Transcript miRNA
Antje Ksienzyk
18.01.2010
miRNA
• Regulatory RNAs of 22 nucleotides in length
• Found in plants and metazoans
• Involved in cellular processes like proliferation, regulation and development, apoptosis,
homeostasis and tumor formation
• Found in humans:
• More than 500 different miRNAs
• Expressed in a developmental or tissue specific manner
• 30% of mammalian mRNAs are regulated by miRNAs
miRNA: regulatory RNAs of 22 nucleotides in length
• miRNAs are first transcribed as pri-miRNA (capped
and polyadenylated)
• Pri-miRNA are cleaved by Drosha (and its cofactor
DGCR8) -> pre-miRNA hairpin with 2nt 3’ overhang > recognized by Exportin-5: transport to cytoplasm
• Dicer and cofactor TRBP recognize same 2nt 3’
overhang -> binding and cleavage of pre-miRNA two
complementary short RNA molecules are formed, but
only one is integrated into the RISC (RNA induced
silencing complex): forms miRNA
• miRNA guides RISC to complementary mRNA
.
miRNA development: the exceptions
The normal way:
The exception:
• miRNA from short excised introns (mirtrons);
resemble pre-miRNA hairpins; no Drosha but
Dicer essential for developing (found in
Drosophila)
• “tailed pre-miRNAs: miRNAs which are
transcribed as shRNAs: Drosha independent;
Dicer essential
.
RISC: The RNA induced silencing complex
RISC bound to partially complementary
mRNA induces translational repression:
results in destabilization of target mRNA
The more RISC bound the greater the
inhibitory effect
RISC bound to perfectly complementary
mRNA (to miRNA) are cleaved and
degraded by RISC in a process similar to
RNAi
RNAi: innate antiviral mechanism
• Infection with virus leads to development of
dsRNA during virus life cycle
• Viral dsRNA is generally long and perfectly
complementary -> outcome: cleavage by Dicer
->siRNA duplexes are generated
• One strand of siRNA duplex is loaded into
RISC -> RISC is guided to complementary viral
mRNAs -> RISC binding leads to cleavage and
degradation-> inhibiting virus replication
• In plants: 2. wave of siRNA generated by RNAdependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs): more
siRNA available to RISC
.
Strategies of viruses against RNAi
• Suppressor of RNA silencing (SRS)
• Examples:
• Inhibition of siRNA loading into RISC (p19 protein of tomato bushy stunt virus)
• Interaction with RISC and inhibition of its cleavage activity
• Inhibits delivery of systemic siRNA signals
• Inhibits production of RdRP-derived viral siRNA and thereby the spread of
RNAi response (2b protein of cucumber mosaic cucumovirus)
• Prevention of DICER processing
• Inhibition of viral siRNA production (B2 protein of flock house virus)
Inhibition of antiviral siRNA response is an important requirement for
propagation of these viruses
Mammalian innate antiviral defenses
Recognized by MDA-5
and RIG-I (cytoplasmic)
and TLR3 (endosomes)
OAS recognizes viral dsRNA and tags them with
2’-5’ adenosine oligomers -> activation of RnaseL
which degrades these RNAs
1
If PKR recognizes viral dsRNA; eIF2a will be
phosphorylated, causing translational arrest and
apoptosis of the infected cell
2
Counteractive measures of the virus:
E1A protein of Adenovirus interferes with JAK1
STAT signaling pathway
2
NS5A (HCV) and ICP34.5 (HSV1) block PKR
activation
RNAi response in mammalian cells?
• No siRNA of viral origin in infected cells
• HIV-1 and HCV produce neither viral miRNA nor siRNA in infected cells
• But Dicer of mammalian cells is capable of generating siRNA through cleavage of dsRNAs
• Do mammalian viruses produce Suppressor of RNA silencing (SRS)? YES?!
• Adenoviral VA1 RNA has SRS properties:
• Inhibits PKR and Dicer
• VA1 is short RNA with 3’ overhang which is recognized and bound by
Exportin 5; VA1 is highly present in viral infection: saturates Exportin
pathway and so the nuclear transport of pre-miRNA
.
• Cellular machinery in plants and invertebrates required to generate an
antiviral siRNA response
• In mammalian cells not used
• Mammalian cells do not have RdRPs (2. wave of siRNA generated
by RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs): more siRNA available to
RISC
• Mammals don’t use RNAi as an antiviral innate immune response
• It could be possible that the RNAi response is replaced by an more
effective system like the IFN system
Viral miRNA
miRNA
Features of miRNA which are useful for viruses
I.
Down-regulation of specific genes -> establishment of virus positive environment
II.
Evolution of miRNA complementary to a new target gene can be accomplished much
easier than regulation of novel regulatory protein
III. miRNA are very small: perfect for the tight space characteristic for the viral genome
IV. miRNAs are not antigenic in contrast to proteins
•
•
•
A lot of viruses encode miRNAs (herpesviridae)
All DNA viruses (cause Drosha which is essential for initial pre-miRNA excision is
located in the nucleus)
Viruses which invariable replicate in the cytoplasm can’t use the machinery
Viruses which encode miRNA are nuclear DNA viruses capable of
persistent or latent infections
Viral mRNA targets of viral miRNA
•
Most of the viral mRNA target of viral miRNAs are targets which have influence on
the host immune response or are viral regulatory proteins
•
Examples:
•
SV40 miR-S1: down regulation of viral T-antigen (TAg) production
SV40 TAg is essential for viral transcription and replication (at the
beginning of infection)
At the end not useful but leads to CTL responses against SV40 infected
cells
•
RBV miR-BART-2: down regulation of BALF-5 (EBV DNA Polymerase)
Leads to stabilization of the viral latency
•
hCMV miR-UL112-1: target the viral gene IE1 (leads to activation of hCMV early
gene transcription)
miR-UL112-1 leads to establishment and maintenance of latency
Viral miRNA regulation of viral gene expression is a common strategy
of DNA viruses; leads to advancement of viral replication by inhibition
of antiviral immune responses of the host
Cellular targets of viral miRNA
•
Viral miRNA target cellular miRNA which are involved in regulation of apoptosis or
modulation of the host antiviral immune response
•
Examples:
•
•
•
•
EBV: mir-BART5
•
Down regulation of PUMA (pro-apoptotic factor): protects EBV infected
cells against apoptosis
KSVH: miR-K1, miR-K3-3p, miR-K6-3p and miR-K11
•
Down regulation of THBS1 (regulates cell adhesion, migration,
angiogenesis, chemo attractant for monocytes and T-cells): aid infected
cells in avoiding detection by the host immune system
EBV: mir-BHRF1-3:
•
Down regulation of CXCL-11 (T cell chemo attractant): no T cell detection
and killing of infected cells
hCMV: miR-UL112-1
•
Inhibits MICB (up regulated in stressed cells; MICB is recognized by
NKG2D of NK cells): down regulation of MICB inhibits recognition through
NK cells
Conservation of viral miRNAs
•
Lack of viral miRNA sequence
conservation between related viruses
do not necessarily imply an evolution
of distinct functions
•
Other meaning: viral miRNA could
target different regions of same target
mRNA or different gene products in
the same cellular pathway
Antiviral cellular miRNA?
•
It has been suggested that mammalian cells inhibit virus infections by targeting viral
transcripts with cellular miRNA
•
Cons:
I. miRNAs are conserved from bird to human: it is unlike that one miRNA
specifically acts on one virus; cause viral host ranges are more limited
II. Viruses have short lifecycles and high mutation rates: one mutation can block
down regulation through specific miRNA
III. Many viruses appear to have evolved long after their current host species;
cellular miRNA encoded by that host could not have evolved to inhibit these
virus
•
Pros: Cellular miRNA have antiviral effects
I.
Mice with reduced Dicer level and so reduced miR-24 and miR-93 are hyper
susceptible to VSV
II. miR-28, miR-125b, miR-150 can inhibit replication of HIV-1 via binding sites in
its genome
III. miR-32 leads to antiviral defense against PFV (retrovirus in Hela cells)
Cellular miRNAs can act as antiviral defense mechanism if target sites
are present; relevance must be proven
Influence of cellular miRNA on viral tropism
•
Viruses have evolved “selectively avoid” binding sites for inhibitory miRNA that
are expressed in their target tissues but still remain target sites for inhibitory miRNAs
present in cells which they not infect under normal conditions
•
Example:
•
HCV :
•
contains two adjacent binding sites for cellular miR-122 within its 5’UTR;
binding of miR-122 to the viral 5’UTR facilitates HCV replication
•
miR-122 is exclusively expressed in the liver, the primary replication site of
HCV
•
Seems to be that the miRNA plays a key role in determining the tropism of
HCV in this tissue
Viral induction of cellular miRNAs
•
many publications show changes in miRNA expression after virus infection; reason:
I.
represent host cell innate immune response triggered by virus infection and can
inhibit virus replication
II.
Can be induced by virus to create a favorable intracellular microenvironment for
viral replication
•
Example:
•
EBV induces up regulation of miR-155
•
Increased expression of miR-155 is found in some cancer types
•
KSHV encodes viral miR-K11 which have the same seed as miR-155
and down regulates the same cellular mRNAs (important for lifecycle
of these viruses)
Virus induced expression of miR-155 or its viral orthologs is the
reason for the oncogenic transformation of EBV and KSHV infected
cells
UPSHOT
miRNA and siRNA pathway are used by viruses and host
cells and play an important role in antiviral defense of the
host but also in the replication of the virus
The end
Second paper: additional things
•
HIV:
•
TAR Element (transcription response element): promotes transcription of HIV-1
proviral DNA through cellular RNA polymerase II (RNAP II)
•
Tat interacts with cyclin T1(cellular factor) which build up together with
CDK9: P-TEFb; P-TEFb and Tat bind at HIV TAR: initiation of
transcription
•
Has initial viral transcripts in different spliced forms:
•
Unspliced gag and pol
•
Partial spliced env, vif, vpr, vpu
•
Fully spliced tat rev nef
•
Problem: eukaryotic cells do not permit transport of intron-containing
mRNAs. Therefore rev interact with cellular factor CRM1; Ran:GTB binds
CRM1 in the nucleus and activate the binding of CRM1 to nuclear export
signal; complex of rev; Ran:GTP, CRM1 directs incomplete splice variants
to the nuclear pore complex and the cytoplasm; Rev=nuclear mRNA
export factor
•
Next problem translation: recruiting of ribosomes: poliovirus exhibit IRES
(internal ribosome entry site: 450nt structured RNA element); IRES recruits
eIFs and 40S subunit to the translation initioncodon without a cap:
poliovirus is independent of host cell cap recognition factor eIF4E
Second paper: additional things
•
Programmed ribosomal frame shifting
translational phenomenon in retroviruses and all corona viruses
Prevents some ribosomes from terminating translation at the end of ORF
Production of large gag-pol polyprotein
•
Viral non-coding RNA:
Done by DNA viruses: encode long noncoding RNAs that influence viral
replication and pathogenesis
Example: LAT (8,3kb capped polyadenylated RNA)of HSV-1; LAT is spliced in
unstable 6.3kb exonic RNA (processed in several viral miRNAs) and stable 2 kb
introns (modulating mRNA translation)