Disruption of cellular translational control by a viral truncated eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha kinase homolog.

T E Dever, R Sripriya, J R McLachlin, J Lu, J R Fabian, S R Kimball, L K Miller

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1998 Apr 14

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Phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha (eIF2alpha) is a common cellular mechanism to limit protein synthesis in stress conditions. Baculovirus PK2, which resembles the C-terminal half of a protein kinase domain, was found to inhibit both human and yeast eIF2alpha kinases. Insect cells infected with wild-type, but not pk2-deleted, baculovirus exhibited reduced eIF2alpha phosphorylation and increased translational activity. The negative regulatory effect of human protein kinase RNA-regulated (PKR), an eIF2alpha kinase, on virus production was counteracted by PK2, indicating that baculoviruses have evolved a unique strategy for disrupting a host stress response. PK2 was found in complex with PKR and blocked kinase autophosphorylation in vivo, suggesting a mechanism of kinase inhibition mediated by interaction between truncated and intact kinase domains.

Citation

T E Dever, R Sripriya, J R McLachlin, J Lu, J R Fabian, S R Kimball, L K Miller. Disruption of cellular translational control by a viral truncated eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha kinase homolog. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1998 Apr 14;95(8):4164-9