Local protein synthesis is required for long-term memory formation in the brain. One protein family, Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation Element binding Protein (CPEB) that regulates protein synthesis is found to be important for long-term memory formation possibly through regulating local protein synthesis in neurons. The well-studied member of this family, CPEB1, mediates both translational repression and activation of its target mRNAs by regulating mRNA polyadenylation. Mouse with CPEB1 KO shows defect in memory extinction but not long-term memory formation. Three more CPEB1 homologs (CPEB2-4) are identified in mammalian system. To test if CPEB2-4 may have redundant role in replacing CPEB1 in mediating local protein synthesis, the RNA binding specificity of these homologs are studied by SELEX. The result shows CPEB2-4 bind to RNAs with consensus sequence that is distinct from CPE, the binding site of CPEB1. This distinction RNA binding specificity between CPEB1 and CPEB2-4 suggests CPEB2-4 cannot replace CPEB1 in mediating local protein synthesis. For CPEB2-4 have distinct RNA binding specificity compared to CPEB1, they are referred as CPEB-like proteins. One of CPEB-like protein, CPEB3, binds GluR2 mRNA and represses its translation. The subcellular localization of CPEB family proteins during glutamate over stimulation is also studied. The CPEB family proteins are identified as nucleus/cytoplasm shuttling proteins that depend on CRM1 for nuclear export. CPEB-like proteins share similar nuclear export ciselement that is not present in CPEB1. Over-stimulation of neuron by glutamate induces the nuclear accumulation of CPEB family proteins possibly through disrupted nuclear export. This nuclear accumulation of CPEB family protein is induced by imbalance of calcium metabolism in the neurons. Biochemical and cytological results suggest CPEB4 protein is associated with ER membrane peripherally in RNA independent manner. This research provides general description of biochemical, cytological properties of CPEB family proteins.

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) specifically targets mRNAs with premature translation termination codons for rapid degradation. NMD is a highly conserved translation-dependent mRNA decay pathway, and its core Upf factors are thought to be recruited to prematurely terminating mRNP complexes, possibly through the release factors that orchestrate translation termination. Upf1 is the central regulator of NMD and recent studies have challenged the notion that this protein is specifically targeted to aberrant, nonsense-containing mRNAs. Rather, it has been proposed that Upf1 binds to most mRNAs in a translation-independent manner. In this thesis, I investigated the nature of Upf1 association with its substrates in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using biochemical and genetic approaches, the basis for Upf1 interaction with ribosomes was evaluated to determine the specificity of Upf1 association with ribosomes, and the extent to which such binding is dependent on prior association of Upf1’s interacting partners. I discovered that Upf1 is specifically associated with Rps26 of the 40S ribosomal subunit, and that this association requires the N-terminal Upf1 CH domain. In addition, using selective ribosome profiling, I investigated when during translation Upf1 associates with ribosomes and showed that Upf1 binding was not limited to polyribosomes that were engaged in translating NMD substrate mRNAs. Rather, Upf1 associated with translating ribosomes on most mRNAs, binding preferentially as ribosomes approached the 3’ ends of open reading frames. Collectively, these studies provide new mechanistic insights into NMD and the dynamics of Upf1 during translation.

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and piRNAs (piRNA) are conserved classes of small single-stranded ~21-30 nucleotide (nt) RNA guides that repress eukaryotic gene expression using distinct RNA Induced Silencing Complexes (RISCs). At its core, RISC is composed of a single-stranded small RNA guide bound to a member of the Argonaute protein family, which together bind and repress complementary target RNA. miRNAs target protein coding mRNAs—a function essential for normal development and broadly involved in pathways of human disease; small interfering RNAs (siRNA) defend against viruses, but can also be engineered to direct experimental or therapeutic gene silencing; piwi associated RNAs (piRNAs) protect germline genomes from expansion of parasitic nucleic acids such as transposons. Using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism we seek to understand how small silencing RNAs are made and how they function. In Drosophila, miRNAs and siRNAs are proposed to have parallel, but separate biogenesis and effector machinery. miRNA duplexes are excised from imperfectly paired hairpin precursors by Dicer1 and loaded into Ago1; siRNA duplexes are hewn from perfectly paired long dsRNA by Dicer2 and loaded into Ago2. Contrary to this model we found one miRNA, miR-277, is made by Dicer1, but partitions between Ago1 and Ago2 RISCs. These two RISCs are functionally distinct—Ago2 could silence a perfectly paired target, but not a centrally bulged target; Ago1 could silence a bulged target, but not a perfect target. This was surprising since both Ago1 and Ago2 have endonucleolytic cleavage activity necessary for perfect target cleavage in vitro. Our detailed kinetic studies suggested why—Ago2 is a robust multiple turnover enzyme, but Ago1 is not. Along with a complementary in vitro study our data supports a duplex sorting mechanism in which Diced duplexes are released, and rebind to Ago1 or Ago2 loading machinery, regardless of which Dicer produced them. This allows structural information embedded in small RNA duplexes to direct small RNA loading into Ago1 and/or Ago2, resulting in distinct regulatory outputs. Small RNA sorting also has chemical consequences for the small RNA guide. Although siRNAs were presumed to have the signature 2′, 3′ hydroxyl ends left by Dicer, we found that small RNAs loaded into Ago2 or Piwi proteins, but not Ago1, are modified at their 3´ ends by the RNA 2´-O-methyltransferase DmHen1. In plants Hen1 modifies the 3´ ends all small RNAs duplexs, protecting and stabilizing them. Implying a similar function in flies, piRNAs are smaller, less abundant, and their function is perturbed in hen1 mutants. But unlike plants, small RNAs are modified as single-strands in RISC rather than as duplexes. This nicely explains why the dsRNA binding domain in plant Hen1 was discarded in animals, and why both dsRNA derived siRNAs and ssRNA derived piRNAs are modified. The recent discovery that both piRNAs and siRNAs target transposons links terminal modification and transposon silencing, suggesting that it is specialized for this purpose.

In this dissertation, the roles of endocytosis and phagocytosis pathways in a variety of clinically relevant scenarios were examined. These scenarios include antibody-mediated internalization of cell surface proteins, titanium wear-particle uptake in failed joint replacements, and polymeric microparticle uptake and immune responses for drug delivery or adjuvant use. The use of antibodies specific for cell surface proteins has become a popular method to deliver therapeutics to target cells. As such, it is imperative to fully understand the ability of antibodies to mediate internalization and endosomal trafficking of the surface protein that it recognizes, so that drug delivery can be optimized. By comparing the internalization and endosomal localization of two different antibody-bound proteins, the transferrin receptor (TfR) and rabies G, we have found that there is a specific antibody-mediated internalization pathway that occurs when an antibody binds to a cell surface protein. Interestingly, the internalization pathway induced by antibody binding is different than that seen with recycling receptor internalization after ligand binding. This may have broad implications for the future development of antibody-based therapeutics. Joint replacement failure is a major clinical problem. Studies have indicated that a large amount of metal and polyethylene wear debris is found in the synovial membrane and tissue surrounding failed replacements. Through examination of the immune response following uptake of titanium particles, our results suggest that titanium wear-particle induced inflammation and subsequent joint replacement failure may be due to activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to increased IL-1ß secretion and IL-1 associated signaling. These findings introduce IL-1 as a target for potential therapeutics for patients exhibiting significant inflammation. Polymeric microparticles have been widely used in a variety of therapeutic applications, including drug delivery and vaccine adjuvants. It is essential to understand the ability of such particles to either activate or inhibit an immune response following uptake. Through comparison of particles with varying surface morphology, we have determined that particles with regions of high surface curvature (budding) are more immunogenic than particles with low surface curvature (spherical). Budding particles were more rapidly phagocytosed and induced higher levels of the inflammasome-associated cytokine, IL-1ß, when exposed to mouse macrophages. Additionally, budding particles induced a more rapid neutrophil response in vivo, when compared to spherical particles. These findings have broad implications for the development of future targeting vehicles for delivery of vaccines, drugs, proteins, and siRNA therapeutics.

In the preceding chapters, I have discussed my doctoral research on studying the siRNA loading pathway in Drosophila using both biochemical and genetic approaches. We established a gel shift system to identify the intermediate complexes formed during siRNA loading. We detected at least three complexes, named complex B, RISC loading complex (RLC) and RISC. Using kinetic modeling, we determined that the siRNA enters complex B and RLC early during assembly when it remains double-stranded, and then matures in RISC to generate Argonaute bearing only the single-stranded guide. We further characterized the three complexes. We showed that complex B comprises Dcr-1 and Loqs, while both RLC and RISC contain Dcr-2 and R2D2. Our study suggests that the Dcr-2/R2D2 heterodimer plays a central role in RISC assembly. We observed that Dcr-1/Loqs, which function together to process pre-miRNA into mature miRNA, were also involved in siRNA loading. This was surprising, because it has been proposed that the RNAi pathway and miRNA pathway are separate and parallel, with each using a unique set of proteins to produce small RNAs, to assemble functional RNA-guided enzyme complexes, and to regulate target mRNAs. We further examined the molecular function of Dcr-1/Loqs in RNAi pathway. Our data suggest that, in vivo and in vitro, the Dcr-1/Loqs complex binds to siRNA. In vitro, the binding of the Dcr-1/Loqs complex to siRNA is the earliest detectable step in siRNA-triggered Ago2-RISC assembly. Futhermore, the binding of Dcr-1/Loqs to siRNA appears to facilitate dsRNA dicing by Dcr-2/R2D2, because the dicing activity is much lower in loqslysate than in wild type. Long inverted repeat (IR) triggered white silencing in fly eyes is an example of endogenous RNAi. Consistent with our finding that Dcr-1/Loqs function to load siRNA, less white siRNA accumulates in loqs mutant eyes compared to wild type. As a result, loqs mutants are partially defective in IR trigged whitesilencing. Our data suggest considerable functional and genetic overlap between the miRNA and siRNA pathways, with the two sharing key components previously thought to be confined to just one of the two pathways. Based on our study on siRNA loading pathway, we also elucidated the molecular function of Armitage (Armi) protein in RNAi. We showed that armi is required for RNAi. Lysates from armi mutant ovaries are defective for RNAi in vitro. Native gel analysis of protein-siRNA complexes suggests that armi mutants support early steps in the RNAi pathway, i.e., the formation of complex B and RLC, but are defective in the production of the RISC.

Virus infection is sensed by the innate immune system through germline encoded pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Toll-like receptors (TLRs), retinoic acid-inducible gene-I-like receptors (RLRs) and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptors (NLRs) serve as PRRs that recognize different viral components. Microbial nucleic acids such as Ribonucleic acid (RNA) are important virus-derived pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) to be recognized by PRRs. Virus recognition may occur at multiple stages of the viral life cycle. Replication intermediates such as single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) are detected by the RNA-sensing PRRs that initiate innate and adaptive immune responses. Triggering of the innate immune system is a critical event that can shape the adaptive immune response to virus infection. Better vaccination strategies that lead to improved T-cell and antibody responses are needed for protection against pathogens. We sought to delineate the RNA-sensing PRR pathways that are activated during infection with an RNA virus, the signaling mediators involved and the influence on subsequent virus-specific adaptive immune responses. To analyze the role of RNA-sensing PRRs in T-cell immune responses in vitro, we performed direct co-stimulation experiments on CD4+ T-cells of high purity. We utilized synthetic RNA-like immune response modifiers (IRMs) R-848 (MyD88-dependent) and poly I:C (MyD88-independent) as RNA PAMPs to determine the direct effects of RNA-sensing PRR activation on CD4+ T-cells. RNA PAMPs can act directly on CD4+ T-cells and modulate their function and phenotype. Maximal direct co-stimulatory effects were observed in CD4+ T-cells cultured with poly I:C compared to R-848. The cytoplasmic dsRNA-dependent protein kinase R (PKR) was also involved in poly I:C-mediated signaling in CD4+ T-cells. We found differences in the RNA-sensing PRRs activated by R-848 between mouse and human CD4+ T-cells. We observed minimal direct co-stimulatory effects by R-848 in mouse CD4+ T-cells. In contrast, augmentation of Th1 responses by R-848 was observed in human CD4+ T-cells. TLR8 activation in human CD4+ T-cells may explain the observed differences. We next explored the signaling pathways activated by RNA PAMPs in conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and CD4+ T-cells that drive Th1 CD4 T-cell responses in isolated cDC/CD4 T-cell interactions. Allogeneic cDCs and CD4+ T-cells of high purity were cultured together with R-848 and poly I:C in MHC congenic mixed leukocyte reactions (MLRs). R-848 and poly I:C stimulation of type I IFN production and signaling was essential but not sufficient for driving CD4+ Th1 responses. The early production of IL-1α and IL-1β was equally critical. To analyze the role of RNA-sensing PRRs in T-cell immune responses in vivo, we utilized a mouse model of heterosubtypic influenza A virus (IAV) infections. Using MyD88-/-, TLR7-/- and IL-1-deficient mice, we explored the role of MyD88-signaling in the generation of heterosubtypic memory CD4+ T-cell, CD8+ T-cell and antibody responses. We found that MyD88 signaling played an important role in anti-IAV spleen and lung CD4+ T-cell, spleen CD8+ T-cell and Th1 antibody immune responses. Anti-IAV lung heterosubtypic CD8+ T-cell responses were not dependent on MyD88 signaling. Our in vitro and in vivo results show the pivotal role of RNA-sensing PRR pathway activation in T-cell immune responses. Understanding the complexity of the PRR pathways involved during viral infections and defining the subsequent immune response would have important implications for the generation of more effective vaccine strategies.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the most lethal malignancies in the United States, with an average five-year survival rate of just 6.7%. One unifying aspect of PDAC is mutational activation of the KRAS oncogene, which occurs in over 90% of PDAC. Therefore, inhibiting KRAS function is likely an effective therapeutic strategy for this disease, and current research in our lab and others is focused on identifying downstream effectors of KRAS signaling that may be therapeutic targets. miRNAs are powerful regulators of gene expression that can behave as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Dysregulation of miRNA expression is commonly observed in human tumors, including PDAC. The mir-17~92 cluster of miRNAs is an established oncogene in a variety of tumor contexts, and members of the mir-17~92 cluster are upregulated in PDAC, but their role has not been explored in vivo. This dissertation encompasses two studies exploring the role of miRNAs in pancreatic tumorigenesis. In Chapter II, I demonstrate that deletion of the mir-17~92 cluster impairs PDAC precursor lesion formation and maintenance, and correlates with reduced ERK signaling in these lesions. mir-17~92 deficient tumors and cell lines are also less invasive, which I attribute to the loss of the miR-19 family of miRNAs. In Chapter III, I find that Dicer heterozygosity inhibits PDAC metastasis, and that this phenotype is attributable to an increased sensitivity to anoikis. Ongoing experiments will determine whether shifts in particular miRNA signatures between cell lines can be attributed to this phenotype. Together these findings illustrate the importance of miRNA biogenesis, and the mir-17~92 cluster in particular, in supporting PDAC development and progression.

The RNA interference (RNAi) pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans is a two-step, small RNA-mediated silencing pathway. Unlike in other organisms, Dicer processing of double-stranded RNA into small interfering (si) RNAs is not sufficient in worms to induce gene silencing. The activity of cellular RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) is necessary to synthesize a secondary pool of siRNAs, which interact with a unique class of Argonaute proteins to form the functional effector complexes that mediate silencing. The aims of this thesis were to: 1) characterize the role of RdRP family members in endogenous small RNA biogenesis; 2) identify the Argonaute proteins that interact with RdRP-dependent small RNAs; and 3) investigate the biological function of RdRP-dependent small RNA pathways in C. elegans. In this thesis, I describe genetic, deep sequencing, and molecular studies, which identify 22G-RNAs as the most abundant class of endogenous small RNA in C. elegans. The 22G-RNAs resemble RdRP-dependent secondary siRNAs produced during exogenous RNAi, in that they possess a triphosphorylated 5’ guanine residue and exhibit a remarkable strand bias at target loci. Indeed, I show that 22G-RNAs are dependent on the activity of the RdRPs RRF-1 and EGO-1 and function in multiple distinct endogenous small RNA pathways. Interestingly, I have found that RRF-1 and EGO-1 function redundantly in the germline to generate 22G-RNAs that are dependent on and interact with members of an expanded family of worm-specific Argonaute (WAGO) proteins. The WAGO/22G-RNA pathway appears to be a transcriptome surveillance pathway that silences coding genes, pseudogenes, transposons, and non-annotated, or cryptic, transcripts. In contrast, I have found that EGO-1 alone is required for the biogenesis of a distinct class of 22G-RNAs that interact with the Argonaute CSR-1. Surprisingly, the CSR-1/22G-RNA pathway does not appear to silence its targets transcripts. Instead, the CSR-1/22G-RNA pathway is essential for the proper assembly of holocentric kinetochores and chromosome segregation. Lastly, I show that a third endogenous small RNA pathway, the ERI pathway, is a two-step silencing pathway that requires the sequential activity of distinct RdRPs and Argonautes. In the first step of this pathway, the RdRP, RRF- 3, is required for the biogenesis of 26G-RNAs that associate with the Argonaute, ERGO-1. In the second step, RRF-1 and EGO-1 generate 22G-RNAs that associate with the WAGO Argonautes. This work demonstrates how several C. elegans small RNAs pathways utilize RdRPs to generate abundant populations of small RNAs. These distinct categories of small RNAs function together with specific Argonaute proteins to affect gene expression, to play essential roles in development, and in the maintenance of genome and transcriptome integrity.

Animals have evolved complicated and overlapping mechanisms to guard against the development of cancer and infection by pathogenic organisms. ARF, a potent tumor suppressor, positively regulates p53 by antagonizing p53’s negative regulator, MDM2, which in turn results in either apoptosis or cell cycle arrest. ARF also has p53-independent tumor suppressor activity. The CtBP transcriptional co-repressors promote cancer cell survival and migration/invasion. CtBP senses cellular metabolism via a regulatory dehydrogenase domain, and is a target for negative regulation by ARF. ARF targets CtBP to the proteasome for degradation, which results in the up regulation of proapoptotic BH3-only proteins, and p53-independent apoptosis. CtBP inhibition by ARF also up regulates PTEN, reducing cancer cell motility, making CtBP a potential therapeutic target in human cancer. The CtBP dehydrogenase substrate 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyric acid (MTOB) can act as a CtBP inhibitor at high concentrations, and is cytotoxic to cancer cells from a wide variety of tissues. MTOB induced apoptosis was independent of p53, and correlated with the de-repression of the pro-apoptotic CtBP repression target Bik. CtBP over-expression, or Bik silencing, rescued MTOB-induced cell death. MTOB did not induce apoptosis in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), but was increasingly cytotoxic to immortalized and transformed MEFs, suggesting that CtBP inhibition may provide a suitable therapeutic index for cancer therapy. In human colon cancer cell peritoneal xenografts, MTOB treatment decreased tumor burden, and induced tumor cell apoptosis. To verify the potential utility of CtBP as a therapeutic target in human cancer the expression of CtBP and its negative regulator ARF was studied in a series of resected human colon adenocarcinomas. CtBP and ARF levels were inversely-correlated, with elevated CtBP levels (compared with adjacent normal tissue) observed in greater than 60% of specimens, with ARF absent in nearly all specimens exhibiting elevated CtBP levels. Targeting CtBP with a small molecule like MTOB may thus represent a useful and widely applicable therapeutic strategy in human malignancies. ARF has long been known to respond to virally encoded oncogenes. Recently, p14ARF was linked to the innate immune response to non-transforming viruses in mice. Therefore a wider role for the ARF pathway in viral infection was considered. Previous studies linking p53 to multiple points of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) life cycle suggested that ARF may also play a role in the HIV life cycle. In this study the interdependency of ARF and HIV infection was investigated. ARF expression was determined for a variety of cell types upon HIV infection. In every case, ARF levels exhibited dynamic changes upon HIV infection-in most cases ARF levels were reduced in infected cells. The impact of ARF over-expression or silencing by RNAi on HIV infection was also examined. Consistently, p24 levels were increased with ARF overexpression, and decreased when ARF was silenced. Thus ARF and HIV modulate each other, and ARF may paradoxically play a positive role in the HIV life cycle.

Chronic alcohol use results in accelerated liver injury, leading to alcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, due to the complex nature of this disease process, a central, druggable mechanism has remained elusive. microRNAs are potent post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. A single miRNA has the ability to regulate hundreds of pathways simultaneously, defining cellular fate and function. microRNA-122 (miR-122), the most abundant miRNA in hepatocytes, has a demonstrated role as an tumor suppressor, regulator of hepatocyte metabolism, and hepatic differentiation. In this dissertation I demonstrate the role of miR-122 on alcoholic liver disease (ALD) pathogenesis over four parts. In chapter II, I will demonstrate chronic alcoholic patients, free of neoplastic changes, have a reduction of miR-122 and that this miRNA regulates HIF-1α, a determinant of ALD pathogenesis. In chapter III, using hepatocytetropic adeno-associated virus 8 (AAV8) vector, I demonstrate that miR-122 inhibition mimics ALD pathogenesis, and furthermore, using hepatocyte-specific HIF-1α-null (HIF1hepKO) mice that this phenomenon is HIF-1α dependent. Given this finding, in chapter IV, I demonstrate that ectopic expression of miR-122 in vivo can reverse alcoholinduced liver damage, steatosis, and inflammation by directly targeting HIF-1α. Finally, in chapter V, I present evidence that alcohol-induced dysregulation of grainyhead-like proteins 1 and 2 (GRHL2), mediate the inhibition of miR-122 at the transcriptional level. These findings dissect a novel mechanistic regulatory axis of miR-122 and indicate a potential opportunity for restoration of miR-122 as a therapy in early ALD.