1
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Baldwin ET, van Eeuwen T, Hoyos D, Zalevsky A, Tchesnokov EP, Sánchez R, Miller BD, Di Stefano LH, Ruiz FX, Hancock M, Işik E, Mendez-Dorantes C, Walpole T, Nichols C, Wan P, Riento K, Halls-Kass R, Augustin M, Lammens A, Jestel A, Upla P, Xibinaku K, Congreve S, Hennink M, Rogala KB, Schneider AM, Fairman JE, Christensen SM, Desrosiers B, Bisacchi GS, Saunders OL, Hafeez N, Miao W, Kapeller R, Zaller DM, Sali A, Weichenrieder O, Burns KH, Götte M, Rout MP, Arnold E, Greenbaum BD, Romero DL, LaCava J, Taylor MS. Structures, functions and adaptations of the human LINE-1 ORF2 protein. Nature 2024; 626:194-206. [PMID: 38096902 PMCID: PMC10830420 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06947-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
The LINE-1 (L1) retrotransposon is an ancient genetic parasite that has written around one-third of the human genome through a 'copy and paste' mechanism catalysed by its multifunctional enzyme, open reading frame 2 protein (ORF2p)1. ORF2p reverse transcriptase (RT) and endonuclease activities have been implicated in the pathophysiology of cancer2,3, autoimmunity4,5 and ageing6,7, making ORF2p a potential therapeutic target. However, a lack of structural and mechanistic knowledge has hampered efforts to rationally exploit it. We report structures of the human ORF2p 'core' (residues 238-1061, including the RT domain) by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy in several conformational states. Our analyses identified two previously undescribed folded domains, extensive contacts to RNA templates and associated adaptations that contribute to unique aspects of the L1 replication cycle. Computed integrative structural models of full-length ORF2p show a dynamic closed-ring conformation that appears to open during retrotransposition. We characterize ORF2p RT inhibition and reveal its underlying structural basis. Imaging and biochemistry show that non-canonical cytosolic ORF2p RT activity can produce RNA:DNA hybrids, activating innate immune signalling through cGAS/STING and resulting in interferon production6-8. In contrast to retroviral RTs, L1 RT is efficiently primed by short RNAs and hairpins, which probably explains cytosolic priming. Other biochemical activities including processivity, DNA-directed polymerization, non-templated base addition and template switching together allow us to propose a revised L1 insertion model. Finally, our evolutionary analysis demonstrates structural conservation between ORF2p and other RNA- and DNA-dependent polymerases. We therefore provide key mechanistic insights into L1 polymerization and insertion, shed light on the evolutionary history of L1 and enable rational drug development targeting L1.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Trevor van Eeuwen
- Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - David Hoyos
- Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Arthur Zalevsky
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Quantitative Biology Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Egor P Tchesnokov
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | | | - Bryant D Miller
- Department of Pathology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Luciano H Di Stefano
- European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Francesc Xavier Ruiz
- Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Matthew Hancock
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Quantitative Biology Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Esin Işik
- Department of Pathology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Carlos Mendez-Dorantes
- Department of Pathology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Thomas Walpole
- Charles River Laboratories, Chesterford Research Park, Saffron Walden, UK
| | - Charles Nichols
- Charles River Laboratories, Chesterford Research Park, Saffron Walden, UK
| | - Paul Wan
- Charles River Laboratories, Chesterford Research Park, Saffron Walden, UK
| | - Kirsi Riento
- Charles River Laboratories, Chesterford Research Park, Saffron Walden, UK
| | - Rowan Halls-Kass
- Charles River Laboratories, Chesterford Research Park, Saffron Walden, UK
| | | | - Alfred Lammens
- Proteros Biostructures GmbH, Martinsried, Planegg, Germany
| | - Anja Jestel
- Proteros Biostructures GmbH, Martinsried, Planegg, Germany
| | - Paula Upla
- Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kera Xibinaku
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | | | - Kacper B Rogala
- Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Anna M Schneider
- Structural Biology of Selfish RNA, Department of Protein Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Andrej Sali
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Quantitative Biology Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Oliver Weichenrieder
- Structural Biology of Selfish RNA, Department of Protein Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Kathleen H Burns
- Department of Pathology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Matthias Götte
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
| | - Michael P Rout
- Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Eddy Arnold
- Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
| | - Benjamin D Greenbaum
- Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
- Physiology, Biophysics & Systems Biology, Weill Cornell Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
| | | | - John LaCava
- Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
- European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Martin S Taylor
- Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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2
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Goodier JL, Wan H, Soares AO, Sanchez L, Selser JM, Pereira GC, Karma S, García-Pérez JL, Kazazian HH, García Cañadas MM. ZCCHC3 is a stress granule zinc knuckle protein that strongly suppresses LINE-1 retrotransposition. PLoS Genet 2023; 19:e1010795. [PMID: 37405998 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Retrotransposons have generated about half of the human genome and LINE-1s (L1s) are the only autonomously active retrotransposons. The cell has evolved an arsenal of defense mechanisms to protect against retrotransposition with factors we are only beginning to understand. In this study, we investigate Zinc Finger CCHC-Type Containing 3 (ZCCHC3), a gag-like zinc knuckle protein recently reported to function in the innate immune response to infecting viruses. We show that ZCCHC3 also severely restricts human retrotransposons and associates with the L1 ORF1p ribonucleoprotein particle. We identify ZCCHC3 as a bona fide stress granule protein, and its association with LINE-1 is further supported by colocalization with L1 ORF1 protein in stress granules, dense cytoplasmic aggregations of proteins and RNAs that contain stalled translation pre-initiation complexes and form when the cell is under stress. Our work also draws links between ZCCHC3 and the anti-viral and retrotransposon restriction factors Mov10 RISC Complex RNA Helicase (MOV10) and Zinc Finger CCCH-Type, Antiviral 1 (ZC3HAV1, also called ZAP). Furthermore, collective evidence from subcellular localization, co-immunoprecipitation, and velocity gradient centrifugation connects ZCCHC3 with the RNA exosome, a multi-subunit ribonuclease complex capable of degrading various species of RNA molecules and that has previously been linked with retrotransposon control.
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Affiliation(s)
- John L Goodier
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Han Wan
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Alisha O Soares
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Laura Sanchez
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research: Pfizer, University of Granada, Andalusian Regional Government, Granada, Spain
| | - John Michael Selser
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Gavin C Pereira
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Sadik Karma
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Jose Luis García-Pérez
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research: Pfizer, University of Granada, Andalusian Regional Government, Granada, Spain
| | - Haig H Kazazian
- McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Marta M García Cañadas
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research: Pfizer, University of Granada, Andalusian Regional Government, Granada, Spain
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3
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Pimentel SC, Upton HE, Collins K. Separable structural requirements for cDNA synthesis, nontemplated extension, and template jumping by a non-LTR retroelement reverse transcriptase. J Biol Chem 2022; 298:101624. [PMID: 35065960 PMCID: PMC8857657 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Broad evolutionary expansion of polymerase families has enabled specialization of their activities for distinct cellular roles. In addition to template-complementary synthesis, many polymerases extend their duplex products by nontemplated nucleotide addition (NTA). This activity is exploited for laboratory strategies of cloning and sequencing nucleic acids and could have important biological function, although the latter has been challenging to test without separation-of-function mutations. Several retroelement and retroviral reverse transcriptases (RTs) support NTA and also template jumping, by which the RT performs continuous complementary DNA (cDNA) synthesis using physically separate templates. Previous studies that aimed to dissect the relationship between NTA and template jumping leave open questions about structural requirements for each activity and their interdependence. Here, we characterize the structural requirements for cDNA synthesis, NTA, template jumping, and the unique terminal transferase activity of Bombyx mori R2 non-long terminal repeat retroelement RT. With sequence alignments and structure modeling to guide mutagenesis, we generated enzyme variants across motifs generally conserved or specific to RT subgroups. Enzyme variants had diverse NTA profiles not correlated with other changes in cDNA synthesis activity or template jumping. Using these enzyme variants and panels of activity assay conditions, we show that template jumping requires NTA. However, template jumping by NTA-deficient enzymes can be rescued using primer duplex with a specific length of 3′ overhang. Our findings clarify the relationship between NTA and template jumping as well as additional activities of non-long terminal repeat RTs, with implications for the specialization of RT biological functions and laboratory applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney C Pimentel
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Heather E Upton
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Kathleen Collins
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.
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