REVERSAL OF THE DOUBLE-STRANDED-RNA-INDUCED INHIBITION OF PROTEIN SYNTHESIS BY A CATALYTICALLY INACTIVE MUTANT OF THE PROTEIN KINASE PKR

The interferon-inducible-stranded-RNA-depedet protein kinase PKR has been implicated in both the antiviral aand cell growth-regulatory effects of the interferons.Over-expression of the wild-type form of this protein inhibits cell proliferation,whereas over-expression of inactive mutant forms transforms cells to a tumouri-genie phenotype.It has been suggested that mutant PKR exerts a dominant negative effect on the activity of the wild-type protein kinase.We have investigated this possibility using the rabbbit reticulocyte cell-free translation system in which protein synthesis is inhibited by dsRNA due to activation of PKR and phosphorylation of initiation factor elF-2. Addition of a highly purified inactive PKR mutant,synthesised in a baculovirus-infected insect cell system, rescues protein synthesis from inhibition by the low concentrations of dsRNA in a dose-dependent manner. The PKR mutant has no effect on protein synthesis in the absence of dsRNA of in the presence of another inhibitory protein kinase,the haem-controlled repressor.Inhibition of translation can be re-established in the presence of the mutant PKR by adding a higher concentration of dsRNA.These results suggest that inactive mutant PKR does exert a dominant negative effect on wild-type PKR and that this may be due to competition for dsRNA binding.