Faculty Opinions recommendation of Third helical domain of the nipah virus fusion glycoprotein modulates both early and late steps in the membrane fusion cascade.

Author(s):  
Rebecca Dutch
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (16) ◽  
pp. 8033-8041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hector C. Aguilar ◽  
Vanessa Aspericueta ◽  
Lindsey R. Robinson ◽  
Karen E. Aanensen ◽  
Benhur Lee

ABSTRACT The deadly paramyxovirus Nipah virus (NiV) contains a fusion glycoprotein (F) with canonical structural and functional features common to its class. Receptor binding to the NiV attachment glycoprotein (G) triggers F to undergo a two-phase conformational cascade: the first phase progresses from a metastable prefusion state to a prehairpin intermediate (PHI), while the second phase is marked by transition from the PHI to the six-helix-bundle hairpin. The PHI can be captured with peptides that mimic F's heptad repeat regions, and here we utilized a NiV heptad repeat peptide to quantify PHI formation and the half-lives (t 1/2) of the first and second fusion cascade phases. We found that ephrinB2 receptor binding to G triggered ∼2-fold more F than that triggered by ephrinB3, consistent with the increased rate and extent of fusion observed with ephrinB2- versus ephrinB3-expressing cells. In addition, for a series of hyper- and hypofusogenic F mutants, we quantified F-triggering capacities and measured the kinetics of their fusion cascade phases. Hyper- and hypofusogenicity can each be manifested through distinct stages of the fusion cascade, giving rise to vastly different half-lives for the first (t 1/2, 1.9 to 7.5 min) or second (t 1/2, 1.5 to 15.6 min) phase. While three mutants had a shorter first phase and a longer second phase than the wild-type protein, one mutant had the opposite phenotype. Thus, our results reveal multiple critical parameters that govern the paramyxovirus fusion cascade, and our assays should help efforts to elucidate other class I membrane fusion processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lizbeth Reyes Zamora ◽  
Victoria Ortega ◽  
Gunner P. Johnston ◽  
Jenny Li ◽  
Nicole M. André ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Medically important paramyxoviruses, such as measles, mumps, parainfluenza, Nipah, and Hendra viruses, infect host cells by directing fusion of the viral and cellular plasma membranes. Upon infection, paramyxoviruses cause a second type of membrane fusion, cell-cell fusion (syncytium formation), which is linked to pathogenicity. Host cell receptor binding causes conformational changes in the attachment glycoprotein (HN, H, or G) that trigger a conformational cascade in the fusion (F) glycoprotein that mediates membrane fusion. F, a class I fusion protein, contains the archetypal heptad repeat regions 1 (HR1) and 2 (HR2). It is well established that binding of HR1 and HR2 is key to fusing viral and cellular membranes. In this study, we uncovered a novel fusion-modulatory role of a third structurally conserved helical region (HR3) in F. Based on its location within the F structure, and structural differences between its prefusion and postfusion conformations, we hypothesized that the HR3 modulates triggering of the F conformational cascade (still requiring G). We used the deadly Nipah virus (NiV) as an important paramyxoviral model to perform alanine scan mutagenesis and a series of multidisciplinary structural/functional analyses that dissect the various states of the membrane fusion cascade. Remarkably, we found that specific residues within the HR3 modulate not only early F-triggering but also late extensive fusion pore expansion steps in the membrane fusion cascade. Our results characterize these novel fusion-modulatory roles of the F HR3, improving our understanding of the membrane fusion process for NiV and likely for the related Henipavirus genus and possibly Paramyxoviridae family members. IMPORTANCE The Paramyxoviridae family includes important human and animal pathogens, such as measles, mumps, and parainfluenza viruses and the deadly henipaviruses Nipah (NiV) and Hendra (HeV) viruses. Paramyxoviruses infect the respiratory tract and the central nervous system (CNS) and can be highly infectious. Most paramyxoviruses have a limited host range. However, the biosafety level 4 NiV and HeV are highly pathogenic and have a wide mammalian host range. Nipah viral infections result in acute respiratory syndrome and severe encephalitis in humans, leading to 40 to 100% mortality rates. The lack of licensed vaccines or therapeutic approaches against NiV and other important paramyxoviruses underscores the need to understand viral entry mechanisms. In this study, we uncovered a novel role of a third helical region (HR3) of the NiV fusion glycoprotein in the membrane fusion process that leads to viral entry. This discovery sets HR3 as a new candidate target for antiviral strategies for NiV and likely for related viruses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1328-1329
Author(s):  
Ha V. Dang ◽  
Yee-Peng Chan ◽  
Young-Jun Park ◽  
Christopher C. Broder ◽  
David Veesler

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e1005322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Xu ◽  
Yee-Peng Chan ◽  
Birgit Bradel-Tretheway ◽  
Zeynep Akyol-Ataman ◽  
Yongqun Zhu ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaguna Seth ◽  
Annelet Vincent ◽  
R. W. Compans

ABSTRACT SER virus is closely related to the paramyxovirus simian virus 5 (SV5) but is defective in syncytium formation. The SER virus F protein has a long cytoplasmic tail (CT) domain that has been shown to inhibit membrane fusion, and this inhibitory effect could be eliminated by truncation of the C-terminal sequence (S. Tong, M. Li, A. Vincent, R. W. Compans, E. Fritsch, R. Beier, C. Klenk, M. Ohuchi, and H.-D. Klenk, Virology 301:322-333, 2002). To study the sequence requirements for regulation of fusion, codons for SER virus F protein residues spanning amino acids 535 to 542 and 548 were mutated singly to alanines, and the two leucine residues at positions 539 and 548 were mutated doubly to alanines. We found that leu-539 and leu-548 in the CT domain played a critical role in the inhibition of fusion, as mutation of the two leucines singly to alanines partially rescued fusion, and the double mutation L539, 548A completely rescued syncytium formation. Mutation of charged residues to alanines had little effect on the suppression of fusion activity, whereas the mutation of serine residues to alanines enhanced fusion activity significantly. The L539, 548A mutant also showed extensive syncytium formation when expressed without the SER virus HN protein. By constructing a chimeric SV5-SER virus F CT protein, we also found that the inhibitory effect of the long CT of the SER virus F protein could be partially transferred to the SV5 F protein. These results demonstrate that an elongated CT of a paramyxovirus F protein interferes with membrane fusion in a sequence-dependent manner.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. e0164789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Flynn ◽  
Eberhard Durr ◽  
Ryan Swoyer ◽  
Pedro J. Cejas ◽  
Melanie S. Horton ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
pp. 4520-4532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hector C. Aguilar ◽  
Kenneth A. Matreyek ◽  
Daniel Y. Choi ◽  
Claire Marie Filone ◽  
Sophia Young ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The cytoplasmic tails of the envelope proteins from multiple viruses are known to contain determinants that affect their fusogenic capacities. Here we report that specific residues in the cytoplasmic tail of the Nipah virus fusion protein (NiV-F) modulate its fusogenic activity. Truncation of the cytoplasmic tail of NiV-F greatly inhibited cell-cell fusion. Deletion and alanine scan analysis identified a tribasic KKR motif in the membrane-adjacent region as important for modulating cell-cell fusion. The K1A mutation increased fusion 5.5-fold, while the K2A and R3A mutations decreased fusion 3- to 5-fold. These results were corroborated in a reverse-pseudotyped viral entry assay, where receptor-pseudotyped reporter virus was used to infect cells expressing wild-type or mutant NiV envelope glycoproteins. Differential monoclonal antibody binding data indicated that hyper- or hypofusogenic mutations in the KKR motif affected the ectodomain conformation of NiV-F, which in turn resulted in faster or slower six-helix bundle formation, respectively. However, we also present evidence that the hypofusogenic phenotypes of the K2A and R3A mutants were effected via distinct mechanisms. Interestingly, the K2A mutant was also markedly excluded from lipid rafts, where ∼20% of wild-type F and the other mutants can be found. Finally, we found a strong negative correlation between the relative fusogenic capacities of these cytoplasmic-tail mutants and the avidities of NiV-F and NiV-G interactions (P = 0.007, r 2 = 0.82). In toto, our data suggest that inside-out signaling by specific residues in the cytoplasmic tail of NiV-F can modulate its fusogenicity by multiple distinct mechanisms.


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