Identification of Nucleolar Factors During HIV-1 Replication Through Rev Immunoprecipitation and Mass Spectrometry

Summary

Here we describe Rev immunoprecipitation in the presence of HIV-1 replication for mass spectrometry. The methods described can be used for the identification of nucleolar factors involved in the HIV-1 infectious cycle and are applicable to other disease models for the characterization of understudied pathways.

Abstract

The HIV-1 infectious cycle requires viral protein interactions with host factors to facilitate viral replication, packaging, and release. The infectious cycle further requires the formation of viral/host protein complexes with HIV-1 RNA to regulate the splicing and enable nucleocytoplasmic transport. The HIV-1 Rev protein accomplishes the nuclear export of HIV-1 mRNAs through multimerization with intronic cis-acting targets - the Rev response element (RRE). A nucleolar localization signal (NoLS) exists within the COOH-terminus of the Rev arginine-rich motif (ARM), allowing the accumulation of Rev/RRE complexes in the nucleolus. Nucleolar factors are speculated to support the HIV-1 infectious cycle through various other functions in addition to mediating mRNA-independent nuclear export and splicing. We describe an immunoprecipitation method of wild-type (WT) Rev in comparison to Rev nucleolar mutations (deletion and single-point Rev-NoLS mutations) in the presence of HIV-1 replication for mass spectrometry. Nucleolar factors implicated in the nucleocytoplasmic transport (nucleophosmin B23 and nucleolin C23), as well as cellular splicing factors, lose interaction with Rev in the presence of Rev-NoLS mutations. Various other nucleolar factors, such as snoRNA C/D box 58, are identified to lose interaction with Rev mutations, yet their function in the HIV-1 replication cycle remain unknown. The results presented here demonstrate the use of this approach for the identification of viral/host nucleolar factors that maintain the HIV-1 infectious cycle. The concepts used in this approach are applicable to other viral and disease models requiring the characterization of understudied pathways.

Introduction

The nucleolus is postulated as the interaction ground of various cellular host and viral factors required for viral replication. The nucleolus is a complex structure subdivided into three different compartments: the fibrillar compartment, the dense fibrillar compartment, and the granular compartment. The HIV-1 Rev protein localizes specifically within granular compartments; however, the reason for this localization pattern is unknown. In the presence of single-point mutations within the NoLS sequence (Rev mutations 4, 5, and 6), Rev maintains a nucleolar pattern and has previously been shown to rescue HIV-1_HXB2 replication, however, with reduced efficiency ....

Protocol

1. Cell culture

1. Maintain HLfB in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 2 mM L-glutamine, and 1 mM sodium pyruvate within tissue-culture-treated 100 mm plates. Keep the cell cultures at 37 °C in a humidified incubator supplied with 5% CO₂. Passage confluent cells to a cell density of 1 x 10⁶ cells/mL.
2. Discard the cell culture media. Gently rinse the cells with 10 mL of 1x phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Remove and discard the 1x PBS without disrupting the cell layer.
3. Add 2 mL of 1x trypsin-EDTA solution to the cells. Rock the dish to coat the mono....

Results

Rev-NoLS single- and multiple-point arginine mutations, corresponding to a variety of subcellular localization patterns, were examined in their ability to interact with cellular host factors in comparison to WT Rev. WT Rev-3'flag and pcDNA-flag vector were expressed in HLfB culture. Protein complexes were processed from total cell lysate and stained with silver stain reagent. Rev-NoLS-3'flag is detectable (approximately 18 kDa) in three different lysis buffer conditions containing various concentrations of NaCl .......

Discussion

Mass spectrometric analyses comparing Rev-NoLS mutations and WT Rev in the presence of HIV-1 were assessed to understand nucleolar factors involved in the viral replication cycle. This would identify nucleolar components required for viral infectivity. Nucleolar B23 has a high affinity to Rev-NoLS and functions in the nucleolar localization of Rev³ and nucleocytoplasmic transport of Rev-bound HIV mRNAs²². The affinity of B23 with Rev-NoLS mutations, which contained single o.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Acetic acid	Fisher Chemical	A38S-212
Acetonitrile	Fisher Chemical	A955-500
Acrylamide:Bisacrylamide	BioRad	1610158
Ammonium bicarbonate	Fisher Chemical	A643-500
Ammonium persulfate	Sigma-Aldrich	7727-54-0
ANTI-Flag M2 affinity gel	Sigma-Aldrich	A2220
anti-Flag M2 mouse monoclonal IgG	Sigma-Aldrich	F3165
BioMax MS film	Carestream	8294985
Bio-Rad Protein Assay Dye Reagent Concentrate, 450 mL	Bio-Rad	5000006
B23 mouse monoclonal IgG	Santa Cruz Biotechnologies	sc-47725
Bromophenol blue	Sigma-Aldrich	B0126
Carnation non-fat powdered milk	Nestle	N/A
Cell scraper	ThermoFisher Scientific	179693PK
C18IonKey nanoTile column	Waters	186003763
Corning 100-mm TC-treated culture dishes	Fisher Scientific	08-772-22
Dithiothreitol	Thermo Scientific	J1539714
1 x DPBS	Corning	21-030-CVRS
ECL Estern blotting substrate	Pierce	32106
Ethanol, 200 proof	Fisher Chemical	A409-4
FBS	Gibco	16000044
Formic Acid	Fisher Chemical	A117-50
GelCode blue stain reagent	ThermoFisher	24590
Glycerol	Fisher Chemical	56-81-5
goat-anti-mouse IgG-HRP	Santa Cruz Biotechnologies	sc-2005
Iodoacetamide	ACROS Organics	122270050
KimWipe delicate task wiper	Kimberly Clark Professional	34120
L-glutamine	Gibco	25030081
Methanol	Fisher Chemical	67-56-1
NanoAcuity UPLC	Waters	N/A
Pierce Silver Stain Kit	Thermo Scientific	24600df
15-mL Polypropylene conical tube	Falcon	352097
Prestained Protein Ladder, 10 to 180 kDa	Thermo Scientific	26616
Protease inhibitor cocktail	Roche	4693132001
Purified BSA	New England Biolabs	B9001
PVDF  Western blotting membrane	Roche	3010040001
Sodium Pyruvate	Gibco	11360070
10 x TBS	Fisher Bioreagents	BP2471500
TEMED	BioRad	1610880edu
Triton X-100 detergent solution	BioRad	1610407
Trizaic source	Waters	N/A
trypsin-EDTA	Corning	25-051-CIS
Tween 20	BioRad	1706531
Synapt G2 mass spectrometer	Waters	N/A
Whatman filter paper	Tisch Scientific	10427813