Involvement of a cellular glycolytic enzyme, phosphoglycerate kinase, in Sendai virus transcription

In vitro mRNA synthesis of Sendai virus is almost entirely dependent on the addition of cellular proteins (host factors). Previous studies indicated that the host factor activity from bovine brain was resolved into at least two complementary fractions, one of which may be tubulin. In this study, the host factor activity that stimulates the transcription in the presence of tubulin was further purified from bovine brain. This fraction was found to contain at least two complementary factors, and one of them was purified to a single polypeptide chain with an apparent M(r) of 46,000 (p46). From the amino acid sequence, biochemical, and immunological analyses, p46 was identified as a glycolytic enzyme, phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK). Purified native PGK from rabbit and yeast, and a recombinant human PGK substituted for p46. Although, as previously suggested, tubulin was involved in the transcription initiation complex formation by being integrated into the complex, p46 and its complementary factor had little effect on the complex formation. On the other hand, when p46 and the complementary factor were added to the RNA chain elongation reaction from the isolated initiation complex formed with tubulin, mRNA synthesis was dramatically stimulated. The enzymatic activity per se of PGK did not seem to be required for its activity. West-Western blot analysis showed that PGK could directly interact with tubulin. These data suggest that PGK stimulates Sendai virus mRNA synthesis at the elongation step, probably through its interaction with tubulin in the initiation complex.