How adeno-associated virus Rep78 relocalises Cdc25B to arrest the cell cycle

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a small DNA virus belonging to the family of the parvoviridae. AAV infects the human population, however no disease has been associated with this virus. On the contrary, AAV was reported to have oncosuppressive activities. The AAV genome contains two genes: the Rep gene encoding four non-structural proteins (Rep78, 68, 52 and 40) and the Cap gene encoding the three capsid proteins. Rep78 is implicated in transcription, replication and site-specific integration of the viral DNA. It has been shown to block the cell cycle in G1, G2 and S phase with a complete inhibition of DNA synthesis. To be able to induce such a strong cell cycle arrest, Rep78 affects several proteins implicated in the regulation of the cell cycle, such as the family of the cell division cycle 25 (Cdc25) phosphatases. Rep78 has been shown to inactivate Cdc25A by binding to it and preventing it from accessing its substrates. Cdc25B shares conserved domains with Cdc25A and moreover has an important role in cell cycle regulation, especially in giving the signal for entry into mitosis. Thus, in this work, the interaction between Cdc25B and Rep78 was examined in more detail. Rep78 was found to bind to Cdc25B and to alter its intracellular localisation. Cdc25B is nuclear, but has to migrate into the cytoplasm at the end of the G2 phase to activate proteins needed for the entry into mitosis. The expression of Rep78, which is nuclear, leads to the sequestration of Cdc25B in the nucleus. Moreover, Rep78 by interacting with Cdc25B not only changes its localisation, but also inhibits its phosphatase activity. Our model is that Rep78 interacts with Cdc25B and thus retains it in the nucleus. This sequestration of Cdc25B in the nucleus prevents it from activating the proteins in the cytoplasm needed to give the entry signal into mitosis, thus contributing to the G2/M arrest induced by Rep78. Moreover, the inhibition of Cdc25B phosphatase activity by Rep78 may also contribute to the cell cycle block. Rep78 also interacts with a number of cellular proteins implicated in DNA replication, DNA repair or recombination. Interactions between Rep78 and mini-chromosome maintenance 3 (MCM3), DNA polymerases α and δ, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Rad50 and Rad51 were identified in this work as well as possible interactions between Rep78 and Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) or Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related (ATR) proteins. These interactions may contribute to AAV genome replication as well as its integration into the host DNA.