Functional Characterization of the Cellular Protein p32 A Protein Regulating Adenovirus Transcription and Splicing Through Targeting of Phosphorylation

Sammanfattning: Cellular processes involved in the conversion of the genetic information from DNA into a protein are often regulated by reversible phosphorylation reactions. By modulating the phosphorylated status of key proteins their activity can either be enhanced or repressed. In this thesis I have studied the significance of phosphorylation in the regulation of transcription and splicing using human adenovirus as a model system.The results show that the activity of the cellular SR family of splicing enhancer or repressor proteins are reduced in adenovirus infected nuclear extracts by a virus-induced hypophosphorylation. The viral E4-ORF4 was shown to induce SR protein dephosphorylation by recruiting the cellular protein phosphatase PP2A. The E4-ORF4/PP2A complex was shown to relieve the SR protein-mediated repression of late virus-specific splicing and further activate alternative splicing in transiently transfected cells. Collectively, these results showed that alternative splicing, like many other biological processes, is regulated by reversible protein phosphorylation.Similarly, the cellular p32 protein was shown to cause hypophosphorylation of the SR protein ASF/SF2 resulting in a reduced RNA binding capacity of ASF/SF2. This change in ASF/SF2 RNA binding also had a drastic effect on the function of ASF/SF2 as a regulatory protein affecting splice site choice. The cellular p32 protein and the viral E4-ORF4 protein both target the same cellular splicing factor, ASF/SF2. However, they regulate splicing by different mechanisms. E4-ORF4 recruits a phosphatase to dephosphorylate ASF/SF2, while p32 sequester ASF/SF2 in an inactive complex.Further, we demonstrated that overexpression of p32 during a lytic infection suppressed transcription from the adenovirus major late transcription unit. p32 induced a selective repression of CAAT-box containing promoters indicating the involvement of the transcription factor CBF/NF-Y in this regulation. A further analysis showed that p32 caused a hyperphosphorylation of the CTD of RNA Pol II, which resulted in a significant reduction in the processivity of Pol II during the elongation phase of transcription.In summary, we have shown that E4-ORF4 regulates the activity of splicing regulatory SR proteins, and that p32 regulates the activity of the SR protein ASF/SF2 in splicing and Pol II processivity during transcription elongation. Mechanistically, both E4-ORF4 and p32 appears to function by regulating the phosphorylated status of key cellular proteins involved in these processes.