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Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec
BACKGROUND: The human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) family is associated with testicular germ cell tumors (GCT). Various HML-2 proviruses encode viral proteins such as Env and Rec. RESULTS: We describe here that HML-2 Env gives rise to a 13 kDa signal peptide (SP) that harbors a different C-te...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2009
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649029/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19220907 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-6-17 |
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author | Ruggieri, Alessia Maldener, Esther Sauter, Marlies Mueller-Lantzsch, Nikolaus Meese, Eckart Fackler, Oliver T Mayer, Jens |
author_facet | Ruggieri, Alessia Maldener, Esther Sauter, Marlies Mueller-Lantzsch, Nikolaus Meese, Eckart Fackler, Oliver T Mayer, Jens |
author_sort | Ruggieri, Alessia |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) family is associated with testicular germ cell tumors (GCT). Various HML-2 proviruses encode viral proteins such as Env and Rec. RESULTS: We describe here that HML-2 Env gives rise to a 13 kDa signal peptide (SP) that harbors a different C-terminus compared to Rec. Subsequent to guiding Env to the endoplasmatic reticulum (ER), HML-2 SP is released into the cytosol. Biochemical analysis and confocal microscopy demonstrated that similar to Rec, SP efficiently translocates to the granular component of nucleoli. Unlike Rec, SP does not shuttle between nucleus and cytoplasm. SP is less stable than Rec as it is subjected to proteasomal degradation. Moreover, SP lacks export activity towards HML-2 genomic RNA, the main function of Rec in the original viral context, and SP does not interfere with Rec's RNA export activity. CONCLUSION: SP is a previously unrecognized HML-2 protein that, besides targeting and translocation of Env into the ER lumen, may exert biological functions distinct from Rec. HML-2 SP represents another functional similarity with the closely related Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus that encodes an Env-derived SP named p14. Our findings furthermore support the emerging concept of bioactive SPs as a conserved retroviral strategy to modulate their host cell environment, evidenced here by a "retroviral fossil". While the specific role of HML-2 SP remains to be elucidated in the context of human biology, we speculate that it may be involved in immune evasion of GCT cells or tumorigenesis. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2649029 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2009 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-26490292009-02-28 Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec Ruggieri, Alessia Maldener, Esther Sauter, Marlies Mueller-Lantzsch, Nikolaus Meese, Eckart Fackler, Oliver T Mayer, Jens Retrovirology Research BACKGROUND: The human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) family is associated with testicular germ cell tumors (GCT). Various HML-2 proviruses encode viral proteins such as Env and Rec. RESULTS: We describe here that HML-2 Env gives rise to a 13 kDa signal peptide (SP) that harbors a different C-terminus compared to Rec. Subsequent to guiding Env to the endoplasmatic reticulum (ER), HML-2 SP is released into the cytosol. Biochemical analysis and confocal microscopy demonstrated that similar to Rec, SP efficiently translocates to the granular component of nucleoli. Unlike Rec, SP does not shuttle between nucleus and cytoplasm. SP is less stable than Rec as it is subjected to proteasomal degradation. Moreover, SP lacks export activity towards HML-2 genomic RNA, the main function of Rec in the original viral context, and SP does not interfere with Rec's RNA export activity. CONCLUSION: SP is a previously unrecognized HML-2 protein that, besides targeting and translocation of Env into the ER lumen, may exert biological functions distinct from Rec. HML-2 SP represents another functional similarity with the closely related Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus that encodes an Env-derived SP named p14. Our findings furthermore support the emerging concept of bioactive SPs as a conserved retroviral strategy to modulate their host cell environment, evidenced here by a "retroviral fossil". While the specific role of HML-2 SP remains to be elucidated in the context of human biology, we speculate that it may be involved in immune evasion of GCT cells or tumorigenesis. BioMed Central 2009-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC2649029/ /pubmed/19220907 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-6-17 Text en Copyright © 2009 Ruggieri et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Ruggieri, Alessia Maldener, Esther Sauter, Marlies Mueller-Lantzsch, Nikolaus Meese, Eckart Fackler, Oliver T Mayer, Jens Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec |
title | Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec |
title_full | Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec |
title_fullStr | Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec |
title_full_unstemmed | Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec |
title_short | Human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K(HML-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from Rec |
title_sort | human endogenous retrovirus herv-k(hml-2) encodes a stable signal peptide with biological properties distinct from rec |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649029/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19220907 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-6-17 |
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