Vaccinia virus subverts xenophagy through phosphorylation and nuclear targeting of p62

Abstract

Autophagy is an essential degradation program required to maintain cell homeostasis. Amongst its many functions is the engulfment and destruction of cytosolic pathogens, termed Xenophagy. Not surprisingly, many pathogens have adapted various strategies to circumvent or co-opt autophagic degradation during infection. For poxviruses, it is known that infection activates autophagy, which however is not required for successful replication. Despite the fact that these complex viruses replicate exclusively in the cytoplasm, autophagy-mediated control of poxvirus infection has not been explored. Using the prototypic poxvirus, vaccinia virus (VACV), we show that over-expression of the xenophagy receptors p62, NDP52 and Tax1Bp1 restricts poxvirus infection. While NDP52 and Tax1Bp1 were degraded, p62 was found to initially target cytoplasmic virions before being shunted to the nucleus. Nuclear translocation of p62 during infection was dependent upon p62 NLS2, and VACV kinase-mediated phosphorylation of associated p62 residues T269/S272. These results indicate that VACV actively targets the xenophagy receptor p62 during the early stages of infection to avoid destruction, and further suggest that poxviruses exhibit a unique multi-layered control of autophagy in order to facilitate cytoplasmic replication.

HPV16 Induces Formation of Virus-p62-PML Hybrid Bodies to Enable Infection

“…Moreover, vaccinia-and papillomaviruses oppose the p62 requirement for infection, as p62 restricts vaccinia while supporting HPV16 infection. In the context of In this scenario, HPV16-induced signal transduction might contribute to p62 phosphorylation and its translocation into the nucleus as described during vaccinia virus infection [61]. Here, p62 is phosphorylated by a vaccinia virus kinase that is not present in papillomaviruses.…”

“…In this scenario, HPV16-induced signal transduction might contribute to p62 phosphorylation and its translocation into the nucleus as described during vaccinia virus infection [ 61 ]. Here, p62 is phosphorylated by a vaccinia virus kinase that is not present in papillomaviruses.…”

Poxvirus A52 is a host range factor for modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) and promotes viral replication by disturbing the formation of autolysosomes

“…A previous report indicated that the deletion of ATG5 and Beclin 1 from mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) did not impact VACV’s replication 31 . A previous report indicated that Vaccinia virus subverts xenophagy through phosphorylation and nuclear targeting of p62 and nuclear translocation of p62 was dependent upon p62 NLS2 and correlated with VACV kinase B1 and F10 mediated phosphorylation of p62 T269/S272 37 . In this study, we demonstrated that pharmaceutical inhibition or the suppression of ATG16L1 significantly impaired the replication of VACV-WR, MVA and LSDV.…”