Temperature-Sensitive Mutants of Influenza A Virus: Transfer of the Two Temperature-Sensitive Lesions in the Udorn/72- ts -1A2 Virus to the A/Hong Kong/123/77 (H1N1) Wild-Type Virus

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 792-798
Author(s):  
Brian R. Murphy ◽  
Nanette T. Hosier ◽  
Robert M. Chanock

The influenza A/Udorn/72- ts -1A2 virus possesses temperature-sensitive mutations in the genes coding for the P1 and P3 polymerase proteins. It is being evaluated as a donor of its attenuating temperature-sensitive genes to produce recombinant live vaccine strains of epidemic variants of influenza A virus. Transfer of the P1 and P3 genes to two viruses within the H3N2 subtype of influenza A virus (i.e., the A/Victoria/3/75 and A/Alaska/6/77 viruses) conferred on each variant the following properties: (i) 37°C shutoff temperature for plaque formation, (ii) almost complete restriction of viral replication in the lungs, (iii) a 100-fold restriction of viral replication in the nasal turbinates, and (iv) genetic stability after replication in hamsters. This study was undertaken to determine whether the transfer of the two ts -1A2 temperature-sensitive genes into a virus belonging to the H1N1 subtype (i.e., the A/Hong Kong/123/77 virus) would result in a restriction of replication in vitro and in vivo comparable to that observed with the previously studied H3N2 recombinant viruses in hamsters. This was found to be the case. In addition, infection of hamsters with the A/Hong Kong/77- ts -1A2 virus induced significant resistance to infection with wild-type A/Hong Kong/77 virus. Thus, the two ts -1A2 temperature-sensitive genes attenuated influenza A viruses belonging to two distinct subtypes to a specific and predictable level. An unexpected genetic interaction was observed between several A/Hong Kong/77- ts -1A2 segregants bearing the group 5 (P1) temperature-sensitive lesion. One interpretation of these results is that intracistronic complementation occurred between these segregants.

2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (7) ◽  
pp. 3684-3693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léa Meyer ◽  
Alix Sausset ◽  
Laura Sedano ◽  
Bruno Da Costa ◽  
Ronan Le Goffic ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which is composed of three subunits, PB1, PB2, and PA, catalyzes genome replication and transcription within the cell nucleus. The PA linker (residues 197 to 256) can be altered by nucleotide substitutions to engineer temperature-sensitive (ts), attenuated mutants that display a defect in the transport of the PA–PB1 complex to the nucleus at a restrictive temperature. In this study, we investigated the ability of the PA linker to tolerate deletion mutations for furtherin vitroandin vivocharacterization. Four viable mutants with single-codon deletions were generated; all of them exhibited atsphenotype that was associated with the reduced efficiency of replication/transcription of a pseudoviral reporter RNA in a minireplicon assay. Using fluorescently tagged PB1, we observed that the deletion mutants did not efficiently recruit PB1 to reach the nucleus at a restrictive temperature (39.5°C). Mouse infections showed that the four mutants were attenuated and induced antibodies that were able to protect mice from challenge with a lethal homologous wild-type virus. Serialin vitropassages of two deletion mutants at 39.5°C and 37°C did not allow the restoration of a wild-type phenotype among virus progeny. Thus, our results identify codons that can be deleted in the PA gene to engineer genetically stabletsmutants that could be used to design novel attenuated vaccines.IMPORTANCEIn order to generate genetically stable live influenza A virus vaccines, we constructed viruses with single-codon deletions in a discrete domain of the RNA polymerase PA gene. The four rescued viruses exhibited a temperature-sensitive phenotype that we found was associated with a defect in the transport of the PA–PB1 dimer to the nucleus, where viral replication occurs. Thesetsdeletion mutants were shown to be attenuated and to be able to produce antibodies in mice and to protect them from a lethal challenge. Assays to select revertants that were able to grow efficiently at a restrictive temperature failed, showing that these deletion mutants are genetically more stable than conventional substitution mutants. These results are of interest for the design of genetically stable live influenza virus vaccines.


2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (10) ◽  
pp. 2817-2821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana M. Falcón ◽  
Ana Fernandez-Sesma ◽  
Yurie Nakaya ◽  
Thomas M. Moran ◽  
Juan Ortín ◽  
...  

It was previously shown that two mutant influenza A viruses expressing C-terminally truncated forms of the NS1 protein (NS1-81 and NS1-110) were temperature sensitive in vitro. These viruses contain HA, NA and M genes derived from influenza A/WSN/33 H1N1 virus (mouse-adapted), and the remaining five genes from human influenza A/Victoria/3/75 virus. Mice intranasally infected with the NS1 mutant viruses showed undetectable levels of virus in lungs at day 3, whereas those infected with the NS1 wild-type control virus still had detectable levels of virus at this time. Nevertheless, the temperature-sensitive mutant viruses induced specific cellular and humoral immune responses similar to those induced by the wild-type virus. Mice immunized with the NS1 mutant viruses were protected against a lethal challenge with influenza A/WSN/33 virus. These results indicate that truncations in the NS1 protein resulting in temperature-sensitive phenotypes in vitro correlate with attenuation in vivo without compromising viral immunogenicity, an ideal characteristic for live attenuated viral vaccines.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (23) ◽  
pp. 11396-11401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica C. de Greef ◽  
Bram Slütter ◽  
Mary E. Anderson ◽  
Rebecca Hamlyn ◽  
Raul O’Campo Landa ◽  
...  

α-Dystroglycan (α-DG) is a highly glycosylated basement membrane receptor that is cleaved by the proprotein convertase furin, which releases its N-terminal domain (α-DGN). Before cleavage, α-DGN interacts with the glycosyltransferase LARGE1 and initiates functional O-glycosylation of the mucin-like domain of α-DG. Notably, α-DGN has been detected in a wide variety of human bodily fluids, but the physiological significance of secreted α-DGN remains unknown. Here, we show that mice lacking α-DGN exhibit significantly higher viral titers in the lungs after Influenza A virus (IAV) infection (strain A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 H1N1), suggesting an inability to control virus load. Consistent with this, overexpression of α-DGN before infection or intranasal treatment with recombinant α-DGN prior and during infection, significantly reduced IAV titers in the lungs of wild-type mice. Hemagglutination inhibition assays using recombinant α-DGN showed in vitro neutralization of IAV. Collectively, our results support a protective role for α-DGN in IAV proliferation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 3595-3605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew F. McCown ◽  
Andrew Pekosz

ABSTRACT The M2 integral membrane protein encoded by influenza A virus possesses an ion channel activity that is required for efficient virus entry into host cells. The role of the M2 protein cytoplasmic tail in virus replication was examined by generating influenza A viruses encoding M2 proteins with truncated C termini. Deletion of 28 amino acids (M2Stop70) resulted in a virus that produced fourfold-fewer particles but >1,000-fold-fewer infectious particles than wild-type virus. Expression of the full-length M2 protein in trans restored the replication of the M2 truncated virus. Although the M2Stop70 virus particles were similar to wild-type virus in morphology, the M2Stop70 virions contained reduced amounts of viral nucleoprotein and genomic RNA, indicating a defect in vRNP packaging. The data presented indicate the M2 cytoplasmic tail plays a role in infectious virus production by coordinating the efficient packaging of genome segments into influenza virus particles.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (21) ◽  
pp. 9895-9902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Twizere ◽  
Pierre Kerkhofs ◽  
Arsène Burny ◽  
Daniel Portetelle ◽  
Richard Kettmann ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) Tax protein, a transcriptional activator of viral expression, is essential for viral replication in vivo. Tax is believed to be involved in leukemogenesis because of its second function, immortalization of primary cells in vitro. These activities of Tax can be dissociated on the basis of point mutations within specific regions of the protein. For example, mutation of the phosphorylation sites at serines 106 and 293 abrogates immortalization potential in vitro but maintains transcriptional activity. This type of mutant is thus particularly useful for unraveling the role of Tax immortalization activity during leukemogenesis independently of viral replication. In this report, we describe the biological properties of BLV recombinant proviruses mutated in the Tax phosphorylation sites (BLVTax106+293). Titration of the proviral loads by semiquantitative PCR revealed that the BLV mutants propagated at wild-type levels in vivo. Furthermore, two animals (sheep 480 and 296) infected with BLVTax106+293 developed leukemia or lymphosarcoma after 16 and 36 months, respectively. These periods of time are within the normal range of latencies preceding the onset of pathogenesis induced by wild-type viruses. The phenotype of the mutant-infected cells was characteristic of a B lymphocyte (immunoglobulin M positive) expressing CD11b and CD5 (except at the final stage for the latter marker), a pattern that is typical of wild-type virus-infected target cells. Interestingly, the transformed B lymphocytes from sheep 480 also coexpressed the CD8 marker, a phenotype rarely observed in tumor biopsies from chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients. Finally, direct sequencing of the tax gene demonstrated that the leukemic cells did not harbor revertant proviruses. We conclude that viruses expressing a Tax mutant unable to transform primary cells in culture are still pathogenic in the sheep animal model. Our data thus provide a clear example of the discordant conclusions that can be drawn from in vitro immortalization assays and in vivo experiments. These observations could be of interest for other systems, such as the related human T-cell leukemia virus type 1, which currently lack animal models allowing the study of the leukemogenic process.


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