HTLV-1 Tax Induces Formation of the Active Macromolecular IKK Complex by Generating Lys63- and Met1-Linked Hybrid Polyubiquitin Chains.

• Main Authors: Yuri Shibata, Fuminori Tokunaga, Eiji Goto, Ginga Komatsu, Jin Gohda, Yasushi Saeki, Keiji Tanaka, Hirotaka Takahashi, Tatsuya Sawasaki, Satoshi Inoue, Hiroyuki Oshiumi, Tsukasa Seya, Hiroyasu Nakano, Yuetsu Tanaka, Kazuhiro Iwai, Jun-Ichiro Inoue
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
• Series: PLoS Pathogens
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5283754?pdf=render
• ISSN: 1553-7366; 1553-7374

The Tax protein of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is crucial for the development of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), a highly malignant CD4+ T cell neoplasm. Among the multiple aberrant Tax-induced effects on cellular processes, persistent activation of transcription factor NF-κB, which is activated only transiently upon physiological stimulation, is essential for leukemogenesis. We and others have shown that Tax induces activation of the IκB kinase (IKK) complex, which is a critical step in NF-κB activation, by generating Lys63-linked polyubiquitin chains. However, the molecular mechanism underlying Tax-induced IKK activation is controversial and not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate that Tax recruits linear (Met1-linked) ubiquitin chain assembly complex (LUBAC) to the IKK complex and that Tax fails to induce IKK activation in cells that lack LUBAC activity. Mass spectrometric analyses revealed that both Lys63-linked and Met1-linked polyubiquitin chains are associated with the IKK complex. Furthermore, treatment of the IKK-associated polyubiquitin chains with Met1-linked-chain-specific deubiquitinase (OTULIN) resulted in the reduction of high molecular weight polyubiquitin chains and the generation of short Lys63-linked ubiquitin chains, indicating that Tax can induce the generation of Lys63- and Met1-linked hybrid polyubiquitin chains. We also demonstrate that Tax induces formation of the active macromolecular IKK complex and that the blocking of Tax-induced polyubiquitin chain synthesis inhibited formation of the macromolecular complex. Taken together, these results lead us to propose a novel model in which the hybrid-chain-dependent oligomerization of the IKK complex triggered by Tax leads to trans-autophosphorylation-mediated IKK activation.