Browsing by Author "Robinson, Christopher"

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    Conserved Residues in Murine Papillomavirus E2 Regulate the Viral Life Cycle
    (2024-12) Gonzalez, Jessica Kay; Androphy, Elliot J.; Dong, X. Charlie; Katzenellenbogen, Rachel; Robinson, Christopher
    Papillomaviruses (PVs) are small, non-enveloped DNA viruses that infect the stratified epithelia. Once an infection is initiated, the virus must successfully navigate the three stages of its life cycle: establishment, maintenance, and vegetative amplification. A major mechanism of regulating this viral program is post-translational modification on the viral E2 protein, which is responsible for orchestrating viral transcription, replication, and genome partitioning. The hypothesis underscoring this work is that residues in E2 are highly conserved across PV types because they serve some structural or functional purpose for the virus. A targeted mutant library was generated in E2 from murine papillomavirus (MmuPV1) to investigate conserved residues that have been shown to be post-translationally modified in the E2 of other PVs, including BPV-1 and high-risk HPV-31. In the transactivation domain (TAD) tyrosine 102 and the lysine 112/113 motif were modified to their constitutively modified (phosphorylated and acetylated, respectively) or unmodified states, while cysteine 307 in the DNA binding and dimerization domain (DBD) was mutated to a less-reactive serine or DNA binding defective phenylalanine mutant. We characterized how mutation at each of these conserved sites alters E2 function using a battery of in vitro assays to assess for transcription and replication ability. We also studied how each mutant contributes to disease progression using an immunocompromised mouse model assessing cutaneous disease. We demonstrate that mutants which fail to replicate transiently in vitro will also fail to induce proliferative wart formation, establishing a predictive link between in vitro and in vivo experiments. Taken together, our findings suggest that modifications on conserved residues in E2 act as molecular switches that regulate E2 activity throughout the cellular and viral life cycle.
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    IL-33 Mediated Th2 Effector Functions are Suppressed in Tregs by Bcl6 and Regulated by Sex
    (2024-08) Lee, Kyu Been; Dent, Alexander; Richer, Martin; Robinson, Christopher; Yang, Kai
    Allergic airway inflammation (asthma) is a prevalent and uncurable disease worldwide, affecting many individuals’ quality of life. Although asthma does not form from a singular cause, one primary mediator comes from the exposure to environmental allergens and the improper activation of the T cell subset: T helper 2 (Th2) cells. Th2 cells produce pro-inflammatory cytokines and promote the activation and recruitment of various pro-inflammatory cells into the lung, causing greater damage and inflammatory responses in the organ. Th2 cell’s activation is regulated by another T cell subset, Regulatory T (Treg) cells, by expressing anti-inflammatory cytokines and downregulating the inflammatory response. On the contrary, the release of interleukin-33 (IL-33) from damaged lung epithelial cells transitions Tregs into Th2-like Tregs (ST2+ Tregs) which release both pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines and cannot suppress the inflammatory disease. However, transcriptional repressor protein B cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl6) provides Tregs a stable follicular phenotype and suppresses the ST2+ Treg transition. Preliminary data revealed that Bcl6 repressive function is dependent on mouse sex, in which Tregs of male mice are more resistant to the ST2+ Treg phenotype than those of female mice. However, the removal of Bcl6 also removed the sex-dependent suppression against the ST2+ Treg transition. The project therefore sought to further confirm and answer whether Bcl6 suppressed the ST2+ Treg phenotype in a sex-dependent manner, ultimately leading to a sex-biased asthma prevalence and severity. We utilized quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and next-generation sequencing techniques to uncover which genes Bcl6 regulates, how IL-33 affects chromatin accessibility/gene expression, and what relation sex hormones have with Bcl6 in the expression of Th2 cytokines from Tregs. Currently, we have discovered that estrogen-like chemicals in common cell culturing media may be acting on the estrogen receptor of Tregs and causing differential gene expressions based on media conditions. We also determined that Bcl6 is acting independently of mouse sex to suppress Th2 genes in Tregs, contrary to preliminary findings. Overall, we have obtained insight on the role of the estrogen receptor and Bcl6’s mechanism of suppression in relation to sex.
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    Proteomic Analysis of Nuclear HBV rcDNA Associated Proteins Identifies UV-DDB as a Host Factor Involved in cccDNA Formation
    (2022-01) Marchetti, Alexander Lloyd; Guo, Haitao; Yu, Andy; Androphy, Elliot J.; Robinson, Christopher
    Despite the lifecycle of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) being extensively investigated and described, there remains a significant gap in our knowledge of arguably one of the most crucial steps in the HBV lifecycle, the formation and maintenance of a covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) reservoir. Advancements in our understanding of host factors and pathways involved in cccDNA formation have been made through hypothesis driven studies and shRNA/siRNA screenings. We sought to create a targeted-unbiased assay to directly observe host factor-rcDNA interactions. This was achieved through an rcDNA Co-Immunoprecipitation paired Mass Spectrometry (rcDNA-CoIP/MS) assay. We created a DNA oligo complimentary to the open portion of the HBV rcDNA, labeled with biotin, to facilitate easy precipitation of nuclear rcDNA and complexed proteins. Proteins precipitated were analyzed through liquid chromatography paired mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Along with previously reported host factors, several factors of DNA damage repair pathways/complexes were also identified. A component of the UV-DDB complex, DDB1, surfaced as a hit. UV-DDB/rcDNA binding was confirmed through ChIP-qPCR. DDB2, the DNA damage binding component of the UV-DDB complex was knocked out in HepG2-NTCP and HepAD38 cells. This resulted in a significant decrease in the formation of cccDNA in DDB2 knockout cell lines following infection or induction. The subsequent reduction of downstream indicators of cccDNA formation such as viral RNA and proteins, HBcAg and HBeAg, showed a consistent decrease with cccDNA levels. Ectopic expression of DDB2 in the knockout cell lines rescued HBV phenotypes of cccDNA levels and its downstream indicators. Inactive mutant DDB2 plasmids were also transfected into the DDB2 K/O cell lines and failed to rescue cccDNA indicators. We therefore showed through a novel assay that we can discover novel viral rcDNA-host interactions, such as the UV-DDB complex recruiting DNA repair pathways to “repair” rcDNA to cccDNA.