scholarly journals Molecular Basis for Attenuation of Neurovirulence of a Yellow Fever Virus/Japanese Encephalitis Virus Chimera Vaccine (ChimeriVax-JE)

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 934-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Arroyo ◽  
Farshad Guirakhoo ◽  
Sabine Fenner ◽  
Zhen-Xi Zhang ◽  
Thomas P. Monath ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT A yellow fever virus (YFV)/Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) chimera in which the structural proteins prM and E of YFV 17D are replaced with those of the JEV SA14-14-2 vaccine strain is under evaluation as a candidate vaccine against Japanese encephalitis. The chimera (YFV/JEV SA14-14-2, or ChimeriVax-JE) is less neurovirulent than is YFV 17D vaccine in mouse and nonhuman primate models (F. Guirakhoo et al., Virology 257:363–372, 1999; T. P. Monath et al., Vaccine 17:1869–1882, 1999). Attenuation depends on the presence of the JEV SA14-14-2 E protein, as shown by the high neurovirulence of an analogous YFV/JEV Nakayama chimera derived from the wild JEV Nakayama strain (T. J. Chambers, A. Nestorowicz, P. W. Mason, and C. M. Rice, J. Virol. 73:3095–3101, 1999). Ten amino acid differences exist between the E proteins of ChimeriVax-JE and the YFV/JEV Nakayama virus, four of which are predicted to be neurovirulence determinants based on various sequence comparisons. To identify residues that are involved in attenuation, a series of intratypic YFV/JEV chimeras containing either single or multiple amino acid substitutions were engineered and tested for mouse neurovirulence. Reversions in at least three distinct clusters were required to restore the neurovirulence typical of the YFV/JEV Nakayama virus. Different combinations of cluster-specific reversions could confer neurovirulence; however, residue 138 of the E protein (E138) exhibited a dominant effect. No single amino acid reversion produced a phenotype significantly different from that of the ChimeriVax-JE parent. Together with the known genetic stability of the virus during prolonged cell culture and mouse brain passage, these findings support the candidacy of this experimental vaccine as a novel live-attenuated viral vaccine against Japanese encephalitis.

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (11) ◽  
pp. 6126-6130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Takamatsu ◽  
Kouichi Morita ◽  
Daisuke Hayasaka

We identified a unique amino acid of NS2A113, phenylalanine, that affects the efficient propagation of two Japanese encephalitis virus strains, JaTH160 and JaOArS982, in neuroblastoma Neuro-2a cells but not in cell lines of extraneural origin. This amino acid did not affect viral loads in the brain or survival curves in mice. These findings suggest that virus propagationin vitromay not reflect the level of virus neuroinvasivenessin vivo.


2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 1185-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyan-Song Chiou ◽  
Yi-Chin Fan ◽  
Wayne D. Crill ◽  
Ruey-Yi Chang ◽  
Gwong-Jen J. Chang

Group and serocomplex cross-reactive epitopes have been identified in the envelope (E) protein of several flaviviruses and have proven critical in vaccine and diagnostic antigen development. Here, we performed site-directed mutagenesis across the E gene of a recombinant expression plasmid that encodes the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) premembrane (prM) and E proteins and produces JEV virus-like particles (VLPs). Mutations were introduced at I135 and E138 in domain I; W101, G104, G106 and L107 in domain II; and T305, E306, K312, A315, S329, S331, G332 and D389 in domain III. None of the mutant JEV VLPs demonstrated reduced activity to the five JEV type-specific mAbs tested. Substitutions at W101, especially W101G, reduced reactivity dramatically with all of the flavivirus group cross-reactive mAbs. The group and JEV serocomplex cross-reactive mAbs examined recognized five and six different overlapping epitopes, respectively. Among five group cross-reactive epitopes, amino acids located in domains I, II and III were involved in one, five and three epitopes, respectively. Recognition by six JEV serocomplex cross-reactive mAbs was reduced by amino acid substitutions in domains II and III. These results suggest that amino acid residues located in the fusion loop of E domain II are the most critical for recognition by group cross-reactive mAbs, followed by residues of domains III and I. The amino acid residues of both domains II and III of the E protein were shown to be important in the binding of JEV serocomplex cross-reactive mAbs.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 2903-2906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haolin Ni ◽  
Kate D. Ryman ◽  
Heiman Wang ◽  
Mohammad F. Saeed ◽  
Robin Hull ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Binding of yellow fever virus wild-type strains Asibi and French viscerotropic virus and vaccine strains 17D and FNV to monkey brain and monkey liver cell membrane receptor preparations (MRPs) was investigated. Only FNV bound to monkey brain MRPs, while French viscerotropic virus, Asibi, and FNV all bound to monkey liver MRPs. Four monkey brain and two mouse brain MRP escape (MRPR) variants of FNV were selected at pH 7.6 and 6.0. Three monkey brain MRPR variants selected at pH 7.6 each had only one amino acid substitution in the envelope (E) protein in domain II (E-237, E-260, or E274) and were significantly attenuated in mice following intracerebral inoculation. Two of the variants were tested in monkeys and retained parental neurotropism following intracerebral inoculation at the dose tested. We speculate that this region of domain II is involved in binding of FNV E protein to monkey brain and is, in part, responsible for the enhanced neurotropism of FNV for monkeys. A monkey brain MRPR variant selected at pH 6.0 and two mouse brain MRPR variants selected at pH 7.6 were less attenuated in mice, and each had an amino acid substitution in the transmembrane region of the E protein (E-457 or E-458).


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (13) ◽  
pp. 8535-8544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying-Ju Lin ◽  
Suh-Chin Wu

ABSTRACT The formation of the flavivirus prM-E complex is an important step for the biogenesis of immature virions, which is followed by a subsequent cleavage of prM to M protein through cellular protease to result in the production and release of mature virions. In this study, the intracellular formation of the prM-E complex of Japanese encephalitis virus was investigated by baculovirus coexpression of prM and E in trans in Sf9 insect cells as analyzed by anti-E antibody immunoprecipitation and sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis. A series of carboxyl-terminally truncated prM mutant baculoviruses was constructed to demonstrate that the truncations of the transmembrane (TM) region resulted in a reduction of the formation of the stable prM-E complex by approximately 40% for the TM1 (at residues 130 to 147 [prM130-147]) truncation and 20% for TM2 (at prM153-167) truncation. Alanine-scanning site-directed mutagenesis on the prM99-103 region indicated that the His99 residue was the critical prM binding element for stable prM-E heterodimeric complex formation. The single amino acid mutation at the His99 residue of prM abolishing the prM-E interaction was not due to reduced expression or different subcellular location of the mutant prM protein involved in prM-E interactions as characterized by pulse-chase labeling and confocal scanning microscopic analysis. Recombinant subviral particles were detected in the Sf9 cell culture supernatants by baculovirus coexpression of prM and E proteins but not with the prM H99A mutant. Sequence alignment analysis was further conducted with different groups of flaviviruses to show that the prM H99 residues are generally conserved. Our findings are the first report to characterize the minimum binding elements of the prM protein that are involved in prM-E interactions of flaviviruses. This information, concerning a molecular framework for the prM protein, is considered to elucidate the structure/function relationship of the prM-E complex synthesis and provide the proper trajectory for flavivirus assembly and maturation.


Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naveed Anwar ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
Muddassar Hameed ◽  
Abdul Wahaab ◽  
Chenxi Li ◽  
...  

The phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of a live-attenuated genotype I (GI) strain (SD12-F120) of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) were compared with its virulent parental SD12 strain to gain an insight into the genetic changes acquired during the attenuation process. SD12-F120 formed smaller plaque on BHK-21 cells and showed reduced replication in mouse brains compared with SD12. Mice inoculated with SD12-F120 via either intraperitoneal or intracerebral route showed no clinical symptoms, indicating a highly attenuated phenotype in terms of both neuroinvasiveness and neurovirulence. SD12-F120 harbored 29 nucleotide variations compared with SD12, of which 20 were considered silent nucleotide mutations, while nine resulted in eight amino acid substitutions. Comparison of the amino acid variations of SD12-F120 vs. SD12 pair with those from other four isogenic pairs of the attenuated and their virulent parental strains revealed that the variations at E138 and E176 positions of E protein were identified in four and three pairs, respectively, while the remaining amino acid variations were almost unique to their respective strain pairs. These observations suggest that the genetic changes acquired during the attenuation process were likely to be strain-specific and that the mechanisms associated with JEV attenuation/virulence are complicated.


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