Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a single-stranded, negative-sense, RNA virus in the family
Pneumoviridae
and genus
Orthopneumoviridae
that can cause severe disease in infants, immunocompromised adults, and the elderly. The RSV viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (vRdRp) complex is composed of the phosphoprotein (P) and the large polymerase protein (L). The P protein is constitutively phosphorylated by host kinases and has 41 serine (S) and threonine (T) residues as potential phosphorylation sites. To identify important phosphorylation residues in the P protein, we systematically and individually mutated all serine S and T residues to alanine (A) and first analyzed their effect on genome transcription and replication using a minigenome system. We found that the mutation of eight residues resulted in significantly reduced minigenome activity compared to wild-type P. We then incorporated these mutations (T210A, S203A, T151A, S156A, T160A, S23A, T188A, and T105A) into full-length genome cDNA to rescue recombinant RSV. We were able to recover four recombinant viruses (T151A, S156A, T160A, and S23A), suggesting RSV-P residues T210, S203, T188, and T105 are essential for viral RNA replication. Among the four rescued, rRSV-T160A caused a minor growth defect compared to its parental virus while rRSV-S156A had severely restricted replication due to decreased levels of genomic RNA. During infection, P-S156A phosphorylation was decreased, and when passaged, the S156A virus acquired a known compensatory mutation in L (L795I) that enhanced both WT-P and P-S156A minigenome activity and was able to partially rescue the S156A viral growth defect. This work demonstrates that residues T210, S203, T188, and T105 are critical for RSV replication, and S156 plays a critical role in viral RNA synthesis.
Importance
RSV-P is a heavily phosphorylated protein that is required for RSV replication. In this study, we identified several residues, including P-S156, as phosphorylation sites that play critical roles in efficient viral growth and genome replication. Future studies to identify the specific kinase(s) that phosphorylate these residues can lead to kinase inhibitors and anti-viral drugs for this important human pathogen.
Phosphorylation of human respiratory syncytial virus P protein at threonine 108 controls its interaction with the M2-1 protein in the viral RNA polymerase complex
