione S-transferase) GST was generated by inoculating 20 ml of fresh Luria-Bertani (LB) medium with 2 ml of an overnight culture of E. coli B834 transformed with pGEX-3X-J5-4.2 and grown for 8 h at 37°C. The cells were pelleted and resuspended in 2 ml of lysis buffer (1% Triton X-100, 0.1% N-lauryl sarcosine, 10 µg each of chymostatin, leupeptin, and pepstatin per ml, 800 µM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 0.2 mM EDTA, and 1 mM iodoacetamine, all in phosphate-buffered saline [PBS]). Cells were lysed by sonication followed by centrifugation at 10,000 × g for 15 min at 4°C. The supernatant was collected and incubated with 50 µl of glutathione-Sepharose beads (Pharmacia) for 1 h at 4°C. The beads were then washed three times (15 min each) with lysis buffer, resuspended in 100 µl of lysis buffer, and stored at 4°C.
To generate His fusion proteins, 20 ml of fresh LB medium was inoculated with one colony of E. coli B834(DE3) transformed with either the parental pET28c(+) vector (Novagen) or the same vector containing TCR
sequences and grown for 4 h at 37°C before induction with 1 mM isopropyl-
-D-thiogalactopyranoside.
Following an additional 5 h of incubation, the cells were pelleted
and stored at
80°C. Prior to coprecipitation, the pellet was thawed
on ice and resuspended in 2 ml of lysis buffer. Cells were lysed by
sonication followed by centrifugation at 10,000 × g
for 15 min at 4°C.
Twenty microliters of GST (1:15 dilution)- or J5 Nef-GST-coated
glutathione-Sepharose beads was added to 1 ml of His-tagged TCR
protein lysate and incubated for 1 h at 4°C. The lysate-bound GST- and J5 Nef-GST-coated glutathione-Sepharose beads were washed five
times (15 min each) with lysis buffer, resuspended in 50 µl of
loading buffer, and boiled for 5 min. The coprecipitated proteins were
separated by SDS-PAGE and electroblotted onto an Immobilon-P transfer
membrane (Millipore). Immunodetection was performed with a 1:10,000
dilution of anti-T7 tag monoclonal antibody (Novagen) followed by a
1:10,000 dilution of goat anti-mouse antibody (Boehringer Mannheim) and
developed by the Amersham ECL system.
RT-PCR amplification and subcloning of the CD2 cDNA.
Poly(A)+ RNA was prepared from the JJK Jurkat T-cell line
using the PolyATract kit (Promega). Full-length CD2 cDNAs were
generated by RT-PCR (Promega) using the primers CD2R.3PCS
(5'-ACACGAATTCTTAATTAGAGGAAGGGG-3') and CD2F.FL
(5'-ACACGGATCCTGATGAGCTTTCCTGTAAATTTG-3'). The resulting products were cloned into the TA cloning vector pGemT (Promega), and
the entire CD2 coding sequence was sequenced and compared to the
published reference sequence (34) (accession no. M16445). Insert-containing clones were restriction digested with
BamHI and EcoRI and ligated to identically
prepared pcDNA-3.1(
).
Transfection of 293T cells and flow cytometry.
For analysis
of Nef-mediated down-modulation of CD8/TCR
fusion proteins in
mammalian cells, confluent cultures of 293T cells (American Type
Culture Collection) were split 1:3 on the day prior to electroporation.
Cells were prepared for electroporation by washing cells adhered to
culture flasks with PBS, incubation with trypsin-EDTA for 3 to 5 min,
addition of 5 ml of Dulbecco modified Eagle medium containing 5% fetal
bovine serum (FBS), and dilution with PBS to a total volume of 20 ml.
The cells were washed twice with PBS and resuspended in RPMI 1640-20%
FBS at a cell density of 107 per ml; 500 µl of the cell
suspension was electroporated in 0.4-cm cuvettes containing the
appropriate expression plasmids. Cells were electroporated with a Gene
Pulser II (300 V, 975 µF; BioRad), and transferred to a
25-cm2 flask, and cultured at 37°C in 5% CO2
in a humidified incubator. At 48 h posttransfection, cells were
washed with PBS and gently lifted using trypsin-EDTA at room
temperature for 3 to 5 min. Trypsin action was then inhibited by
addition of 5 ml of DMEM Dulbecco-modified Eagle medium 5% FBS. The
cells were washed in 10 ml of PBS, and repelleted cells were
resuspended at a density of 106 cells per ml in PBS
containing 2% bovine serum albumin (Sigma) plus 2 mM sodium azide;
105 cells were stained with saturating quantities of
fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated mouse anti-human CD2 (Leu-5b,
clone S5.2; Becton Dickinson) and phycoerythrin-conjugated mouse
anti-human CD8 (Leu-2a, clone SK1; Becton Dickinson) monoclonal
antibodies. Cells were incubated with antibodies for 1 h on ice,
washed in PBS, and resuspended in 0.5 ml of PBS. Based on forward/side
scatter profiles, 105 viable cells were analyzed on a
Coulter Elite flow cytometer. Isotype-matched, fluorochrome-conjugated
antibodies were used as controls to establish gates for fluorescein
isothiocyanate- and phycoerythrin-positive cells. Gates were set based
on the fluorescence profiles obtained with the isotype control
antibodies such that 98% of these cells were excluded from the gate.
Nucleotide sequence accession numbers. The sequences reported here have been deposited in the GenBank nucleotide sequence database (accession no. AF204109-AF204113).
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RESULTS |
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SIV Nef interacts with two nonoverlapping, homologous
domains on TCR
.
The invariant TCR
chain has been
demonstrated previously by us (2) and by Howe et al.
(17) to interact with SIV Nef. In addition, we have
demonstrated that this interaction leads to the down-modulation of the
TCR/CD3 complex from T-cell surfaces (2). To map the
determinants on TCR
for interaction with SIVmac Nef, we used a
yeast two-hybrid system in which Nef was stably expressed in S. cerevisiae Y190 as a Gal4 BD fusion protein (2).
Expression plasmids encoding TCR
cytoplasmic domain mutants fused
to the Gal4 AD were generated (Fig. 1A)
and introduced into a strain of Y190
expressing the SIVmacJ5 Nef/BD. When successful interactions occur
between J5 Nef/BD and a Gal4 AD fusion protein, transcription of the
lacZ gene is induced and the transformants can be stained
for
-galactosidase (Fig. 1B).
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are the three ITAMs, which are
involved in antigen-specific signal transduction (18), TCR/CD3 biogenesis (27, 35), and thymocyte selection
(36). To determine if the individual ITAMs are involved in
the interaction with J5 Nef, we generated mutant forms of TCR
in
which each of the three ITAMs was independently replaced with six
alanines. Removal of each ITAM did not abrogate interaction with J5
Nef/BD, as demonstrated with Gal4 AD fusions 52-164
1/AD,
52-164
2/AD, and 52-164
3/AD (Fig. 1A), indicating that the domain
responsible for interaction with SIV Nef was not solely composed of any
single ITAM. To further delineate the region on TCR
with which SIV Nef interacted, N-terminal and C-terminal truncation mutants of TCR
were generated using ITAM boundaries as sites of truncation. Progressive truncation of the cytoplasmic domain of TCR
from the C
terminus up to amino acid (aa) 86 did not abrogate interaction with J5
Nef/BD (Fig. 1A, clone 52-86/AD). However, upon the removal of ITAM 1 (aa 72 to 86), interaction with J5 Nef/BD was lost (Fig. 1A, mutant
52-71/AD). Interestingly, progressive removal of N-terminal portions of
the TCR
cytoplasmic domain demonstrated that aa 52 to 111 were
dispensable for interaction with J5 Nef/BD, but upon removal of ITAM 2 (aa 111 to 126), J5 Nef/BD was no longer bound (Fig. 1A, mutants
111-164/AD and 127-164/AD). These data indicated, therefore, that SIV
Nef interacts with two separate domains on TCR
, one domain between
aa 52 and 86 and the second domain between aa 111 and 164, and indicate
that ITAMs 1 and 2 are components of the two respective domains.
To further define the minimal interaction domains on TCR
,
additional mutants combining N-terminal and C-terminal truncations were
generated. An AD fusion construct consisting of ITAM 1 alone interacted
with J5 Nef/BD (Fig. 1A, mutant 72-86), demonstrating that the first
interaction domain lies entirely within ITAM 1. Because ITAMs consist
of two tyrosine-containing YxxL/I motifs, we generated mutants lacking
either the first YxxL (YNEL, aa 72 to 75) or the second YxxL (YDVL, aa
83 to 86) of ITAM 1 (Fig. 1A, mutants 76-110 and 52-82, respectively)
to determine if both YxxL/I motifs are necessary for interaction with
J5 Nef/BD. Removal of aa 72 to 75 (YNEL) abrogated interaction with J5
Nef/BD (AD clone 76-110) while removal of aa 83 to 86 (YDVL) did not
(AD clone 52-82), thus identifying aa 72 to 82 (YNELNLGRREE) within ITAM 1 of TCR
as the most N-terminal interaction domain. Expression of an AD fusion protein containing only ITAM 2 did not interact with J5
Nef/BD (AD clone 111-126), but interaction was restored with the
addition of aa 127 to 141 (Fig. 1A, AD clone 111-141). Further
truncation of the region between aa 111 to 142 demonstrated that the
second YxxL/I motif in ITAM 2 along with the immediately C-terminal 8 aa are sufficient to allow interaction with J5 Nef/BD (AD clone
123-134). The second interaction domain, therefore, consisted of aa 123 to 134 (YSEIGMKGERRR). These data demonstrate that SIV Nef interacts
with two short, nonoverlapping linear peptides on TCR
which are
contained within ITAM 1 and overlap ITAM 2, respectively.
In control assays performed in parallel, TCR
/AD fusion proteins
were expressed in strains of Y190 expressing no Gal4 BD or stably
expressing Gal4 BD alone. CD2/AD was included in all experiments as a
negative control for interaction with J5 Nef/BD. In all instances, no
-galactosidase was detected in a filter-lift, freeze-fracture assay,
indicating that up-regulation of
-galactosidase expression was Nef
dependent. Western blot analyses of total cellular lysates from Y190
transformants indicated that there were differing levels of protein
expression directed by the pACT2 plasmids (Fig. 1C and data not shown),
although the levels of expression did not correlate with interaction
with J5 Nef/BD (Fig. 1A).
Alanine-scanning mutagenesis of TCR
identifies amino acids
critical for interaction with Nef.
Having defined the most
N-terminal interaction domain as a motif of 11 or fewer aa, we used
alanine-scanning mutagenesis to determine which amino acids are
essential for interaction with J5 Nef/BD. All 11 aa were replaced
individually by alanine, using AD clone 52-110 as the backbone, and
each mutant TCR
/AD clone was examined for its ability to interact
with J5 Nef/BD in S. cerevisiae. These analyses demonstrated
that replacement of amino acid Y72, E74, L75, or L77 with alanine
abrogated interaction with J5 Nef/BD (Fig.
2). To determine whether the Gal4 AD/TCR
fusion protein could be truncated upstream of E82, further
truncations were generated after L77, G78, and R79, all of which
retained the ability to interact with J5 Nef/BD (Fig. 2). Therefore,
the interaction of J5 Nef with the membrane-proximal interaction domain is conferred by a 6-aa peptide, YNELNL (aa 72 to 77) within ITAM 1, which we have named SNID-1 (SIV Nef interaction domain 1).
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/AD fusion proteins in the yeast
strain Y190 demonstrated roughly equivalent amounts of protein (data
not shown).
TCR
SNID-1 and SNID-2 confer susceptibility to Nef-mediated
down-modulation in mammalian cells.
A common property attributed
to SIV Nef is the modulation of cell surface proteins including CD4
(4, 14), MHC I (8, 25, 33), and the TCR/CD3
complex (2). To determine whether subdomains of the TCR
cytoplasmic domain containing either SNID-1 or SNID-2 conferred
susceptibility to Nef-mediated down-modulation in mammalian cells, we
constructed expression vectors encoding chimeric proteins containing
the CD8 EX and TM domains fused to cytoplasmic portions of TCR
.
These expression vectors were cotransfected into the 293T cell line
along with a CD2 expression vector to allow quantitative analysis of
cell surface CD8 on the successfully transfected population which are
CD2 positive, either in the presence or in the absence of SIV Nef
expression. As shown in Fig. 3,
in the absence of J5 Nef expression, the
majority of transiently transfected 293T cells were surface antigen
positive for both CD8 and CD2, with values typically >90%. When J5
Nef was coexpressed, however, CD8/TCR
fusion proteins containing
either SNID-1 (construct CD8/Hum
52-110), SNID-2 (constructs
CD8/Hum
111-141 and CD8/Hum
87-141), or both (construct CD8/Hum
52-164) were down-modulated from the cell surface (Fig. 3). The
CD8/TCR
fusion protein containing the N-terminal 59 aa in which
ITAM 1 was replaced with six alanines (construct CD8/Hum
52-110
1) was not appreciably down-modulated. Similarly, when the
cytoplasmic portion of the CD8 fusion protein contained only the
C-terminal 38 aa (construct 127-164) which does not contain either
SNID-1 or SNID-2, the CD8 fusion protein was not down-modulated from
the cell surface. Unexpectedly, the CD8 fusion protein containing aa
87-141 was not down-modulated to the same extent as the CD8 fusion
protein containing only aa 111 to 141, although they both contain
SNID-2. In this context, therefore, SNID-2 is likely presented in a
structurally distinct form when the region between ITAMs 1 and 2 is
present.
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SIVmac Nef interacts with the cytoplasmic domain of the rhesus
macaque TCR
.
Thus far, studies of the interactions between SIV
and HIV-1 Nef and cellular proteins have focused on human binding
partners. Differences have been demonstrated, however, in the
repertoire of cellular partners which interact with
SIV or HIV-1 Nef (17, 26, 29). We therefore sought to
determine whether SIV Nef interacted with the rhesus macaque TCR
.
Partial cDNAs encoding the cytoplasmic domain of the rhesus macaque TCR
were obtained by RT-PCR amplification using polyadenylated mRNA
extracted from purified rhesus macaque PBMCs. Among the 10 subclones
sequenced, we identified five different isoforms, all of which had
signature rhesus macaque-specific amino acid substitutions (E115A and
A160T) and a 2-aa insertion (NQ between aa 131 and 132) (Fig.
4A). Interestingly, the E115A and A160T
substitutions are also present in the mouse (41) and sheep
(16) TCR
, while the NQ insertion between aa 131 and 132 is present only in the sheep TCR
(16). Also, 9 of the 10 rhesus macaque TCR
clones contained a single amino acid deletion of
Q100, as observed in two of the three published human TCR
cytoplasmic domain sequences (2, 17, 42) (Fig. 4A). It is
interesting that both this amino acid insertion and the NQ insertion
after E131 are located at exact exon/exon junctions (19) and
the observed polymorphisms are likely due to alternative splice site
utilization, although we cannot entirely rule out the possibility that
RT or PCR errors have contributed to the observed differences.
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cytoplasmic domain were subcloned into the pACT2 Gal4 AD expression
vector and introduced into the J5 Nef/BD-expressing strain of Y190. The
RhMac-3 52-165/AD clone (Fig. 4B) and all other isoforms (data not
shown) interacted with J5 Nef/BD in the yeast two-hybrid system,
demonstrating for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, an
interaction between a rhesus macaque cellular protein and SIVmac Nef.
As seen in Fig. 4A, the amino acid sequence of SNID-1 in the deduced
rhesus macaque TCR
sequence is identical to those in human TCR
,
whereas there is an NQ within or near rhesus macaque SNID-2. To
determine if this insertion abrogates interaction with J5 Nef/BD, we
generated two AD fusion protein constructs which contained truncated
forms of the RhMac-3 isoform, RhMac 52-86/AD, and RhMac 122-142/AD. As
expected, RhMac 52-86/AD interacted with J5 Nef/BD, as did RhMac
122-142/AD (Fig. 4B). Similarly, as observed with the human TCR
cytoplasmic domain, a CD8 fusion protein containing the rhesus macaque
TCR
cytoplasmic domain, a CD8 fusion protein containing the rhesus
macaque TCR
cytoplasmic domain was susceptible to SIVmacJ5
Nef-mediated down-modulation in 293T cells (Fig. 3). These data
demonstrate that SIVmacJ5 Nef interacts with the rhesus macaque TCR
cytoplasmic domain and can modulate its surface expression levels in
mammalian cells and that as with human TCR
, there are two
interaction domains.
SIVmac Nef interacts with TCR
in the absence of any additional
eukaryotic cellular proteins.
The interaction between SIVmac Nef
and TCR
might be facilitated or augmented by other eukaryotic
proteins. To determine whether SIV Nef and TCR
interact in the
absence of additional eukaryotic proteins, we expressed SIV Nef as a
GST fusion protein, and the cytoplasmic domain of TCR
, or portions
thereof, as hexahistidine-tagged fusion proteins, in E. coli. As shown in Fig. 5, Nef-GST
immobilized on Glutathione-sepharose beads coprecipitated the
full-length human TCR
cytoplasmic domain from bacterial lysates
(construct Human 52-164/His), whereas immobilized GST did not. Similar
to the yeast two-hybrid and 293T cotransfection results, His-tagged subdomains containing either SNID-1 (construct 52-110/His) or SNID-2
(construct 87-141/His) were coprecipitated by Nef-GST but not GST alone
(Fig. 5). Because the results from the yeast two-hybrid and 293T cell
assays demonstrated that the context in which SNID-2 was presented was
an important determinant of the extent of interaction with SIV Nef, we
examined multiple SNID-2-containing constructs. Construct 111-141/His,
which interacted with SIV Nef in S. cerevisiae (Fig. 1) and
293T cells (Fig. 3), was not coprecipitated by Nef-GST (Fig. 5). To
further determine whether presentation of SNID-2 in an alternate
context would allow coprecipitation by Nef-GST, the full-length
cytoplasmic domain in which ITAM 1, and therefore SNID-1, was replaced
with six alanines (construct 52-164
1/His), was expressed as a
His-tagged fusion protein. As shown in Fig. 5B, in this context,
Nef-GST coprecipitated this SNID-2-containing fusion protein. This was
also observed when ITAM 2 was replaced with six alanines, leaving
SNID-1 intact (construct 52-164
2/His).
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cytoplasmic domains can interact with SIV Nef in the absence of other eukaryotic proteins and that interaction with Nef can be conferred by either the
SNID-1 or SNID-2 interaction domain on TCR
.
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DISCUSSION |
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The exact mechanisms by which Nef contributes to immunodeficiency
have not been completely elucidated, whether considering systemic or
subcellular aspects of the virus-host interactions, such as increased
viral replication or decreased levels of cell surface CD4,
respectively. Obtaining a more complete understanding of Nef function
could prove to be extremely useful in understanding HIV-1/SIV
pathogenesis and in developing strategies for educating the immune
system to successfully hold viral replication in check. Toward this
end, we have examined in this report the specific interactions between
SIV Nef and the cytoplasmic domain of the TCR
chain, an interaction
which we previously demonstrated (2) to lead to the
down-modulation of TCR/CD3 complexes from T-cell surfaces.
Interestingly, we found that there are two domains on TCR
which can
interact with SIV Nef and confer susceptibility to Nef-mediated down-modulation in mammalian cells. These domains, named here SNID-1
and SNID-2, are conserved between human and rhesus macaque TCR
;
therefore, not unexpectedly, SIV Nef interacted with the rhesus macaque
TCR
cytoplasmic domain and down-modulated a CD8/rhesus macaque TCR
fusion protein. It is not clear whether there has been selective
pressure on SIV Nef to interact with multiple domains on TCR
or
whether evolutionary selective pressures on TCR
structure and
function have fortuitously resulted in a molecule that happens to
contain two structurally related domains that are bound by Nef.
It is interesting that studies of ordered pattern of phosphorylation of
the tyrosines present in TCR
ITAMs demonstrated that the first
tyrosine of ITAM 2 and the second tyrosine of ITAM 3 are constitutively
phosphorylated in resting T lymphocytes (22), neither of
which are contained in SNID-1 or SNID-2. Therefore, Nef would be able
to bind to TCR
in resting T lymphocytes. In addition, Kersh et al.
(22) demonstrated that mutation of the first or second
tyrosine residue in ITAM 1 to phenylalanine not only abrogated
phosphorylation at that specific position but also prevented ITAM
phosphorylation events further downstream in the sequential pattern. If
Nef interaction with TCR
has effects on signal transduction in
addition to modulated surface TCR/CD3 levels, then binding to ITAM 1 is
likely to prevent early phosphorylation events required for appropriate
TCR signal transduction (12, 20, 39).
Alanine-scanning mutagenesis of SNID-1 and SNID-2 indicated that the Y and I/L at position +3 are critical determinants for interaction with SIV Nef, since substitution of either of these amino acids with alanine abrogates interaction (Fig. 2). However, substitution of the tyrosines in SNID-1 or SNID-2 with phenylalanine did not prevent interaction, suggesting that the bulky aromatic group is important for SIV Nef binding, but the oxygen present on tyrosine is not required. It is not unreasonable to expect that phosphorylation of the tyrosines in SNID-1 or -2 would abrogate interaction with SIV Nef because substitution of tyrosine with phenylalanine still allowed binding to SIV Nef (Fig. 2), suggesting that the amino acid in this position is involved in critical hydrophobic or planar interactions, though this will require further investigation. Because both SNID-1 and SNID-2 are comprised in large part of YxxL/I motifs present in ITAMs, it will be interesting to determine whether SIV Nef interacts with and modulates other proteins, whether in T lymphocytes or monocytes/macrophages, which contain tyrosine-based activation and endocytic motifs.
Both SNIDs contain canonical YxxL/I motifs and could potentially serve
as endocytic signals. There is evidence demonstrating the presence and
differing availability of YxxL endocytic signals in the cytoplasmic
portions of the TCR/CD3 complex (5, 10). TCR
has been
demonstrated to cycle to and from the cell surface more rapidly than
the other components of the TCR/CD3 complex (6) and
therefore must have signals that are efficiently recognized by the
endocytic machinery. It has recently been demonstrated for CD3
that
a YxxL endocytic signal is present in the cytoplasmic domain
(5). In addition, the CD3
YxxL endocytic signal is masked
until a signal is delivered via antigen/MHC (10). Nef interacts with components of the protein trafficking machinery, including the µ chains of the AP-1 and AP-2 complexes (25,
29), and it also contains a dileucine protein trafficking motif
(1, 9). Nef might therefore be decreasing the cell surface
levels of TCR/CD3 complexes by binding to one or both of the YxxL/I
motifs present in the SNIDs on TCR
and then using its dileucine
sorting properties to shunt the TCR/CD3 complex from the cell surface. The mechanism of down-modulation of the TCR/CD3 complex requires further investigation to determine whether SIV Nef increases the endocytosis of this complex or whether SIV Nef interacts with TCR
earlier in its biogenesis and thereby prevents the proper assembly and
transit of complete TCR/CD3 complexes.
Interaction with the TCR
chain is a conserved feature of SIVmac Nef
proteins, having been demonstrated for both SIVmacJ5 Nef (this
report and reference 2) and SIVmac239 (2,
17), as well as HIV-2 (17). Regarding HIV-1 Nef, our
preliminary studies indicate that it does not bind to TCR
(unpublished observations), which is in agreement with published
findings by Howe et al. (17). However, a recent report
suggests that HIV-1 Nef expressed in stably transfected and selected
cell clones as a CD8/Nef fusion protein does bind to TCR
(43). These differences will require further examination and
are likely due in part to the specific systems used to study
interaction, as well as possible phenotypic variation of the
nef alleles examined.
TCR
is crucial for TCR assembly and biogenesis, signal
transduction, and T-cell selection and development (18, 27, 35, 36). Interference with any of these properties is likely to impair the recognition and effector function of the T lymphocyte in
which this occurs. The down-modulation of TCR/CD3 complexes from
T-lymphocyte surfaces in the host would have profound consequences on
the collective immune capability of the host. Down-modulation of the
TCR/CD3 complex during the period between early transcription of
integrated provirus and death of the infected cell, regardless of the
mechanism by which the cell dies, will clearly reduce the ability of
the host to mount immune responses. Infection of CD4+ T
lymphocytes would render them unresponsive to antigen/MHC stimulation as a result of Nef expression, and ongoing inhibition of this sort in
spleen and lymph nodes throughout the entire course of infection could
eventually result in a diminution or erosion of the ability to mount
immune responses to pathogens. We have demonstrated that SIV Nef
interacts with rhesus macaque TCR
and down-modulates a CD8/RhMac
TCR
fusion protein from the cell surface, and we fully expect that
Nef exhibits this activity in productively infected cells in the host,
though this remains to be demonstrated. Down-modulation of a surface
molecule so profoundly important in mounting immune responses might be
a contributing factor in the more rapid disease progression observed in
SIVmac-infected rhesus macaques than in HIV-1-infected humans.
| |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
We thank LuAnne Borowski for advice and assistance with the flow
cytometry, Martin Sims for the plasmids encoding phenylalanine mutants
of TCR
, Michael Murphey-Corb for rhesus macaque blood, Art Weiss
for the CD8/TCR
expression plasmid, and Phalguni Gupta and Paul
Life for critically reading the manuscript.
T.M.S. was supported in part by institutional training grant AI07487. This work was supported by PHS grant HL62056.
| |
FOOTNOTES |
|---|
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, 130 DeSoto St., Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Phone: (412) 648-2341. Fax: (412) 383-8926. E-mail: REINHAR+{at}pitt.edu.
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