scholarly journals Insights into the Organization of the Poxvirus Multi-Component Entry-Fusion Complex from Proximity Analyses in Living Infected Cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander M. Schin ◽  
Ulrike S. Diesterbeck ◽  
Bernard Moss

Poxviruses are exceptional in having a complex entry-fusion complex (EFC) that is comprised of eleven conserved proteins embedded in the membrane of mature virions. However, the detailed architecture is unknown and only a few bimolecular protein interactions have been demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation from detergent-treated lysates and by cross-linking. Here, we adapted the tripartite split green fluorescent protein (GFP) complementation system in order to analyze EFC protein contacts within living cells. This system employs a detector fragment called GFP1-9 comprised of nine GFP β-strands. To achieve fluorescence, two additional 20-amino acid fragments called GFP10 and GFP11 attached to interacting proteins are needed, providing the basis for identification of the latter. We constructed a novel recombinant vaccinia virus (VACV-GFP1-9) expressing GFP1-9 under a viral late promoter and plasmids with VACV late promoters regulating each of the EFC proteins with GFP10 or GFP11 attached to their ectodomains. GFP fluorescence was detected by confocal microscopy at sites of virion assembly in cells infected with VACV-GFP1-9 and co-transfected with plasmids expressing one EFC-GFP10 and one EFC-GFP11 interacting protein. Flow cytometry provided a quanitative way do determine the interaction of each EFC-GFP10 protein with every other EFC-GFP11 protein in the context of a normal infection in which all viral proteins are synthesized and assembled. Previous EFC protein interactions were confirmed, and new ones discovered and corroborated by additional methods. Most remarkable was the finding that the small, hydrophobic O3 protein interacted with each of the other EFC proteins. IMPORTANCE Poxviruses are enveloped viruses with a DNA-containing core that enters cells following fusion of viral and host membranes. This essential step is a target for vaccines and therapeutics. The entry-fusion complex (EFC) of poxviruses is unusually complex and comprised of eleven conserved viral proteins. Determination of the structure of the EFC is a prerequisite for understanding the fusion mechanism. Here, we used a tripartite split green fluorescent protein assay to determine the proximity of individual EFC proteins in living cells. A network connecting components of the EFC was derived.

2003 ◽  
Vol 163 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik L. Snapp ◽  
Ramanujan S. Hegde ◽  
Maura Francolini ◽  
Francesca Lombardo ◽  
Sara Colombo ◽  
...  

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can transform from a network of branching tubules into stacked membrane arrays (termed organized smooth ER [OSER]) in response to elevated levels of specific resident proteins, such as cytochrome b(5). Here, we have tagged OSER-inducing proteins with green fluorescent protein (GFP) to study OSER biogenesis and dynamics in living cells. Overexpression of these proteins induced formation of karmellae, whorls, and crystalloid OSER structures. Photobleaching experiments revealed that OSER-inducing proteins were highly mobile within OSER structures and could exchange between OSER structures and surrounding reticular ER. This indicated that binding interactions between proteins on apposing stacked membranes of OSER structures were not of high affinity. Addition of GFP, which undergoes low affinity, antiparallel dimerization, to the cytoplasmic domains of non–OSER-inducing resident ER proteins was sufficient to induce OSER structures when overexpressed, but addition of a nondimerizing GFP variant was not. These results point to a molecular mechanism for OSER biogenesis that involves weak homotypic interactions between cytoplasmic domains of proteins. This mechanism may underlie the formation of other stacked membrane structures within cells.


1997 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
pp. 1465-1476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norio Sakai ◽  
Keiko Sasaki ◽  
Natsu Ikegaki ◽  
Yasuhito Shirai ◽  
Yoshitaka Ono ◽  
...  

We expressed the γ-subspecies of protein kinase C (γ-PKC) fused with green fluorescent protein (GFP) in various cell lines and observed the movement of this fusion protein in living cells under a confocal laser scanning fluorescent microscope. γ-PKC–GFP fusion protein had enzymological properties very similar to that of native γ-PKC. The fluorescence of γ-PKC– GFP was observed throughout the cytoplasm in transiently transfected COS-7 cells. Stimulation by an active phorbol ester (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate [TPA]) but not by an inactive phorbol ester (4α-phorbol 12, 13-didecanoate) induced a significant translocation of γ-PKC–GFP from cytoplasm to the plasma membrane. A23187, a Ca2+ ionophore, induced a more rapid translocation of γ-PKC–GFP than TPA. The A23187-induced translocation was abolished by elimination of extracellular and intracellular Ca2+. TPA- induced translocation of γ-PKC–GFP was unidirected, while Ca2+ ionophore–induced translocation was reversible; that is, γ-PKC–GFP translocated to the membrane returned to the cytosol and finally accumulated as patchy dots on the plasma membrane. To investigate the significance of C1 and C2 domains of γ-PKC in translocation, we expressed mutant γ-PKC–GFP fusion protein in which the two cysteine rich regions in the C1 region were disrupted (designated as BS 238) or the C2 region was deleted (BS 239). BS 238 mutant was translocated by Ca2+ ionophore but not by TPA. In contrast, BS 239 mutant was translocated by TPA but not by Ca2+ ionophore. To examine the translocation of γ-PKC–GFP under physiological conditions, we expressed it in NG-108 cells, N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor–transfected COS-7 cells, or CHO cells expressing metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (CHO/mGluR1 cells). In NG-108 cells , K+ depolarization induced rapid translocation of γ-PKC–GFP. In NMDA receptor–transfected COS-7 cells, application of NMDA plus glycine also translocated γ-PKC–GFP. Furthermore, rapid translocation and sequential retranslocation of γ-PKC–GFP were observed in CHO/ mGluR1 cells on stimulation with the receptor. Neither cytochalasin D nor colchicine affected the translocation of γ-PKC–GFP, indicating that translocation of γ-PKC was independent of actin and microtubule. γ-PKC–GFP fusion protein is a useful tool for investigating the molecular mechanism of γ-PKC translocation and the role of γ-PKC in the central nervous system.


2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (15) ◽  
pp. 2679-2683 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Sugaya ◽  
M. Vigneron ◽  
P.R. Cook

RNA polymerase II is a multi-subunit enzyme responsible for transcription of most eukaryotic genes. It associates with other complexes to form enormous multifunctional ‘holoenzymes’ involved in splicing and polyadenylation. We wished to study these different complexes in living cells, so we generated cell lines expressing the largest, catalytic, subunit of the polymerase tagged with the green fluorescent protein. The tagged enzyme complements a deficiency in tsTM4 cells that have a temperature-sensitive mutation in the largest subunit. Some of the tagged subunit is incorporated into engaged transcription complexes like the wild-type protein; it both resists extraction with sarkosyl and is hyperphosphorylated at its C terminus. Remarkably, subunits bearing such a tag can be incorporated into the active enzyme, despite the size and complexity of the polymerizing complex. Therefore, these cells should prove useful in the analysis of the dynamics of transcription in living cells.


BioTechniques ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 864-872 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Garamszegi ◽  
Z.P. Garamszegi ◽  
M.S. Rogers ◽  
S.J. De-Marco ◽  
E.E. Strehler

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Magliery ◽  
Christopher G. M. Wilson ◽  
Weilan Pan ◽  
Dennis Mishler ◽  
Indraneel Ghosh ◽  
...  

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 139-140
Author(s):  
John Presley ◽  
Koret Hirschberg ◽  
Nelson Cole

The ts045 mutant of VSV G protein has been used in numerous studies to identify biochemical and morphological properties of membrane transport, due to its reversible misfolding and retention in the ER at 40°C and ability to traffic out of the ER and into the Golgi complex upon temperature reduction to 32oC. The dynamic properties of membrane transport intermediates of the secretory pathway, including their lifetime and fate within cells, have not until now been explored due to the inability to follow transport in single living cells. Here, we attached green fluorescent protein to the cytoplasmic tail of VSV G protein in order to visualize ER-to-Golgi and Golgi-to-plasma membrane transport in living cells. VSVG-GFP expressed in Cos cells accumulated in the ER at 40°C and translocated to the Golgi complex when shifted to 32oC. Translocation of the protein was followed using time-lapse imaging of live cells on a confocal microscope. VSVG-GFP accumulated in tubulovesicular structures scattered throughout the cell upon shift from 40°C to 15°C for three hours.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document