HIV-1 Vpr—a still “enigmatic multitasker”

Protein ubiquitination is a common form of post-translational modification that regulates a broad spectrum of protein substrates in diverse cellular pathways. Through a three-enzyme (E1-E2-E3) cascade, the attachment of ubiquitin to proteins is catalysed by the E3 ubiquitin ligase, which is best represented by the superfamily of the cullin-RING complexes. Conserved from yeast to human, the DDB1-CUL4-ROC1 complex is a recently identified cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase, which regulates DNA repair, DNA replication and transcription, and can also be subverted by pathogenic viruses to benefit viral infection. Lacking a canonical SKP1-like cullin adaptor and a defined substrate recruitment module, how the DDB1-CUL4-ROC1 E3 apparatus is assembled for ubiquitinating various substrates remains unclear. Here we present crystallographic analyses of the virally hijacked form of the human DDB1-CUL4A-ROC1 machinery, which show that DDB1 uses one beta-propeller domain for cullin scaffold binding and a variably attached separate double-beta-propeller fold for substrate presentation. Through tandem-affinity purification of human DDB1 and CUL4A complexes followed by mass spectrometry analysis, we then identify a novel family of WD40-repeat proteins, which directly bind to the double-propeller fold of DDB1 and serve as the substrate-recruiting module of the E3. Together, our structural and proteomic results reveal the structural mechanisms and molecular logic underlying the assembly and versatility of a new family of cullin-RING E3 complexes.

Cul4 E3 ubiquitin ligases contain the cullin 4 scaffold and the triple beta propeller Ddb1 adaptor protein, but few substrate receptors have been identified. Here, we identify 18 Ddb1- and Cul4-associated factors (DCAFs), including 14 containing WD40 repeats. DCAFs interact with multiple surfaces on Ddb1, and the interaction of WD40-containing DCAFs with Ddb1 requires a conserved "WDXR" motif. DCAF2/Cdt2, which is related to S. pombe Cdt2, functions in Xenopus egg extracts and human cells to destroy the replication licensing protein Cdt1 in S phase and after DNA damage. Depletion of human Cdt2 causes rereplication and checkpoint activation. In Xenopus, Cdt2 is recruited to replication forks via Cdt1 and PCNA, where Cdt1 ubiquitylation occurs. These studies uncover diverse substrate receptors for Cul4 and identify Cdt2 as a conserved component of the Cul4-Ddb1 E3 that is essential to destroy Cdt1 and ensure proper cell cycle regulation of DNA replication.

The Vpr accessory gene product of human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 and simian immunodeficiency virus is believed to play a role in permitting entry of the viral core into the nucleus of nondividing cells. A second role for Vpr was recently suggested by Rogel et al. (M. E. Rogel, L. I. Wu, and M. Emerman, J. Virol. 69:882-888, 1995), who showed that Vpr prevents the establishment in vitro of chronically infected HIV producer cell lines, apparently by causing infected cells to arrest in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. In cycling cells, progression from G2 to M phase is driven by activation of the p34cdc2/cyclin B complex, an event caused, in part, by dephosphorylation of two regulatory amino acids of p34cdc2 (Thr-14 and Tyr-15). We show here that Vpr arrests the cell cycle in G2 by preventing the activation of the p34cdc2/cyclin B complex. Vpr expression in cells caused p34cdc2 to remain in the phosphorylated, inactive state, p34cdc2/cyclin B complexes immunoprecipitated from cells expressing Vpr were almost completely inactive in a histone H1 kinase assay. Coexpression of a constitutively active mutant p34cdc2 molecule with Vpr relieved the G2 arrest. These findings strongly suggest that Vpr arrests cells in G2 by preventing the activation of the p34cdc2/cyclin B complex that is required for entry into M phase. In vivo, Vpr might, by preventing p34cdc2 activation, delay or prevent apoptosis of infected cells. This would increase the amount of virus each infected cell produced.