Cleavage of poly(A)-binding protein by poliovirus 3C proteinase inhibits viral internal ribosome entry site-mediated translation.

The two enteroviral proteinases, 2A proteinase (2A(pro)) and 3C proteinase (3C(pro)), induce host cell translation shutoff in enterovirus-infected cells by cleaving canonical translation initiation factors. Cleavage of poly(A)-binding protein (PABP) by 3C(pro) has been shown to be a necessary component for host translation shutoff. Here we show that 3C(pro) inhibits cap-independent translation mediated by the poliovirus internal ribosome entry site (IRES) in a dose-dependent manner in HeLa translation extracts displaying cap-poly(A) synergy. This effect is independent of the stimulatory effect of 2A(pro) on IRES translation, and 3C(pro)-induced translation inhibition can be partially rescued by addition of recombinant PABP in vitro. 3C(pro) inhibits IRES translation on transcripts containing or lacking poly(A) tails, suggesting that cleavage of PABP and IRES trans-activating factors polypyrimidine tract-binding protein and poly r(C)-binding protein 2 may also be important for inhibition. Expression of 3C(pro) cleavage-resistant PABP in cells increased translation of nonreplicating viral minigenome reporter RNAs during infection and also delayed and reduced virus protein synthesis from replicating RNA. Further, expression of cleavage-resistant PABP in cells reduced the accumulation of viral RNA and the output of infectious virus. These results suggest that cleavage of PABP contributes to viral translation shutoff that is required for the switch from translation to RNA replication.