Skip to main content
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1989 Feb;63(2):532–541. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.2.532-541.1989

Regulation of poly(A) site selection in adenovirus.

E Falck-Pedersen 1, J Logan 1
PMCID: PMC247721  PMID: 2562992

Abstract

We have investigated the mechanisms involved in the early-to-late RNA-processing switch which regulates the mRNA species generated from the adenovirus major late transcription unit (MLTU). In particular, polyadenylation choice mechanisms were characterized by using a reconstructed adenovirus E1A gene as a site for insertion of MLTU poly(A) regulation signals (L1 and L3). Adenovirus constructs containing the variant poly(A) recognition elements were used to compare E1A poly(A) signal utilization with wild-type MLTU (L1 to L5) utilization. In both early and late stages of infection, either polyadenylation site (L1 or L3) is capable of being utilized when presented as the only operational poly(A) site. In an early infection, a virus which contains multiple elements presented in tandem (L13) uses the first poly(A) site, L1, preferentially (ratio of L1 to L3, 8:1) in both E1A and MLTU loci. Transcription termination is not involved in restricting the utilization of the downstream L3 site. In a late infection, when each of the five MLTU poly(A) sites is used, a switch also occurs for the E1AL13 construct, with utilization of both the L1 and L3 poly(A) sites. The switch from early to late was not the result of altered processing factors in the late infection, as demonstrated by superinfecting the E1AL13 construct into cells which had already entered a late stage of infection. The superinfecting virus gave an L1-only phenotype; therefore, a cis mechanism is involved in adenovirus poly(A) regulation.

Full text

PDF
532

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Akusjärvi G., Persson H. Controls of RNA splicing and termination in the major late adenovirus transcription unit. Nature. 1981 Jul 30;292(5822):420–426. doi: 10.1038/292420a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Alt F. W., Bothwell A. L., Knapp M., Siden E., Mather E., Koshland M., Baltimore D. Synthesis of secreted and membrane-bound immunoglobulin mu heavy chains is directed by mRNAs that differ at their 3' ends. Cell. 1980 Jun;20(2):293–301. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90615-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Amara S. G., Evans R. M., Rosenfeld M. G. Calcitonin/calcitonin gene-related peptide transcription unit: tissue-specific expression involves selective use of alternative polyadenylation sites. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Oct;4(10):2151–2160. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.10.2151. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Amara S. G., Jonas V., Rosenfeld M. G., Ong E. S., Evans R. M. Alternative RNA processing in calcitonin gene expression generates mRNAs encoding different polypeptide products. Nature. 1982 Jul 15;298(5871):240–244. doi: 10.1038/298240a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Basi G. S., Boardman M., Storti R. V. Alternative splicing of a Drosophila tropomyosin gene generates muscle tropomyosin isoforms with different carboxy-terminal ends. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Dec;4(12):2828–2836. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.12.2828. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Berget S. M., Moore C., Sharp P. A. Spliced segments at the 5' terminus of adenovirus 2 late mRNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Aug;74(8):3171–3175. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.8.3171. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Berk A. J. Adenovirus promoters and E1A transactivation. Annu Rev Genet. 1986;20:45–79. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.20.120186.000401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Berkner K. L., Sharp P. A. Effect of the tripartite leader on synthesis of a non-viral protein in an adenovirus 5 recombinant. Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Feb 11;13(3):841–857. doi: 10.1093/nar/13.3.841. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Berkner K. L., Sharp P. A. Expression of dihydrofolate reductase, and of the adjacent EIb region, in an Ad5-dihydrofolate reductase recombinant virus. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Feb 24;12(4):1925–1941. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.4.1925. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Beyer A. L., Bouton A. H., Hodge L. D., Miller O. L., Jr Visualization of the major late R strand transcription unit of adenovirus serotype 2. J Mol Biol. 1981 Apr 5;147(2):269–295. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90441-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Breitbart R. E., Andreadis A., Nadal-Ginard B. Alternative splicing: a ubiquitous mechanism for the generation of multiple protein isoforms from single genes. Annu Rev Biochem. 1987;56:467–495. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.56.070187.002343. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Chinnadurai G., Chinnadurai S., Brusca J. Physical mapping of a large-plaque mutation of adenovirus type 2. J Virol. 1979 Nov;32(2):623–628. doi: 10.1128/jvi.32.2.623-628.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Chow L. T., Broker T. R., Lewis J. B. Complex splicing patterns of RNAs from the early regions of adenovirus-2. J Mol Biol. 1979 Oct 25;134(2):265–303. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(79)90036-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Chow L. T., Gelinas R. E., Broker T. R., Roberts R. J. An amazing sequence arrangement at the 5' ends of adenovirus 2 messenger RNA. Cell. 1977 Sep;12(1):1–8. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(77)90180-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Conway L., Wickens M. A sequence downstream of A-A-U-A-A-A is required for formation of simian virus 40 late mRNA 3' termini in frog oocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jun;82(12):3949–3953. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.12.3949. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Crossland L. D., Raskas H. J. Identification of adenovirus genes that require template replication for expression. J Virol. 1983 Jun;46(3):737–748. doi: 10.1128/jvi.46.3.737-748.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Darnell J. E., Jr Variety in the level of gene control in eukaryotic cells. Nature. 1982 Jun 3;297(5865):365–371. doi: 10.1038/297365a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Falck-Pedersen E., Logan J., Shenk T., Darnell J. E., Jr Transcription termination within the E1A gene of adenovirus induced by insertion of the mouse beta-major globin terminator element. Cell. 1985 Apr;40(4):897–905. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90349-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Fraser N., Ziff E. RNA structures near poly(A) of adenovirus-2 late messenger RNAs. J Mol Biol. 1978 Sep 5;124(1):27–31. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(78)90145-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Galli G., Guise J. W., McDevitt M. A., Tucker P. W., Nevins J. R. Relative position and strengths of poly(A) sites as well as transcription termination are critical to membrane versus secreted mu-chain expression during B-cell development. Genes Dev. 1987 Jul;1(5):471–481. doi: 10.1101/gad.1.5.471. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Gaynor R. B., Berk A. J. Cis-acting induction of adenovirus transcription. Cell. 1983 Jul;33(3):683–693. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90011-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Graham F. L., Smiley J., Russell W. C., Nairn R. Characteristics of a human cell line transformed by DNA from human adenovirus type 5. J Gen Virol. 1977 Jul;36(1):59–74. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-36-1-59. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Grayhack E. J., Yang X. J., Lau L. F., Roberts J. W. Phage lambda gene Q antiterminator recognizes RNA polymerase near the promoter and accelerates it through a pause site. Cell. 1985 Aug;42(1):259–269. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80121-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Hernandez N., Weiner A. M. Formation of the 3' end of U1 snRNA requires compatible snRNA promoter elements. Cell. 1986 Oct 24;47(2):249–258. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90447-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Horwitz R. J., Li J., Greenblatt J. An elongation control particle containing the N gene transcriptional antitermination protein of bacteriophage lambda. Cell. 1987 Nov 20;51(4):631–641. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90132-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Iwamoto S., Eggerding F., Falck-Pederson E., Darnell J. E., Jr Transcription unit mapping in adenovirus: regions of termination. J Virol. 1986 Jul;59(1):112–119. doi: 10.1128/jvi.59.1.112-119.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Jochemsen A. G., Peltenburg L. T., te Pas M. F., de Wit C. M., Bos J. L., van der Eb A. J. Activation of adenovirus 5 E1A transcription by region E1B in transformed primary rat cells. EMBO J. 1987 Nov;6(11):3399–3405. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02663.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Jones N., Shenk T. Isolation of adenovirus type 5 host range deletion mutants defective for transformation of rat embryo cells. Cell. 1979 Jul;17(3):683–689. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90275-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Kafatos F. C., Jones C. W., Efstratiadis A. Determination of nucleic acid sequence homologies and relative concentrations by a dot hybridization procedure. Nucleic Acids Res. 1979 Nov 24;7(6):1541–1552. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.6.1541. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Laski F. A., Rio D. C., Rubin G. M. Tissue specificity of Drosophila P element transposition is regulated at the level of mRNA splicing. Cell. 1986 Jan 17;44(1):7–19. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90480-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Law R., Kuwabara M. D., Briskin M., Fasel N., Hermanson G., Sigman D. S., Wall R. Protein-binding site at the immunoglobulin mu membrane polyadenylylation signal: possible role in transcription termination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Dec;84(24):9160–9164. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.24.9160. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Leff S. E., Evans R. M., Rosenfeld M. G. Splice commitment dictates neuron-specific alternative RNA processing in calcitonin/CGRP gene expression. Cell. 1987 Feb 13;48(3):517–524. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90202-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Leff S. E., Rosenfeld M. G., Evans R. M. Complex transcriptional units: diversity in gene expression by alternative RNA processing. Annu Rev Biochem. 1986;55:1091–1117. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.55.070186.005303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Lewis E. D., Manley J. L. Polyadenylylation of an mRNA precursor occurs independently of transcription by RNA polymerase II in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Nov;83(22):8555–8559. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.22.8555. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Logan J., Falck-Pedersen E., Darnell J. E., Jr, Shenk T. A poly(A) addition site and a downstream termination region are required for efficient cessation of transcription by RNA polymerase II in the mouse beta maj-globin gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Dec;84(23):8306–8310. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.23.8306. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Logan J., Shenk T. Adenovirus tripartite leader sequence enhances translation of mRNAs late after infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Jun;81(12):3655–3659. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.12.3655. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Lucas J. J., Ginsberg H. S. Synthesis of virus-specific ribonucleic acid in KB cells infected with type 2 adenovirus. J Virol. 1971 Aug;8(2):203–214. doi: 10.1128/jvi.8.2.203-214.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Mahadevan S., Wright A. A bacterial gene involved in transcription antitermination: regulation at a rho-independent terminator in the bgl operon of E. coli. Cell. 1987 Jul 31;50(3):485–494. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90502-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Mather E. L., Nelson K. J., Haimovich J., Perry R. P. Mode of regulation of immunoglobulin mu- and delta-chain expression varies during B-lymphocyte maturation. Cell. 1984 Feb;36(2):329–338. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90226-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Montell C., Fisher E. F., Caruthers M. H., Berk A. J. Control of adenovirus E1B mRNA synthesis by a shift in the activities of RNA splice sites. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 May;4(5):966–972. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.5.966. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Nevins J. R. Definition and mapping of adenovirus 2 nuclear transcription. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):768–785. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65072-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Nevins J. R. Mechanism of activation of early viral transcription by the adenovirus E1A gene product. Cell. 1981 Oct;26(2 Pt 2):213–220. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90304-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Nevins J. R. The pathway of eukaryotic mRNA formation. Annu Rev Biochem. 1983;52:441–466. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.52.070183.002301. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Nevins J. R., Wilson M. C. Regulation of adenovirus-2 gene expression at the level of transcriptional termination and RNA processing. Nature. 1981 Mar 12;290(5802):113–118. doi: 10.1038/290113a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Padgett R. A., Grabowski P. J., Konarska M. M., Seiler S., Sharp P. A. Splicing of messenger RNA precursors. Annu Rev Biochem. 1986;55:1119–1150. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.55.070186.005351. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Peterson M. L., Perry R. P. Regulated production of mu m and mu s mRNA requires linkage of the poly(A) addition sites and is dependent on the length of the mu s-mu m intron. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Dec;83(23):8883–8887. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.23.8883. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Salditt-Georgieff M., Harpold M., Chen-Kiang S., Darnell J. E., Jr The addition of 5' cap structures occurs early in hnRNA synthesis and prematurely terminated molecules are capped. Cell. 1980 Jan;19(1):69–78. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90389-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Shaw A. R., Ziff E. B. Transcripts from the adenovirus-2 major late promoter yield a single early family of 3' coterminal mRNAs and five late families. Cell. 1980 Dec;22(3):905–916. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90568-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Sisodia S. S., Sollner-Webb B., Cleveland D. W. Specificity of RNA maturation pathways: RNAs transcribed by RNA polymerase III are not substrates for splicing or polyadenylation. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Oct;7(10):3602–3612. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.10.3602. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Smale S. T., Tjian R. Transcription of herpes simplex virus tk sequences under the control of wild-type and mutant human RNA polymerase I promoters. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Feb;5(2):352–362. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.2.352. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Thomas G. P., Mathews M. B. DNA replication and the early to late transition in adenovirus infection. Cell. 1980 Nov;22(2 Pt 2):523–533. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90362-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Tseng R. W., Acheson N. H. Use of a novel S1 nuclease RNA-mapping technique to measure efficiency of transcription termination on polyomavirus DNA. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 May;6(5):1624–1632. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.5.1624. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  53. Wolgemuth D. J., Hsu M. T. Visualization of nascent RNA transcripts and simultaneous transcription and replication in viral nucleoprotein complexes from adenovirus 2-infected HeLa cells. J Mol Biol. 1981 Apr 5;147(2):247–268. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90440-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  54. de Vegvar H. E., Lund E., Dahlberg J. E. 3' end formation of U1 snRNA precursors is coupled to transcription from snRNA promoters. Cell. 1986 Oct 24;47(2):259–266. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90448-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES