The retroviral oncoprotein Tax targets the coiled-coil centrosomal protein TAX1BP2 to induce centrosome overduplication

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Abstract
Emerging evidence suggests that supernumerary centrosomes drive genome instability and oncogenesis1,2,3. Human T-cell leukaemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is etiologically associated with adult T-cell leukaemia (ATL)4. ATL cells are aneuploid, but the causes of aneuploidy are incompletely understood5,6. Here, we show that centrosome amplification is frequent in HTLV-I-transformed cells and that this phenotype is caused by the viral Tax oncoprotein. We also show that the fraction of Tax protein that localizes to centrosomes interacts with TAX1BP2, a novel centrosomal protein composed almost entirely of coiled-coil domains. Overexpression of TAX1BP2 inhibited centrosome duplication, whereas depletion of TAX1BP2 by RNAi resulted in centrosome hyperamplification. Our findings suggest that the HTLV-I Tax oncoprotein targets TAX1BP2 causing genomic instability and aneuploidy.