A two-step, high-throughput RNAi silencing screen was used to identify host cell factors required during human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) infection. Analysis of validated hits implicated a cluster of mitotic genes and revealed a previously undetermined mechanism for import of the viral DNA (vDNA) into the nucleus. In interphase cells, viruses were endocytosed, routed to the perinuclear area, and uncoated, but the vDNA failed to be imported into the nucleus. Upon nuclear envelope perforation in interphase cells HPV16 infection occured. During mitosis, the vDNA and L2 associated with host cell chromatin on the metaphase plate. Hence, we propose that HPV16 requires nuclear envelope breakdown during mitosis for access of the vDNA to the nucleoplasm. The results accentuate the value of genes found by RNAi screens for investigation of viral infections. The list of cell functions required during HPV16 infection will, moreover, provide a resource for future virus-host cell interaction studies.

SummaryThe AP-2 family of transcription factors consists of five different proteins in humans and mice: AP-2␣, AP-2␤, AP-2␥, AP-2␦ and AP-2⑀. Frogs and fish have known orthologs of some but not all of these proteins, and homologs of the family are also found in protochordates, insects and nematodes. The proteins have a characteristic helix-span-helix motif at the carboxyl terminus, which, together with a central basic region, mediates dimerization and DNA binding. The amino terminus contains the transactivation domain. AP-2 proteins are first expressed in primitive ectoderm of invertebrates and vertebrates; in vertebrates, they are also expressed in the emerging neural-crest cells, and AP-2␣ -/-animals have impairments in neural-crest-derived facial structures. AP-2␤ is indispensable for kidney development and AP-2␥ is necessary for the formation of trophectoderm cells shortly after implantation; AP-2␣ and AP-2␥ levels are elevated in human mammary carcinoma and seminoma. The general functions of the family appear to be the cell-type-specific stimulation of proliferation and the suppression of terminal differentiation during embryonic development. Gene organization and evolutionary historyThe AP-2 family of transcription factors (Ensembl Family ENSF00000001105) consists in humans and mice of five members, AP-2␣, AP-2␤, AP-2␥, AP-2␦ and AP-2⑀; frogs and fish have some of these proteins, and homologs are also known in invertebrates. The chromosomal locations and accession numbers of the family are given in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. All mammalian AP-2 proteins except AP-2␦ are encoded by seven exons and share a characteristic domain structure (reviewed in [1]; for AP-2␦ see [2] and for AP-2⑀ see [3,4]). Orthologs show a similarity between 60 and 99% at the amino-acid level, whereas paralogs show a similarity between 56 and 78%.Analysis of the phylogenetic tree (Figure 1) reveals that the vertebrate AP-2 proteins are grouped together and are divided into five groups. The single Xenopus AP-2 is most closely related to mammalian AP-2␣ proteins. As the genes AP-2␤ and AP-2␦ are found on the same chromosome in chickens, rodents and humans (Table 1), it is likely that they are the result of an internal duplication. According to the phylogenetic tree, AP-2␦ genes appear to have separated from the rest of the family early in the vertebrate clade and to have evolved separately (Figure 1). A BLAST search of the puffer fish Fugu rubripes fourth genome assembly database [5] suggests that there are orthologs of AP-2␣, AP-2␤, AP-2␥ and AP-2⑀ but not AP-2␦ genes in bony fish, although only orthologs of AP-2␣ and AP-2␤ have been found in zebrafish.In the genome of the protochordate Ciona intestinalis a single AP-2 gene has been predicted; the phylogenetic tree shows that the protein evolved before the split of the AP-2␣, AP-2␤, AP-2␥ and AP-2⑀ proteins, with the highest sequence similarity with the AP-2␣ group, suggesting that AP-2␣ might be most similar to the ancestor of AP-2 proteins. This hypothesis is further supported b...

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Formation of the germ cell lineage involves multiple processes, including repression of somatic differentiation and reacquisition of pluripotency as well as a unique epigenetic constitution. The transcriptional regulator Prdm1 has been identified as a main coordinator of this process, controlling epigenetic modification and gene expression. Here we report on the expression pattern of the transcription factor Tcfap2c, a putative downstream target of Prdm1, during normal mouse embryogenesis and the consequences of its specific loss in primordial germ cells (PGCs) and their derivatives. Tcfap2c is expressed in PGCs from Embryonic Day 7.25 (E 7.25) up to E 12.5, and targeted disruption resulted in sterile animals, both male and female. In the mutant animals, PGCs were specified but were lost around E 8.0. PGCs generated in vitro from embryonic stem cells lacking TCFAP2C displayed induction of Prdm1 and Dppa3. Upregulation of Hoxa1, Hoxb1, and T together with lack of expression of germ cell markers such Nanos3, Dazl, and Mutyh suggested that the somatic gene program is induced in TCFAP2C-deficient PGCs. Repression of TCFAP2C in TCam-2, a human PGC-resembling seminoma cell line, resulted in specific upregulation of HOXA1, HOXB1, MYOD1, and HAND1, indicative of mesodermal differentiation. Expression of genes indicative of ectodermal, endodermal, or extraembryonic differentiation, as well as the finding of no change to epigenetic modifications, suggested control by other factors. Our results implicate Tcfap2c as an important effector of Prdm1 activity that is required for PGC maintenance, most likely mediating Prdm1-induced suppression of mesodermal differentiation.

Autosomal recessive hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a severe childhood-onset neuromuscular disorder. Autosomal recessive CMT is genetically heterogeneous with one locus mapped to chromosome 11p15 (CMT4B2). The histopathological hallmarks of CMT4B2 are focal outfoldings of myelin in nerve biopsies. Homozygosity mapping, in a Turkish inbred family with four children affected by CMT characterized by focally folded myelin, provided linkage to the CMT4B2 locus. We identified a large, novel gene, named SET binding factor 2 (SBF2), that lies within this interval and is expressed in various tissues, including spinal cord and peripheral nerve. SBF2 is a member of the pseudo-phosphatase branch of myotubularins and was an obvious candidate for CMT4B2 by virtue of its striking homology to myotubularin-related protein 2 (MTMR2), causing another form of autosomal recessive CMT with outfoldings of the myelin sheaths. Molecular study of the SBF2 gene in the CMT4B family demonstrated the presence of a homozygous inframe deletion of SBF2 exons 11 and 12 in all four affected individuals. On the protein level, this mutation is predicted to disrupt an N-terminal domain that is conserved in SBF2 and its orthologues across species. Myotubularin-related proteins have been suggested to work in phosphoinositide-mediated signalling events that may also convey control of myelination. Localization of SBF2 within the candidate interval, cosegregation with the disease, expression in the peripheral nervous system, and resemblance of the histopathological phenotype to that related to mutations in its paralogue MTMR2 indicate that this gene is the CMT4B2 gene.