Opposing Roles of Double-Stranded RNA Effector Pathways and Viral Defense Proteins Revealed with CRISPR-Cas9 Knockout Cell Lines and Vaccinia Virus Mutants

Abstract

Vaccinia virus (VACV) decapping enzymes and cellular exoribonuclease Xrn1 catalyze successive steps in mRNA degradation and prevent double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) accumulation, whereas the viral E3 protein can bind dsRNA. We showed that dsRNA and E3 colocalized within cytoplasmic viral factories in cells infected with a decapping enzyme mutant as well as with wild-type VACV and that they coprecipitated with antibody. An E3 deletion mutant induced protein kinase R (PKR) and eukaryotic translation initiation factor alpha (eIF2α) phosphorylation earlier and more strongly than a decapping enzyme mutant even though less dsRNA was made, leading to more profound effects on viral gene expression. Human HAP1 and A549 cells were genetically modified by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat-Cas9 (CRISPR-Cas9) to determine whether the same pathways restrict E3 and decapping mutants. The E3 mutant replicated in PKR knockout (KO) HAP1 cells in which RNase L is intrinsically inactive but only with a double knockout (DKO) of PKR and RNase L in A549 cells, indicating that both pathways decreased replication equivalently and that no additional dsRNA pathway was crucial. In contrast, replication of the decapping enzyme mutant increased significantly (though less than that of wild-type virus) in DKO A549 cells but not in DKO HAP1 cells where a smaller increase in viral protein synthesis occurred. Xrn1 KO A549 cells were viable but nonpermissive for VACV; however, wild-type and mutant viruses replicated in triple-KO cells in which RNase L and PKR were also inactivated. Since KO of PKR and RNase L was sufficient to enable VACV replication in the absence of E3 or Xrn1, the poor replication of the decapping mutant, particularly in HAP1 DKO, cells indicated additional translational defects. IMPORTANCE Viruses have evolved ways of preventing or counteracting the cascade of antiviral responses that double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) triggers in host cells. We showed that the dsRNA produced in excess in cells infected with a vaccinia virus (VACV) decapping enzyme mutant and by wild-type virus colocalized with the viral E3 protein in cytoplasmic viral factories. Novel human cell lines defective in either or both protein kinase R and RNase L dsRNA effector pathways and/or the cellular 5′ exonuclease Xrn1 were prepared by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. Inactivation of both pathways was necessary and sufficient to allow full replication of the E3 mutant and reverse the defect cause by inactivation of Xrn1, whereas the decapping enzyme mutant still exhibited defects in gene expression. The study provided new insights into functions of the VACV proteins, and the well-characterized panel of CRISPR-Cas9-modified human cell lines should have broad applicability for studying innate dsRNA pathways.