scholarly journals Amino Acid Substitutions in the S2 Subunit of Mouse Hepatitis Virus Variant V51 Encode Determinants of Host Range Expansion

2007 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 1414-1424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willie C. McRoy ◽  
Ralph S. Baric

ABSTRACT We previously described mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) variant V51 derived from a persistent infection of murine DBT cells with an expanded host range (R. S. Baric, E. Sullivan, L. Hensley, B. Yount, and W. Chen, J. Virol. 73:638-649, 1999). Sequencing of the V51 spike gene, the mediator of virus entry, revealed 13 amino acid substitutions relative to the originating MHV A59 strain. Seven substitutions were located in the amino-terminal S1 cleavage subunit, and six were located in the carboxy-terminal S2 cleavage subunit. Using targeted RNA recombination, we constructed a panel of recombinant viruses to map the mediators of host range to the six substitutions in S2, with a subgroup of four changes of particular interest. This subgroup maps to two previously identified domains within S2, a putative fusion peptide and a heptad repeat, both conserved features of class I fusion proteins. In addition to an altered host range, V51 displayed altered utilization of CEACAM1a, the high-affinity receptor for A59. Interestingly, a recombinant with S1 from A59 and S2 from V51 was severely debilitated in its ability to productively infect cells via CEACAM1a, while the inverse recombinant was not. This result suggests that the S2 substitutions exert powerful effects on the fusion trigger that normally passes from S1 to S2. These novel findings play against the existing data that suggest that MHV host range determinants are located in the S1 subunit, which harbors the receptor binding domain, or involve coordinating changes in both S1 and S2. Mounting evidence also suggests that the class I fusion mechanism may possess some innate plasticity that regulates viral host range.

2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (17) ◽  
pp. 9073-9083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne H. Schickli ◽  
Larissa B. Thackray ◽  
Stanley G. Sawicki ◽  
Kathryn V. Holmes

ABSTRACT Although murine coronaviruses naturally infect only mice, several virus variants derived from persistently infected murine cell cultures have an extended host range. The mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) variant MHV/BHK can infect hamster, rat, cat, dog, monkey, and human cell lines but not the swine testis (ST) porcine cell line (J. H. Schickli, B. D. Zelus, D. E. Wentworth, S. G. Sawicki, and K. V. Holmes, J. Virol. 71:9499-9507, 1997). The spike (S) gene of MHV/BHK had 63 point mutations and a 21-bp insert that encoded 56 amino acid substitutions and a 7-amino-acid insert compared to the parental MHV strain A59. Recombinant viruses between MHV-A59 and MHV/BHK were selected in hamster cells. All of the recombinants retained 21 amino acid substitutions and a 7-amino-acid insert found in the N-terminal region of S of MHV/BHK, suggesting that these residues were responsible for the extended host range of MHV/BHK. Flow cytometry showed that MHV-A59 bound only to cells that expressed the murine glycoprotein receptor CEACAM1a. In contrast, MHV/BHK and a recombinant virus, k6c, with the 21 amino acid substitutions and 7-amino-acid insert in S bound to hamster (BHK) and ST cells as well as murine cells. Thus, 21 amino acid substitutions and a 7-amino-acid insert in the N-terminal region of the S glycoprotein of MHV/BHK confer the ability to bind and in some cases infect cells of nonmurine species.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 9628-9636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Leparc-Goffart ◽  
Susan T. Hingley ◽  
Ming Ming Chua ◽  
Joanna Phillips ◽  
Ehud Lavi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Previous studies of a group of mutants of the murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV)-A59, isolated from persistently infected glial cells, have shown a strong correlation between a Q159L amino acid substitution in the S1 subunit of the spike gene and a loss in the ability to induce hepatitis and demyelination. To determine if Q159L alone is sufficient to cause these altered pathogenic properties, targeted RNA recombination was used to introduce a Q159L amino acid substitution into the spike gene of MHV-A59. Recombination was carried out between the genome of a temperature-sensitive mutant of MHV-A59 (Alb4) and RNA transcribed from a plasmid (pFV1) containing the spike gene as well as downstream regions, through the 3′ end, of the MHV-A59 genome. We have selected and characterized two recombinant viruses containing Q159L. These recombinant viruses (159R36 and 159R40) replicate in the brains of C57BL/6 mice and induce encephalitis to a similar extent as wild-type MHV-A59. However, they exhibit a markedly reduced ability to replicate in the liver or produce hepatitis compared to wild-type MHV-A59. These viruses also exhibit reduced virulence and reduced demyelination. A recombinant virus containing the wild-type MHV-A59 spike gene, wtR10, behaved essentially like wild-type MHV-A59. This is the first report of the isolation of recombinant viruses containing a site-directed mutation, encoding an amino acid substitution, within the spike gene of any coronavirus. This technology will allow us to begin to map the molecular determinants of pathogenesis within the spike glycoprotein.


2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (22) ◽  
pp. 10909-10918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelis A. M. de Haan ◽  
Eddie te Lintelo ◽  
Zhen Li ◽  
Matthijs Raaben ◽  
Tom Wurdinger ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT To study the process of spike (S)-receptor interaction during coronavirus entry, we evaluated the contributions of mutations in different regions of the murine hepatitis virus (MHV) S protein to natural receptor murine carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1a (CEACAM1a) dependence and to the acquisition of extended host range. Extended-host-range variants of MHV strain A59 were previously obtained from persistently infected cells (J. H. Schickli, B. D. Zelus, D. E. Wentworth, S. G. Sawicki, and K. V. Holmes, J. Virol. 71:9499-9504, 1997). These variant viruses contain several mutations in the S protein that confer to the viruses the ability to enter cells in a heparan sulfate-dependent manner (C. A. de Haan, Z. Li, E. te Lintelo, B. J. Bosch, B. J. Haijema, and P. J. M. Rottier, J. Virol. 79:14451-14456, 2005). While the parental MHV-A59 is fully dependent on murine CEACAM1a for its entry, viruses carrying the variant mutations in the amino-terminal part of their S protein had become dependent on both CEACAM1a and heparan sulfate. Substitutions in a restricted, downstream part of the S protein encompassing heptad repeat region 1 (HR1) and putative fusion peptide (FP) did not alter the CEACAM1a dependence. However, when the mutations in both parts of the S protein were combined, the resulting viruses became independent of CEACAM1a and acquired the extended host range. In addition, these viruses showed a decreased binding to and inhibition by soluble CEACAM1a. The observations suggest that the amino-terminal region of the S protein, including the receptor-binding domain, and a region in the central part of the S protein containing HR1 and FP, i.e., regions far apart in the linear sequence, communicate and may even interact physically in the higher-order structure of the spike.


2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (11) ◽  
pp. 5957-5965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R. Denison ◽  
Boyd Yount ◽  
Sarah M. Brockway ◽  
Rachel L. Graham ◽  
Amy C. Sims ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The p28 and p65 proteins of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) are the most amino-terminal protein domains of the replicase polyprotein. Cleavage between p28 and p65 has been shown to occur in vitro at cleavage site 1 (CS1), 247Gly↓Val248, in the polyprotein. Although critical residues for CS1 cleavage have been mapped in vitro, the requirements for cleavage have not been studied in infected cells. To define the determinants of CS1 cleavage and the role of processing at this site during MHV replication, mutations and deletions were engineered in the replicase polyprotein at CS1. Mutations predicted to allow cleavage at CS1 yielded viable virus that grew to wild-type MHV titers and showed normal expression and processing of p28 and p65. Mutant viruses containing predicted noncleaving mutations or a CS1 deletion were also viable but demonstrated delayed growth kinetics, reduced peak titers, decreased RNA synthesis, and small plaques compared to wild-type controls. No p28 or p65 was detected in cells infected with predicted noncleaving CS1 mutants or the CS1 deletion mutant; however, a new protein of 93 kDa was detected. All introduced mutations and the deletion were retained during repeated virus passages in culture, and no phenotypic reversion was observed. The results of this study demonstrate that cleavage between p28 and p65 at CS1 is not required for MHV replication. However, proteolytic separation of p28 from p65 is necessary for optimal RNA synthesis and virus growth, suggesting important roles for these proteins in the formation or function of viral replication complexes.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 2265-2271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Tao Lu ◽  
Amy C. Sims ◽  
Mark R. Denison

ABSTRACT The 3C-like proteinase (3CLpro) of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) is predicted to cleave at least 11 sites in the 803-kDa gene 1 polyprotein, resulting in maturation of proteinase, polymerase, and helicase proteins. However, most of these cleavage sites have not been experimentally confirmed and the proteins have not been identified in vitro or in virus-infected cells. We used specific antibodies to identify and characterize a 22-kDa protein (p1a-22) expressed from gene 1 in MHV A59-infected DBT cells. Processing of p1a-22 from the polyprotein began immediately after translation, but some processing continued for several hours. Amino-terminal sequencing of p1a-22 purified from MHV-infected cells showed that it was cleaved at a putative 3CLpro cleavage site, Gln_Ser4014 (where the underscore indicates the site of cleavage), that is located between the 3CLpro domain and the end of open reading frame (ORF) 1a. Subclones of this region of gene 1 were used to express polypeptides in vitro that contained one or more 3CLpro cleavage sites, and cleavage of these substrates by recombinant 3CLpro in vitro confirmed that amino-terminal cleavage of p1a-22 occurred at Gln_Ser4014. We demonstrated that the carboxy-terminal cleavage of the p1a-22 protein occurred at Gln_Asn4208, a sequence that had not been predicted as a site for cleavage by MHV 3CLpro. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of recombinant MHV 3CLpro in identifying and confirming cleavage sites within the gene 1 polyprotein. Based on our results, we predict that at least seven mature proteins are processed from the ORF 1a polyprotein by 3CLpro and suggest that additional noncanonical cleavage sites may be used by 3CLpro during processing of the gene 1 polyprotein.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document