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Molecular and Cellular Biology, September 2000, p. 6259-6268, Vol. 20, No. 17
Centro Nacional de Biotecnología
(CSIC)1 and Centro de Biología
Molecular (CSIC-UAM),2 Universidad Autonoma
de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Received 31 January 2000/Returned for modification 2 March
2000/Accepted 5 June 2000
Influenza virus NS1 protein is an RNA-binding protein whose
expression alters several posttranscriptional regulatory processes, like polyadenylation, splicing, and nucleocytoplasmic transport of
cellular mRNAs. In addition, NS1 protein enhances the translational rate of viral, but not cellular, mRNAs. To characterize this effect, we
looked for targets of NS1 influenza virus protein among cellular translation factors. We found that NS1 coimmunoprecipitates with eukaryotic initiation factor 4GI (eIF4GI), the large subunit of the
cap-binding complex eIF4F, either in influenza virus-infected cells or
in cells transfected with NS1 cDNA. Affinity chromatography studies
using a purified His-NS1 protein-containing matrix showed that the
fusion protein pulls down endogenous eIF4GI from COS-1 cells and
labeled eIF4GI translated in vitro, but not the eIF4E subunit of the
eIF4F factor. Similar in vitro binding experiments with eIF4GI deletion
mutants indicated that the NS1-binding domain of eIF4GI is located
between residues 157 and 550, in a region where no other component of
the translational machinery is known to interact. Moreover, using
overlay assays and pull-down experiments, we showed that NS1 and eIF4GI
proteins interact directly, in an RNA-independent manner. Mapping of
the eIF4GI-binding domain in the NS1 protein indicated that the first
113 N-terminal amino acids of the protein, but not the first 81, are
sufficient to bind eIF4GI. The first of these mutants has been
previously shown to act as a translational enhancer, while the second
is defective in this activity. Collectively, these and previously
published data suggest a model where NS1 recruits eIF4GI specifically
to the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of the viral mRNA, allowing for
the preferential translation of the influenza virus messengers.
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4GI Is a Cellular Target
for NS1 Protein, a Translational Activator of Influenza Virus


*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro Nacional
de Biotecnología (CSIC), Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Campus
de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. Phone: 34 91 585 4533. Fax: 34 91 585 4506. E-mail: anmartin{at}cnb.uam.es.
Present address: Centre de Medicina Medica i Molecular-IRO,
Hospital Duran i Reynals, 08907 Barcelona, Spain.
Present address: Department of Biochemistry, New York University
Medical Center, New York, NY 10016.
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