Induction and mode of action of the viral stress-inducible murine proteins, P56 and P54

Mammalian cells respond to virus infection or other viral stresses, such as double-stranded (ds) RNA and interferons (IFN), by robust and rapid induction of viral stress-inducible proteins. The induction and actions of one such protein, the human P56, have been extensively studied. However, little is known about the distantly related mouse proteins, MuP56 and MuP54. Here, we report that, in mouse cells, they could be induced by IFN, dsRNA or Sendai virus infection. MuP56 and MuP54 inhibited protein synthesis in vitro by binding to the “c”, but not the “e”, subunit of the translation initiation factor, eIF-3. The N-terminal region of the MuP54 was sufficient for inhibiting translation, but it and the corresponding region of MuP56 bound to two different regions of eIF3c. Thus, members of the human and murine P56 family have similar but non-identical functions.