Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, Duke Universitygrid.26009.3d School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Medicine, Duke Universitygrid.26009.3d School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
J Virol. 2022 Nov 23;96(22):e0099722. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00997-22. Epub 2022 Oct 31.
Modification of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) positive-strand RNA genome by N6-methyladenosine (mA) regulates the viral life cycle. This life cycle takes place solely in the cytoplasm, while mA addition on cellular mRNA takes place in the nucleus. Thus, the mechanisms by which mA is deposited on the viral RNA have been unclear. In this work, we find that mA modification of HCV RNA by the mA-methyltransferase proteins methyltransferase-like 3 and 14 (METTL3 and METTL14) is regulated by Wilms' tumor 1-associating protein (WTAP). WTAP, a predominantly nuclear protein, is an essential member of the cellular mRNA mA-methyltransferase complex and known to target METTL3 to mRNA. We found that HCV infection induces localization of WTAP to the cytoplasm. Importantly, we found that WTAP is required for both METTL3 interaction with HCV RNA and mA modification across the viral RNA genome. Further, we found that WTAP, like METTL3 and METTL14, negatively regulates the production of infectious HCV virions, a process that we have previously shown is regulated by mA. Excitingly, WTAP regulation of both HCV RNA mA modification and virion production was independent of its ability to localize to the nucleus. Together, these results reveal that WTAP is critical for HCV RNA mA modification by METTL3 and METTL14 in the cytoplasm. Positive-strand RNA viruses such as HCV represent a significant global health burden. Previous work has described that HCV RNA contains the RNA modification mA and how this modification regulates viral infection. Yet, how this modification is targeted to HCV RNA has remained unclear due to the incompatibility of the nuclear cellular processes that drive mA modification with the cytoplasmic HCV life cycle. In this study, we present evidence for how mA modification is targeted to HCV RNA in the cytoplasm by a mechanism in which WTAP recruits the mA-methyltransferase METTL3 to HCV RNA. This targeting strategy for mA modification of cytoplasmic RNA viruses is likely relevant for other mA-modified positive-strand RNA viruses with cytoplasmic life cycles such as enterovirus 71 and SARS-CoV-2 and provides an exciting new target for potential antiviral therapies.
N6-甲基腺苷(m6A)修饰丙型肝炎病毒(HCV)正链 RNA 基因组调控病毒生命周期。该生命周期仅发生在细胞质中,而细胞 mRNA 上的 m6A 加工作用于细胞核。因此,m6A 沉积在病毒 RNA 上的机制尚不清楚。在这项工作中,我们发现 m6A 甲基转移酶蛋白甲基转移酶样 3 和 14(METTL3 和 METTL14)对 HCV RNA 的 m6A 修饰受 Wilms 肿瘤 1 相关蛋白(WTAP)调节。WTAP 是一种主要存在于核内的蛋白质,是细胞 mRNA m6A 甲基转移酶复合物的必需成员,已知其将 METTL3 靶向 mRNA。我们发现 HCV 感染诱导 WTAP 定位于细胞质。重要的是,我们发现 WTAP 既需要 METTL3 与 HCV RNA 的相互作用,也需要整个病毒 RNA 基因组的 m6A 修饰。此外,我们发现 WTAP 像 METTL3 和 METTL14 一样,负调控感染性 HCV 病毒粒子的产生,我们之前已经表明该过程受 m6A 调节。令人兴奋的是,WTAP 对 HCV RNA m6A 修饰和病毒粒子产生的调节独立于其定位于核内的能力。综上所述,这些结果表明 WTAP 是 METTL3 和 METTL14 在细胞质中对 HCV RNA m6A 修饰所必需的。HCV 等正链 RNA 病毒是全球健康的重大负担。以前的工作已经描述了 HCV RNA 含有 RNA 修饰 m6A 以及这种修饰如何调节病毒感染。然而,由于核内细胞过程与细胞质 HCV 生命周期不兼容,因此该修饰如何靶向 HCV RNA 仍然不清楚。在这项研究中,我们提出了证据,证明 WTAP 通过一种机制将 m6A 甲基转移酶 METTL3 募集到 HCV RNA 上来靶向 HCV RNA 的 m6A 修饰,该机制在细胞质中靶向 HCV RNA 的 m6A 修饰。这种针对细胞质 RNA 病毒的 m6A 修饰靶向策略可能与其他具有细胞质生命周期的 m6A 修饰正链 RNA 病毒(如肠道病毒 71 和 SARS-CoV-2)相关,为潜在的抗病毒治疗提供了一个令人兴奋的新靶点。