A nucleocapsid functionality contained within the amino terminus of the Ty1 protease that is distinct and separable from proteolytic activity

Ribosomal protein and biogenesis factors affect multiple steps during movement of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ty1 retrotransposon

BACKGROUND

A large number of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cellular factors modulate the movement of the retrovirus-like transposon Ty1. Surprisingly, a significant number of chromosomal genes required for Ty1 transposition encode components of the translational machinery, including ribosomal proteins, ribosomal biogenesis factors, protein trafficking proteins and protein or RNA modification enzymes.

RESULTS

To assess the mechanistic connection between Ty1 mobility and the translation machinery, we have determined the effect of these mutations on ribosome biogenesis and Ty1 transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. Lack of genes encoding ribosomal proteins or ribosome assembly factors causes reduced accumulation of the ribosomal subunit with which they are associated. In addition, these mutations cause decreased Ty1 + 1 programmed translational frameshifting, and reduced Gag protein accumulation despite at least normal levels of Ty1 mRNA. Several ribosome subunit mutations increase the level of both an internally initiated Ty1 transcript and its encoded truncated Gag-p22 protein, which inhibits transposition.

CONCLUSIONS

Together, our results suggest that this large class of cellular genes modulate Ty1 transposition through multiple pathways. The effects are largely post-transcriptional acting at a variety of levels that may include translation initiation, protein stability and subcellular protein localization.

The Ty1 Retrotransposon Restriction Factor p22 Targets Gag

A novel form of copy number control (CNC) helps maintain a low number of Ty1 retrovirus-like transposons in the Saccharomyces genome. Ty1 produces an alternative transcript that encodes p22, a trans-dominant negative inhibitor of Ty1 retrotransposition whose sequence is identical to the C-terminal half of Gag. The level of p22 increases with copy number and inhibits normal Ty1 virus-like particle (VLP) assembly and maturation through interactions with full length Gag. A forward genetic screen for CNC-resistant (CNC^R) mutations in Ty1 identified missense mutations in GAG that restore retrotransposition in the presence of p22. Some of these mutations map within a predicted UBN2 domain found throughout the Ty1/copia family of long terminal repeat retrotransposons, and others cluster within a central region of Gag that is referred to as the CNC^R domain. We generated multiple alignments of yeast Ty1-like Gag proteins and found that some Gag proteins, including those of the related Ty2 elements, contain non-Ty1 residues at multiple CNC^R sites. Interestingly, the Ty2-917 element is resistant to p22 and does not undergo a Ty1-like form of CNC. Substitutions conferring CNC^R map within predicted helices in Ty1 Gag that overlap with conserved sequence in Ty1/copia, suggesting that p22 disturbs a central function of the capsid during VLP assembly. When hydrophobic residues within predicted helices in Gag are mutated, Gag level remains unaffected in most cases yet VLP assembly and maturation is abnormal. Gag CNC^R mutations do not alter binding to p22 as determined by co-immunoprecipitation analyses, but instead, exclude p22 from Ty1 VLPs. These findings suggest that the CNC^R alleles enhance retrotransposition in the presence of p22 by allowing productive Gag-Gag interactions during VLP assembly. Our work also expands the strategies used by retroviruses for developing resistance to Gag-like restriction factors to now include retrotransposons.

The presence of transposable elements in the eukaryotic genome threatens genomic stability and normal gene function, thus various defense mechanisms exist to silence element expression and target integration to benign locations in the genome. Even though the budding yeast Saccharomyces lacks many of the defense systems present in other eukaryotes, including RNAi, DNA methylation, and APOBEC3 proteins, they maintain low numbers of mobile elements in their genome. In the case of the Saccharomyces retrotransposon Ty1, a system called copy number control (CNC) helps determine the number of elements in the genome. Recently, we demonstrated that the mechanism of CNC relies on a trans-acting protein inhibitor of Ty1 expressed from the element itself. This protein inhibitor, called p22, impacts the replication of Ty1 as its copy number increases. To identify a molecular target of p22, mutagenized Ty1 was subjected to a forward genetic screen for CNC-resistance. Mutations in specific domains of Gag, including the UBN2 Gag motif and a novel region we have named the CNC^R domain, confer CNC^R by preventing the incorporation of p22 into assembling virus-like particles (VLPs), which restores maturation and completion of the Ty1 life cycle. The mechanism of Ty1 inhibition by p22 is conceptually similar to Gag-like restriction factors in mammals since they inhibit normal particle function. In particular, resistance to p22 and the enJS56A1 restriction factor of sheep involves exclusion of the restriction factor during particle assembly, although Ty1 CNC^R achieves this in a way that is distinct from the Jaagsiekte retrovirus escape mutants. Our work introduces an intriguing variation on resistance mechanisms to retroviral restriction factors.

Ty1 retrovirus-like element Gag contains overlapping restriction factor and nucleic acid chaperone functions

Ty1 Gag comprises the capsid of virus-like particles and provides nucleic acid chaperone (NAC) functions during retrotransposition in budding yeast. A subgenomic Ty1 mRNA encodes a truncated Gag protein (p22) that is cleaved by Ty1 protease to form p18. p22/p18 strongly inhibits transposition and can be considered an element-encoded restriction factor. Here, we show that only p22 and its short derivatives restrict Ty1 mobility whereas other regions of GAG inhibit mobility weakly if at all. Mutational analyses suggest that p22/p18 is synthesized from either of two closely spaced AUG codons. Interestingly, AUG1p18 and AUG2p18 proteins display different properties, even though both contain a region crucial for RNA binding and NAC activity. AUG1p18 shows highly reduced NAC activity but specific binding to Ty1 RNA, whereas AUG2p18 shows the converse behavior. p22/p18 affects RNA encapsidation and a mutant derivative defective for RNA binding inhibits the RNA chaperone activity of the C-terminal region (CTR) of Gag-p45. Moreover, affinity pulldowns show that p18 and the CTR interact. These results support the idea that one aspect of Ty1 restriction involves inhibition of Gag-p45 NAC functions by p22/p18-Gag interactions.

The Ty1 LTR-retrotransposon of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Long-terminal repeat (LTR)-retrotransposons generate a copy of their DNA (cDNA) by reverse transcription of their RNA genome in cytoplasmic nucleocapsids. They are widespread in the eukaryotic kingdom and are the evolutionary progenitors of retroviruses [1]. The Ty1 element of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was the first LTR-retrotransposon demonstrated to mobilize through an RNA intermediate, and not surprisingly, is the best studied. The depth of our knowledge of Ty1 biology stems not only from the predominance of active Ty1 elements in the S. cerevisiae genome but also the ease and breadth of genomic, biochemical and cell biology approaches available to study cellular processes in yeast. This review describes the basic structure of Ty1 and its gene products, the replication cycle, the rapidly expanding compendium of host co-factors known to influence retrotransposition and the nature of Ty1's elaborate symbiosis with its host. Our goal is to illuminate the value of Ty1 as a paradigm to explore the biology of LTR-retrotransposons in multicellular organisms, where the low frequency of retrotransposition events presents a formidable barrier to investigations of retrotransposon biology.

A trans-dominant form of Gag restricts Ty1 retrotransposition and mediates copy number control

Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces paradoxus lack the conserved RNA interference pathway and utilize a novel form of copy number control (CNC) to inhibit Ty1 retrotransposition. Although noncoding transcripts have been implicated in CNC, here we present evidence that a truncated form of the Gag capsid protein (p22) or its processed form (p18) is necessary and sufficient for CNC and likely encoded by Ty1 internal transcripts. Coexpression of p22/p18 and Ty1 decreases mobility more than 30,000-fold. p22/p18 cofractionates with Ty1 virus-like particles (VLPs) and affects VLP yield, protein composition, and morphology. Although p22/p18 and Gag colocalize in the cytoplasm, p22/p18 disrupts sites used for VLP assembly. Glutathione S-transferase (GST) affinity pulldowns also suggest that p18 and Gag interact. Therefore, this intrinsic Gag-like restriction factor confers CNC by interfering with VLP assembly and function and expands the strategies used to limit retroelement propagation.

IMPORTANCE

Retrotransposons dominate the chromosomal landscape in many eukaryotes, can cause mutations by insertion or genome rearrangement, and are evolutionarily related to retroviruses such as HIV. Thus, understanding factors that limit transposition and retroviral replication is fundamentally important. The present work describes a retrotransposon-encoded restriction protein derived from the capsid gene of the yeast Ty1 element that disrupts virus-like particle assembly in a dose-dependent manner. This form of copy number control acts as a molecular rheostat, allowing high levels of retrotransposition when few Ty1 elements are present and inhibiting transposition as copy number increases. Thus, yeast and Ty1 have coevolved a form of copy number control that is beneficial to both "host and parasite." To our knowledge, this is the first Gag-like retrotransposon restriction factor described in the literature and expands the ways in which restriction proteins modulate retroelement replication.

Sequence requirements for localization and packaging of Ty3 retroelement RNA

Retroviruses and retrotransposons package genomic RNA into virus-like particles (VLPs) in a poorly understood process. Expression of the budding yeast retrotransposon Ty3 results in the formation of cytoplasmic Ty3 VLP assembly foci comprised of Ty3 RNA and proteins, and cellular factors associated with RNA processing body (PB) components, which modulate translation and effect nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). A series of Ty3 RNA variants were tested to understand the effects of read-through translation via programmed frameshifting on RNA localization and packaging into VLPs, and to identify the roles of coding and non-coding sequences in those processes. These experiments showed that a low level of read-through translation of the downstream open reading frame (as opposed to no translation or translation without frameshifting) is important for localization of full-length Ty3 RNA to foci. Ty3 RNA variants associated with PB components via independent determinants in the native Ty3 untranslated regions (UTRs) and in GAG3-POL3 sequences flanked by UTRs adapted from non-Ty3 transcripts. However, despite localization, RNAs containing GAG3-POL3 but lacking Ty3 UTRs were not packaged efficiently. Surprisingly, sequences within Ty3 UTRs, which bind the initiator tRNA(Met) proposed to provide the dimerization interface, were not required for packaging of full-length Ty3 RNA into VLPs. In summary, our results demonstrate that Gag3 is sufficient and required for localization and packaging of RNAs containing Ty3 UTRs and support a role for POL3 sequences, translation of which is attenuated by programmed frameshifting, in both localization and packaging of the Ty3 full-length gRNA.

Posttranslational interference of Ty1 retrotransposition by antisense RNAs

Transposable elements impact genome function by altering gene expression and causing chromosome rearrangements. As a result, organisms have evolved mechanisms, such as RNA-interference, to minimize the level of transposition. However, organisms without the conserved RNAi pathways, like Saccharomyces cerevisiae, must use other mechanisms to prevent transposon movement. Here, we provide evidence that antisense (AS) RNAs from the retrovirus-like element Ty1 inhibit retrotransposition posttranslationally in Saccharomyces. Multiple Ty1AS transcripts overlap Ty1 sequences necessary for copy number control (CNC) and inhibit transposition in trans. Altering Ty1 copy number or deleting sequences in the CNC region that are required for reverse transcription affect Ty1AS RNA level and Ty1 movement. Ty1AS RNAs are enriched in virus-like particles, and are associated with a dramatic decrease in the level of integrase, less reverse transcriptase, and an inability to synthesize Ty1 cDNA. Thus, Ty1AS RNAs are part of an intrinsic mechanism that limits retrotransposition by reducing the level of proteins required for replication and integration.

S-phase checkpoint pathways stimulate the mobility of the retrovirus-like transposon Ty1

The mobility of the Ty1 retrotransposon in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is restricted by a large collection of proteins that preserve the integrity of the genome during replication. Several of these repressors of Ty1 transposition (Rtt)/genome caretakers are orthologs of mammalian retroviral restriction factors. In rtt/genome caretaker mutants, levels of Ty1 cDNA and mobility are increased; however, the mechanisms underlying Ty1 hypermobility in most rtt mutants are poorly characterized. Here, we show that either or both of two S-phase checkpoint pathways, the replication stress pathway and the DNA damage pathway, partially or strongly stimulate Ty1 mobility in 19 rtt/genome caretaker mutants. In contrast, neither checkpoint pathway is required for Ty1 hypermobility in two rtt mutants that are competent for genome maintenance. In rtt101delta mutants, hypermobility is stimulated through the DNA damage pathway components Rad9, Rad24, Mec1, Rad53, and Dun1 but not Chk1. We provide evidence that Ty1 cDNA is not the direct target of the DNA damage pathway in rtt101delta mutants; instead, levels of Ty1 integrase and reverse transcriptase proteins, as well as reverse transcriptase activity, are significantly elevated. We propose that DNA lesions created in the absence of Rtt/genome caretakers trigger S-phase checkpoint pathways to stimulate Ty1 reverse transcriptase activity.

Reverse transcriptase and integrase of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ty1 element

Integrase (IN) and reverse transcriptase (RT) play a central role in transposition of retroelements. The mechanism of integration by IN and the steps of the replication process mediated by RT are briefly described here. Recently, active recombinant forms of Ty1 IN and RT have been obtained. This has allowed a more detailed understanding of their biochemical and structural properties and has made possible combined in vitro and in vivo analyses of their functions. A focus of this review is to discuss some of the results obtained thus far with these two recombinant proteins and to propose future directions.

Ty1 defect in proteolysis at high temperature

Retrotransposition of the Ty1 element of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is temperature sensitive. Transposition activity of Ty1 is abolished at temperatures above 34 degrees C. In this report, we show that the major block to transposition at high temperature is the inhibition of processing of the Gag-Pol-p199 polyprotein and the concomitant reduction of reverse transcriptase (RT) activity. Expression of a Ty1 protease construct in Escherichia coli shows that protease enzymatic activity is inherently temperature sensitive. In yeast, Gag processing is only partially inhibited at high temperature, while cleavage of the Gag-Pol polyprotein is completely inhibited. Sites of proteolytic processing are differentially susceptible to cleavage during growth at high temperature. Overall levels of the Gag-Pol polyprotein are reduced at high temperature, although the efficiency of the requisite +1 frameshifting event appears to be increased. RT activity is inherently relatively temperature resistant, yet no cDNA is made at high temperature and the amount of RT activity is greatly reduced in virus-like particles formed at high temperature. Taken together, these results suggest that alterations in Ty1 proteins that occur at high temperature affect both protease activity and RT activity, such that Ty1 transposition is abolished.