Purification and Properties of Rab6 Interacting Proteins

Exocytosis of Progeny Infectious Varicella-Zoster Virus Particles via a Mannose-6-Phosphate Receptor Pathway without Xenophagy following Secondary Envelopment

The literature on the egress of different herpesviruses after secondary envelopment is contradictory. In this report, we investigated varicella-zoster virus (VZV) egress in a cell line from a child with Pompe disease, a glycogen storage disease caused by a defect in the enzyme required for glycogen digestion. In Pompe cells, both the late autophagy pathway and the mannose-6-phosphate receptor (M6PR) pathway are interrupted. We have postulated that intact autophagic flux is required for higher recoveries of VZV infectivity. To test that hypothesis, we infected Pompe cells and then assessed the VZV infectious cycle. We discovered that the infectious cycle in Pompe cells was remarkably different from that of either fibroblasts or melanoma cells. No large late endosomes filled with VZV particles were observed in Pompe cells; only individual viral particles in small vacuoles were seen. The distribution of the M6PR pathway (trans-Golgi network to late endosomes) was constrained in infected Pompe cells. When cells were analyzed with two different anti-M6PR antibodies, extensive colocalization of the major VZV glycoprotein gE (known to contain M6P residues) and the M6P receptor (M6PR) was documented in the viral highways at the surfaces of non-Pompe cells after maximum-intensity projection of confocal z-stacks, but neither gE nor the M6PR was seen in abundance at the surfaces of infected Pompe cells. Taken together, our results suggested that (i) Pompe cells lack a VZV trafficking pathway within M6PR-positive large endosomes and (ii) most infectious VZV particles in conventional cell substrates are transported via large M6PR-positive vacuoles without degradative xenophagy to the plasma membrane.IMPORTANCE The long-term goal of this research has been to determine why VZV, when grown in cultured cells, invariably is more cell associated and has a lower titer than other alphaherpesviruses, such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1) or pseudorabies virus (PRV). Data from both HSV1 and PRV laboratories have identified a Rab6 secretory pathway for the transport of single enveloped viral particles from the trans-Golgi network within small vacuoles to the plasma membrane. In contrast, after secondary envelopment in fibroblasts or melanoma cells, multiple infectious VZV particles accumulated within large M6PR-positive late endosomes that were not degraded en route to the plasma membrane. We propose that this M6PR pathway is most utilized in VZV infection and least utilized in HSV1 infection, with PRV's usage being closer to HSV1's usage. Supportive data from other VZV, PRV, and HSV1 laboratories about evidence for two egress pathways are included.

Chapter 5: rab proteins and their interaction partners

The Ras superfamily consists of over 150 low molecular weight proteins that cycle between an inactive guanosine diphosphate (GDP)-bound state and an active guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-bound state. They are involved in a variety of signal transduction pathways that regulate cell growth, intracellular trafficking, cell migration, and apoptosis. Several methods have been devised to detect and characterize the interacting partners of small GTPases with the aim of better understanding their physiological function in normal cells and tumor cells. The Rab (Ras analog in brain) proteins form the largest family within the Ras superfamily. Rab proteins regulate vesicular trafficking pathways, behaving as membrane-associated molecular switches. The guanine nucleotide-binding status of Rab proteins is modulated by three different classes of regulatory proteins, which have been extensively studied for the Rab molecules but also for other subfamilies of the Ras superfamily. Furthermore, numerous effector molecules have been isolated especially for the Rab subfamily of proteins, which interact via a Rab-binding domain (RBD) and are recruited afterwards to specific sub-cellular compartments by the Rab proteins.

Rab8-optineurin-myosin VI: analysis of interactions and functions in the secretory pathway

The small GTPase Rab8 has been shown to regulate polarized membrane trafficking pathways from the TGN to the cell surface. Optineurin is an effector protein of Rab8 and a binding partner of the actin-based motor protein myosin VI. We used various approaches to study the interactions between myosin VI and its binding partners and to analyze their role(s) in intracellular membrane trafficking pathways. In this chapter, we describe the use of the mammalian two-hybrid assay to demonstrate protein-protein interactions and to identify binding sites. We describe a secretion assay that was used in combination with RNA interference technology to analyze the function of myosin VI, optineurin, and Rab8 in exocytic membrane trafficking pathways.