integration ͉ structure ͉ retrovirus ͉ transcription ͉ host factor L ike all retroviruses, HIV-1 must integrate a reversetranscribed copy of its viral RNA genome into a host cell chromosome to establish a productive infection. Integration is mediated by the viral integrase (IN) protein acting on the DNA attachment sites at the ends of the linear reverse transcript. IN acts within the context of a higher-order preintegration complex (PIC) that is derived from the core of the infecting virion. IN catalyzes two sequential reactions, initially removing 3Ј terminal GT nucleotides from both ends of HIV-1 cDNA. After nuclear entry, IN inserts the processed 3Ј termini into opposing strands of chromosomal DNA. Repair of single-strand gaps by host cell enzymes completes the integration process (for a review, see ref.

Bromodomain protein 4 (Brd4) plays critical roles in development, cancer progression, and virus-host pathogenesis. To gain mechanistic insight into the various biological functions of Brd4, we performed a proteomic analysis to identify and characterize Brd4-associated cellular proteins. We found that the extraterminal (ET) domain, whose function has to date not been determined, interacts with NSD3, JMJD6, CHD4, GLTSCR1, and ATAD5. These ET-domain interactions were also conserved for Brd2 and Brd3, the other human BET proteins tested. We demonstrated that GLTSCR1, NSD3, and JMJD6 impart a pTEFb-independent transcriptional activation function on Brd4. NSD3 as well as JMJD6 is recruited to regulated genes in a Brd4-dependent manner. Moreover, we found that depletion of Brd4 or NSD3 reduces H3K36 methylation, demonstrating that the Brd4/NSD3 complex regulates this specific histone modification. Our results indicate that the Brd4 ET domain through the recruitment of the specific effectors regulates transcriptional activity. In particular, we show that one of these effectors, NSD3, regulates transcription by modifying the chromatin microenvironment at Brd4 target genes. Our study thus identifies the ET domain as a second important transcriptional regulatory domain for Brd4 in addition to the carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) that interacts with pTEFb.One mechanism underlying the regulation of gene expression is the targeting of multiprotein complexes to modified histones, which then alters the chromatin microenvironment to stimulate or inhibit gene expression. The bromodomains and extraterminal (BET) domain family of proteins are characterized by the presence of two conserved domains, the tandem, amino-terminal bromodomains (BDI and BDII), which bind acetylated chromatin, and an extraterminal (ET) domain, whose function is unknown. The BET family is conserved from yeast to mammals and includes Saccharomyces cerevisiae bromodomain factor 1 (bdf1) and bromodomain factor 2 (bdf2), Drosophila melanogaster female sterile homeotic [fs(1)h], and mammalian Brd2, Brd3, Brd4, and testes/oocyte-specific BrdT/ Brd6. In yeast, deletion of bdf1 leads to a reduced growth rate and deletion of both bdf1 and bdf2 is lethal (27). Mutations of fs(1)h cause segmental abnormalities, including missing organs and homeotic transformations in the progeny of mutant females in Drosophila (13). Knockout of Brd4 or Brd2 in mice results in early embryonic lethality (18,21).The BET proteins have been shown to be important players in human disease, including viral infections and cancer. Several different viruses target the individual BET proteins for a variety of purposes but often to regulate viral and cellular transcription (4,7,31,37,41,45,57,60). The papillomavirus E2 proteins bind to Brd4, and some utilize this interaction in tethering the viral genomes to mitotic chromosomes (1,3,57,59). The papillomavirus E2 transcriptional activation functions are also mediated through Brd4 (35,41,42). With regard to human cancer, the Brd4-NUT and Brd3-NUT fusio...

Lens epithelium-derived growth factor (LEDGF)/p75 is the dominant binding partner of HIV-1 integrase (IN) in human cells. We have determined the NMR structure of the integrase-binding domain (IBD) in LEDGF and identified amino acid residues essential for the interaction. The IBD is a compact right-handed bundle composed of five alpha-helices. Based on folding topology, the IBD is structurally related to a diverse family of alpha-helical proteins that includes eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF4G and karyopherin-beta. LEDGF residues essential for the interaction with IN were localized to interhelical loop regions of the bundle structure. Interaction-defective IN mutants were previously shown to cripple replication although they retained catalytic function. The initial structure determination of a host cell factor that tightly binds to a retroviral enzyme lays the groundwork for understanding enzyme-host interactions important for viral replication.

Lens epithelium-derived growth factor p75 (LEDGF/p75) is a DNA-binding, transcriptional co-activator that participates in HIV-1 integration site targeting. Using complementary approaches, we determined the mechanisms of LEDGF/p75 DNA-binding in vitro and chromatin-association in living cells. The binding of highly-purified, recombinant protein was assayed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and electrophoretic mobility gel shift. Neither assay revealed evidence for sequence-specific DNA-binding. Residues 146–197 spanning the nuclear localization signal (NLS) and two AT-hook motifs mediated non-specific DNA-binding, and DNA-binding deficient mutants retained the ability to efficiently stimulate HIV-1 integrase activity in vitro. Chromatin-association was assessed by visualizing the localization of EGFP fusion proteins in interphase and mitotic cells. Although a conserved N-terminal PWWP domain was not required for binding to condensed mitotic chromosomes, its deletion subtly affected the nucleoplasmic distribution of the protein during interphase. A dual AT-hook mutant associated normally with chromatin, yet when the mutations were combined with NLS changes or deletion of the PWWP domain, chromatin-binding function was lost. As the PWWP domain did not readily bind free DNA in vitro, our results indicate that chromatin-association is primarily affected through DNA-binding, with the PWWP domain likely contributing a protein interaction to the overall affinity of LEDGF/p75 for human chromatin.