Atypical nucleoprotein complexes mediate CRE-dependent regulation of the early promoter of minute virus of mice

Exploring the contribution of distal P4 promoter elements to the oncoselectivity of Minute Virus of Mice

Minute Virus of Mice (MVM) shares inherent oncotropic properties with other members of the genus Parvovirus. Two elements responsible, at least in part, for this oncoselectivity have been mapped to an Ets1 binding site adjacent to the P4 TATA box of the initiating promoter, P4, and to a more distal cyclic AMP responsive element (CRE), located within the telomeric hairpin stem. Here the CRE overlaps one half-site for the binding of parvoviral initiation factor (PIF), which is essential for viral DNA replication. We used a degenerate oligonucleotide selection approach to show that CRE binding protein (CREB) selects the sequence ACGTCAC within this context, rather than its more generally accepted palindromic TGACGTCA recognition site. We have developed strategies for manipulating these sequences directly within the left-end palindrome of the MVM infectious clone and used them to clone mutants whose CRE either matches the symmetric consensus sequence or is scrambled, or in which the PIF binding site is incrementally weakened with respect to the CRE. The panel of mutants were tested for fitness relative to wildtype in normal murine fibroblasts A9 or transformed human fibroblasts 324 K, through multiple rounds of growth in co-infected cultures, using a differential real-time quantitative PCR assay. We confirmed that inactivating the CRE substantially abrogates oncoselectivity, but found that improving its fit to the palindromic consensus is somewhat debilitating in either cell type. We also confirmed that reducing the PIF half-site spacing by one basepair enhances oncoselectivity, but found that a further basepair deletion significantly reduces this effect.

Reverse genetic system for the analysis of parvovirus telomeres reveals interactions between transcription factor binding sites in the hairpin stem

The left-hand or 3'-terminal hairpin of minute virus of mice (MVM) contains sequence elements essential for both viral DNA replication at the left-hand origin (oriL) and for the modulation of the P4 promoter, from which the viral nonstructural gene cassette is transcribed. This hairpin sequence has proven difficult to manipulate in the context of the viral genome. Here we describe a system for generating mutant viruses using synthetic hairpin oligonucleotides and a truncated form of the infectious clone. This allows manipulation of the sequence of the left-hand hairpin and examination of the effects in the context of the viral life cycle. We have confirmed the requirement for a functional parvovirus initiation factor (PIF) binding site and determined that an optimized PIF binding site, with 6 bases between the half-sites, was actually detrimental to viral growth. The distal PIF half-site overlaps a cyclic AMP-responsive element (CRE), which was shown to play an important role in initiating infection, particularly in 324K simian virus 40-transformed human fibroblasts. Interestingly, reducing the spacing of the PIF half-sites, and thus the affinity of the binding site for PIF, increased viral fitness relative to wild type in 324K cells, but not in murine A9 cells. These results indicate that the relative importance of factor binding to the CRE and PIF sites during the establishment of an infection differs markedly between these two host cells and suggest that the suboptimal spacing of PIF half-sites found in wild-type virus represents a necessary reduction in the affinity of the PIF interaction in favor of CRE function.

The P4 promoter of the parvovirus minute virus of mice is developmentally regulated in transgenic P4-LacZ mice

Activation of the minute virus of mice (MVM) P4 promoter is a key step in the life cycle of the virus and is completely dependent on host transcription factors. Since transcription-factor composition varies widely in different cell types, there is the possibility that only some cell types in the host organism have the capacity to initiate expression from the P4 promoter and therefore that the promoter may be a factor in determining the tropism of MVM. In this study, the ability of various cell types to activate P4, independent of the other virus-host interactions, was examined in transgenic mouse lines bearing a beta-galactosidase reporter sequence driven by the P4 promoter. It was found that lacZ was expressed during embryogenesis and in the adult in a cell-type-specific and differentiation-dependent pattern. The data are consistent with cell-type and stage-specific activation of the P4 promoter having a role in determining the host cell-type range of MVM. The ability of some parvoviruses to replicate in, and kill oncogenically transformed cells, and to destroy induced tumors in laboratory animals is the basis of recent approaches to use MVM-based vectors in cancer gene therapy. Since these vectors rely on the activation of the P4 promoter by the target tissues, understanding the promoter dependence on cell-type and differentiation status is important for their design and potential use.