Intra- and intermolecular disulfide bonds of the GP2b glycoprotein of equine arteritis virus: relevance for virus assembly and infectivity

Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is an enveloped, positive-strand RNA virus belonging to the family Arteriviridae of the order NIDOVIRALES: EAV virions contain six different envelope proteins. The glycoprotein GP(5) (previously named G(L)) and the unglycosylated membrane protein M are the major envelope proteins, while the glycoproteins GP(2b) (previously named G(S)), GP(3), and GP(4) are minor structural proteins. The unglycosylated small hydrophobic envelope protein E is present in virus particles in intermediate molar amounts compared to the other transmembrane proteins. The GP(5) and M proteins are both essential for particle assembly. They occur as covalently linked heterodimers that constitute the basic protein matrix of the envelope. The GP(2b), GP(3), and GP(4) proteins occur as a heterotrimeric complex in which disulfide bonds play an important role. The function of this complex has not been established yet, but the available data suggest it to be involved in the viral entry process. Here we investigated the role of the four cysteine residues of the mature GP(2b) protein in the assembly of the GP(2b)/GP(3)/GP(4) complex. Open reading frames encoding cysteine-to-serine mutants of the GP(2b) protein were expressed independently or from a full-length infectious EAV cDNA clone. The results of these experiments support a model in which the cysteine residue at position 102 of GP(2b) forms an intermolecular cystine bridge with one of the cysteines of the GP(4) protein, while the cysteine residues at positions 48 and 137 of GP(2b) are linked by an intrachain disulfide bond. In this model, another cysteine residue in the GP(4) protein is responsible for the covalent association of GP(3) with the disulfide-linked GP(2b)/GP(4) heterodimer. In addition, our data highlight the importance of the correct association of the minor EAV envelope glycoproteins for their efficient incorporation into viral particles and for virus infectivity.     

Formation of disulfide-linked complexes between the three minor envelope glycoproteins (GP2b,GP3, and GP4) of equine arteritis virus

Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is an enveloped, positive-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family Arteriviridae of the order NIDOVIRALES: Six transmembrane proteins have been identified in EAV particles: the nonglycosylated membrane protein M and the glycoprotein GP(5) (previously named G(L)), which occur as disulfide-bonded heterodimers and are the major viral envelope proteins; the unglycosylated small envelope protein E; and the minor glycoproteins GP(2b) (formerly designated G(S)), GP(3), and GP(4). Analysis of the appearance of the GP(2b), GP(3), and GP(4) proteins in viral particles by gel electrophoresis under reducing and nonreducing conditions revealed the occurrence of two different covalently linked oligomeric complexes between these proteins, i.e., heterodimers of GP(2b) and GP(4) and heterotrimers of GP(2b), GP(3), and GP(4). Shortly after their release from infected cells, virions contained mainly cystine-linked GP(2b)/GP(4) heterodimers, which were subsequently converted into disulfide-bonded GP(2b)/GP(3)/GP(4) trimers through the covalent recruitment of GP(3). This process occurred faster at a higher pH but was arrested at 4 degrees C. Furthermore, the conversion was almost instantaneous in the presence of the thiol oxidant diamide. In contrast, the sulfhydryl-modifying agent N-ethylmaleimide inhibited the formation of disulfide-bonded GP(2b)/GP(3)/GP(4) trimers. Using sucrose density gradients, we could not demonstrate a noncovalent association of GP(3) with the cystine-linked GP(2b)/GP(4) dimer in freshly released virions, nor did we observe higher-order structures of the GP(2b)/GP(4) or GP(2b)/GP(3)/GP(4) complexes. Nevertheless, the instantaneous diamide-induced formation of disulfide-bonded GP(2b)/GP(3)/GP(4) heterotrimers at 4 degrees C suggests that the three minor glycoproteins of EAV are assembled as trimeric complexes. The existence of a noncovalent interaction between the cystine-linked GP(2b)/GP(4) dimer and GP(3) was also inferred from coexpression experiments showing that the presence of GP(3) increased the electrophoretic mobility of the disulfide-bonded GP(2b)/GP(4) dimers. Our study reveals that the minor envelope proteins of arteriviruses enter into both covalent and noncovalent interactions, the function of which has yet to be established.     

Quantitation of the glycoprotein spike area on the surface of enveloped viruses

The density of glycoprotein (GP) distribution on the virion surface substantially influences the virus infectivity and pathogenicity. A method to quantitatively determine the area occupied by surface GP spikes was proposed for influenza virus (Flu) strain A/PR/8/34 on the basis of data of tritium bombardment and dynamic light scattering. The latter was used to measure the diameter of intact virions and subviral particles (Flu virions lacking GP spikes after bromelain digestion). Intact virions and subviral particles were bombarded with a hot tritium atom flux, and the specific radioactivity of the matrix M1 protein was analyzed. The tritium label was incorporated into the amino acid residues of a thin exposed protein layer and partly penetrated through the lipid bilayer of the viral envelope, labeling M1, located under the lipid bilayer. The tritium label distribution among different amino acid residues was the same in M1 isolated from subviral particles and M1 isolated from intact virions, demonstrating that the M1 spatial structure remained unchanged during proteolysis of GP spikes. The difference in specific radioactivity between the M1 proteins isolated from intact virions and subviral particles was used to calculate the GP-free portion of the viral surface. Approximating the Flu virion as a sphere, the GP-covered area was estimated at 1.4 × 10⁴ nm², about 40% of the total virion surface. This was consistent with the cryoelectron tomography data published for Flu strain A/X-31. The approach can be applied for other enveloped high pathogenic viruses, such as HIV and the Ebola virus.     

Proteins encoded by open reading frames 3 and 4 of the genome of Lelystad virus (Arteriviridae) are structural proteins of the virion.

Four structural proteins of Lelystad virus (Arteriviridae) were recognized by monoclonal antibodies in a Western immunoblotting experiment with purified virus. In addition to the 18-kDa integral membrane protein M and the 15-kDa nucleocapsid protein N, two new structural proteins with molecular masses of 45 to 50 kDa and 31 to 35 kDa, respectively, were detected. Monoclonal antibodies that recognized proteins of 45 to 50 kDa and 31 to 35 kDa immunoprecipitated similar proteins expressed from open reading frames (ORFs) 3 and 4 in baculovirus recombinants, respectively. Therefore, the 45- to 50-kDa protein is encoded by ORF3 and the 31- to 35-kDa protein is encoded by ORF4. Peptide-N-glycosidase F digestion of purified virus reduced the 45- to 50-kDa and 31- to 35-kDa proteins to core proteins of 29 and 16 kDa, respectively, which indicates N glycosylation of these proteins in the virion. Monoclonal antibodies specific for the 31- to 35-kDa protein neutralized Lelystad virus, which indicates that at least part of this protein is exposed at the virion surface. We propose that the 45- to 50-kDa and 31- to 35-kDa structural proteins of Lelystad virus be named GP3 and GP4, to reflect their glycosylation and the ORFs from which they are expressed. Antibodies specific for GP3 and GP4 were detected by a Western immunoblotting assay in swine serum after an infection with Lelystad virus.     

Hepatitis C virus structural proteins and virus-like particles produced in recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cells

Three proteins, namely, the core protein C and envelope glycoproteins E1 and E2, are main structural proteins forming a hepatitis C virus (HCV) virion. The virus structure and assembly and the role of the structural proteins in virion morphogenesis remain unknown because of the lack of an efficient culture system for HCV to be grown in vitro. Highly efficient heterologous expression systems make it possible to obtain self-assembled, nonreplicating, genome-lacking particles that are morphologically similar to intact virions. Using recombinant baculoviruses expressing the HCV structural protein genes in insect cells, the individual HCV structural proteins were expressed to 25–35% of the total cell protein, and the CE1 and E1E2 heterodimers and HCV-like particles were obtained. It was demonstrated that the recombinant C, E1, and E2 proteins underwent posttranslational modification, the glycoproteins formed a noncovalent heterodimer, and HCV- like particles were located in endoplasmic reticulum membranes of infected cells. The formation of E1E2 dimers and HCV-like particles was used to study the effect of E1 glycosylation on the expression and processing of the coat proteins.     

A nested set of eight RNAs is formed in macrophages infected with lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus.

Total RNA was extracted from primary cultures of mouse macrophages isolated from 10-day-old mice 6 to 12 h postinfection with lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV). Poly(A)+ RNA was extracted from spleens of 18-h LDV-infected mice. The RNAs were analyzed by Northern (RNA) blot hybridization with a number of LDV-specific cDNAs as probes. A cDNA representing the nucleocapsid protein (VP-1) gene located at the 3' terminus of the viral genome (E. K. Godeny, D. W. Speicher, and M. A. Brinton, Virology 177:768-771, 1990) hybridized to viral genomic RNA of about 13 kb plus seven subgenomic RNAs ranging in size from about 1 to about 3.6 kb. Two other cDNA clones hybridized only to the four or five largest subgenomic RNAs, respectively. In contrast, two cDNAs encoding continuous open reading frames with replicase and zinc finger motifs hybridized only to the genomic RNA. The replicase motif exhibited 75% amino acid identity to that of the 1b protein of equine arteritis virus (EAV) and 44% amino acid identity to those of the 1b proteins of coronaviruses and Berne virus. Combined, the results indicate that LDV replication involves formation of a 3'-coterminal-nested set of mRNAs as observed for coronaviruses and toroviruses as well as for EAV, with which LDV shares many other properties. Overall, LDV, like EAV, possesses a genome organization resembling that of the coronaviruses and toroviruses. However, EAV and LDV differ from the latter in the size of their genomes, virion size and structure, nature of the structural proteins, and symmetry of the nucleocapsids.     

Organization of Two Transmissible Gastroenteritis Coronavirus Membrane Protein Topologies within the Virion and Core

The difference in membrane (M) protein compositions between the transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV) virion and the core has been studied. The TGEV M protein adopts two topologies in the virus envelope, a Nexo-Cendo topology (with the amino terminus exposed to the virus surface and the carboxy terminus inside the virus particle) and a Nexo-Cexo topology (with both the amino and carboxy termini exposed to the virion surface). The existence of a population of M molecules adopting a Nexo-Cexo topology in the virion envelope was demonstrated by (i) immunopurification of (35)S-labeled TGEV virions using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific for the M protein carboxy terminus (this immunopurification was inhibited only by deletion mutant M proteins that maintained an intact carboxy terminus), (ii) direct binding of M-specific MAbs to the virus surface, and (iii) mass spectrometry analysis of peptides released from trypsin-treated virions. Two-thirds of the total number of M protein molecules found in the virion were associated with the cores, and one-third was lost during core purification. MAbs specific for the M protein carboxy terminus were bound to native virions through the M protein in a Nexo-Cexo conformation, and these molecules were removed when the virus envelope was disrupted with NP-40 during virus core purification. All of the M protein was susceptible to N-glycosidase F treatment of the native virions, which indicates that all the M protein molecules are exposed to the virus surface. Cores purified from glycosidase-treated virions included M protein molecules that completely or partially lost the carbohydrate moiety, which strongly suggests that the M protein found in the cores was also exposed in the virus envelope and was not present exclusively in the virus interior. A TGEV virion structure integrating all the data is proposed. According to this working model, the TGEV virion consists of an internal core, made of the nucleocapsid and the carboxy terminus of the M protein, and the envelope, containing the spike (S) protein, the envelope (E) protein, and the M protein in two conformations. The two-thirds of the molecules that are in a Nexo-Cendo conformation (with their carboxy termini embedded within the virus core) interact with the internal core, and the remaining third of the molecules, whose carboxy termini are in a Nexo-Cexo conformation, are lost during virus core purification.     

Proteins of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus and of Phenotypically Mixed Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Simian Virus 5 Virions

The identity of the glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) as the spike protein has been confirmed by the removal of the spikes with a protease from Streptomyces griseus, leaving bullet-shaped particles bounded by a smooth membrane. This treatment removes the glycoprotein but does not affect the other virion proteins, apparently because they are protected from the enzyme by the lipids in the viral membrane. The proteins of phenotypically mixed, bullet-shaped virions produced by cells mixedly infected with VSV and the parainfluenza virus simian virus 5 (SV5) have been analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These virions contain all the VSV proteins plus the two SV5 spike proteins, both of which are glycoproteins. The finding of the SV5 spike glycoproteins on virions with the typical morphology of VSV indicates that there is not a stringent requirement that only the VSV glycoprotein can be used to form the bullet-shaped virion. On the other hand, the SV5 nucleocapsid protein and the major non-spike protein of the SV5 envelope were not detected in the phenotypically mixed virions, and this suggests that a specific interaction between the VSV nucleocapsid and regions of the cell membrane which contain the nonglycosylated VSV envelope protein is necessary for assembly of the bullet-shaped virion.     

Persistent equine arteritis virus infection in HeLa cells

The horse-adapted virulent Bucyrus (VB) strain of equine arteritis virus (EAV) established persistent infection in high-passage-number human cervix cells (HeLa-H cells; passages 170 to 221) but not in low-passage-number human cervix cells (HeLa-L cells; passages 95 to 115) or in several other cell lines that were evaluated. However, virus recovered from the 80th passage of the persistently infected HeLa-H cells (HeLa-H-EAVP80) readily established persistent infection in HeLa-L cells. Comparative sequence analysis of the entire genomes of the VB and HeLa-H-EAVP80 viruses identified 16 amino acid substitutions, including 4 in the replicase (nsp1, nsp2, nsp7, and nsp9) and 12 in the structural proteins (E, GP2, GP3, GP4, and GP5). Reverse genetic studies clearly showed that substitutions in the structural proteins but not the replicase were responsible for the establishment of persistent infection in HeLa-L cells by the HeLa-H-EAVP80 virus. It was further demonstrated that recombinant viruses with substitutions in the minor structural proteins E and GP2 or GP3 and GP4 were unable to establish persistent infection in HeLa-L cells but that recombinant viruses with combined substitutions in the E (Ser53→Cys and Val55→Ala), GP2 (Leu15→Ser, Trp31→Arg, Val87→Leu, and Ala112→Thr), GP3 (Ser115→Gly and Leu135→Pro), and GP4 (Tyr4→His and Ile109→Phe) proteins or with a single point mutation in the GP5 protein (Pro98→Leu) were able to establish persistent infection in HeLa-L cells. In summary, an in vitro model of EAV persistence in cell culture was established for the first time. This system can provide a valuable model for studying virus-host cell interactions, especially virus-receptor interactions.     

Identification of proteins encoded by the L1 and L2 open reading frames of human papillomavirus 1a.

The human papillomavirus 1 (HPV-1) virion is composed of two virally encoded proteins: a 57,000-molecular-weight polypeptide (57K polypeptide), which is the product of the L1 open reading frame (ORF), and a 78K polypeptide, which is derived from the L2 ORF. The 57K (L1) product, which represents the major structural component, appears to be disulfide cross-linked in virus particles. The 78K (L2) protein is a minor component of the virion and does not appear to be disulfide linked either to the L1 gene product or to itself. Analysis of virus particles banding at different buoyant densities revealed differences in the L2 content of heavy-full and light-full virions. Antiserum prepared against a bacterially expressed fragment of the L1 ORF was found by immunofluorescence to cross-react with HPV-2 and bovine papillomavirus 1 virions in wart sections. No cross-reactivity was observed with antisera prepared against either the N- or C-terminal halves of the L2-encoded protein. Similarly, antisera prepared against purified virus particles (disrupted and nondisrupted) reacted only with an expressed fragment of the L1 ORF and not with either L2-encoded polypeptides or proteins derived from the E1, E2, E4, E6, or E7 ORFs. This indicates that the L1 protein contains the papillomavirus common antigens.     

Identification of a Novel Structural Protein of Arteriviruses

Arteriviruses are positive-stranded RNA viruses with an efficiently organized, polycistronic genome. A short region between the replicase gene and open reading frame (ORF) 2 of the equine arteritis virus (EAV) genome was previously assumed to be untranslated. However, here we report that this segment of the EAV genome contains the 5' part of a novel gene (ORF 2a) which is conserved in all arteriviruses. The 3' part of EAV ORF 2a overlaps with the 5' part of the former ORF 2 (now renamed ORF 2b), which encodes the GS glycoprotein. Both ORF 2a and ORF 2b appear to be expressed from mRNA 2, which thereby constitutes the first proven example of a bicistronic mRNA in arteriviruses. The 67-amino-acid protein encoded by EAV ORF 2a, which we have provisionally named the envelope (E) protein, is very hydrophobic and has a basic C terminus. An E protein-specific antiserum was raised and used to demonstrate the expression of the novel gene in EAV-infected cells. The EAV E protein proved to be very stable, did not form disulfide-linked oligomers, and was not N-glycosylated. Immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy studies showed that the E protein associates with intracellular membranes both in EAV-infected cells and upon independent expression. An analysis of purified EAV particles revealed that the E protein is a structural protein. By using reverse genetics, we demonstrated that both the EAV E and GS proteins are essential for the production of infectious progeny virus.     

Nucleocapsid-independent assembly of coronavirus-like particles by co-expression of viral envelope protein genes.

Budding of enveloped viruses has been shown to be driven by interactions between a nucleocapsid and a proteolipid membrane. By contrast, we here describe the assembly of viral envelopes independent of a nucleocapsid. Membrane particles containing coronaviral envelope proteins were assembled in and released from animal cells co-expressing these proteins' genes from transfected plasmids. Of the three viral membrane proteins only two were required for particle formation, the membrane glycoprotein (M) and the small envelope protein (E). The spike (S) protein was dispensable but was incorporated when present. Importantly, the nucleocapsid protein (N) was neither required not taken into the particles when present. The E protein, recently recognized to be a structural protein, was shown to be an integral membrane protein. The envelope vesicles were found by immunogold labelling and electron microscopy to form a homogeneous population of spherical particles indistinguishable from authentic coronavirions in size (approximately 100 nm in diameter) and shape. They were less dense than virions and sedimented slightly slower than virions in sucrose velocity gradients. The nucleocapsid-independent formation of apparently bona fide viral envelopes represents a novel mode of virus assembly.     

Protein Composition of the Structural Components of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

Digitonin, a sterol glycoside which complexes with cholesterol, stripped off the envelope of vesicular stomatitis (VS) virions and liberated two viral structural proteins, 83% of P6 and 53% of P4. Deoxycholate also disrupted VS virions but released nucleocapsid cores which could be identified by higher buoyant density, ratio of incorporated (3)H-uridine to (14)C-protein, and electron microscopy. The major nucleocapsid protein was P5 but varying amounts of the minor protein aggregate P2 were present, depending on the concentration of urea used for extraction. P2 appeared to be a polymer of P5. Two other minor structural proteins, P1 and P3, could not be located in the virion. From these data, we conclude that the three microscopically identifiable structures of VS virions are each composed primarily of a single major protein, as follows: P6 = envelope protein, P4 = protein of underlying "shell," and P5 = nucleocapsid protein.