Key Golgi factors for structural and functional maturation of bunyamwera virus

Several complex enveloped viruses assemble in the membranes of the secretory pathway, such as the Golgi apparatus. Among them, bunyaviruses form immature viral particles that change their structure in a trans-Golgi-dependent manner. To identify key Golgi factors for viral structural maturation, we have purified and characterized the three viral forms assembled in infected cells, two intracellular intermediates and the extracellular mature virion. The first viral form is a pleomorphic structure with fully endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H (Endo-H)-sensitive, nonsialylated glycoproteins. The second viral intermediate is a structure with hexagonal and pentagonal contours and partially Endo-H-resistant glycoproteins. Sialic acid is incorporated into the small glycoprotein of this second viral form. Growing the virus in glycosylation-deficient cells confirmed that acquisition of Endo-H resistance but not sialylation is critical for the trans-Golgi-dependent structural maturation and release of mature viruses. Conformational changes in viral glycoproteins triggered by changes in sugar composition would then induce the assembly of a compact viral particle of angular contours. These structures would be competent for the second maturation step, taking place during exit from cells, that originates fully infectious virions.     

Brefeldin A arrests the maturation and egress of herpes simplex virus particles during infection.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) requires the host cell secretory apparatus for transport and processing of membrane glycoproteins during the course of virus assembly. Brefeldin A (BFA) has been reported to induce retrograde movement of molecules from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum and to cause disassembly of the Golgi complex. We examined the effects of BFA on propagation of HSV type 1. Release of virions into the extracellular medium was blocked by as little as 0.3 microgram of BFA per ml when present from 2 h postinfection. Characterization of infected cells revealed that BFA inhibited infectious viral particle formation without affecting nucleocapsid formation. Electron microscopic analyses of BFA-treated and untreated cells (as in control cells) demonstrated that viral particles were enveloped at the inner nuclear membrane in BFA-treated cells and accumulated aberrantly in this region. Most of the progeny virus particles observed in the cytoplasm of control cells, but not that of BFA-treated cells, were enveloped and contained within membrane vesicles, whereas many unenveloped nucleocapsids were detected in the cytoplasm of BFA-treated cells. This suggests that BFA prevents the transport of enveloped particles from the perinuclear space to the cytoplasmic vesicles. These findings indicate that BFA-induced retrograde movement of molecules from the Golgi complex to the endoplasmic reticulum early in infection arrests the ability of host cells to support maturation and egress of enveloped viral particles. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the effects of BFA on HSV propagation are not fully reversible, indicating that maturation and egress of HSV type 1 particles relies on a series of events which cannot be easily reconstituted after the block to secretion is relieved.     

The unique architecture of Bunyamwera virus factories around the Golgi complex

Viral factories are novel structures built by viruses in infected cells. During their construction organelles are recruited and build a large scaffold for viral replication and morphogenesis. We have studied how a bunyavirus uses the Golgi to build the factory. With the help of confocal and 3D ultrastructural imaging together with molecular mapping in situ and in vitro we have characterized a tubular structure that harbours the viral replication complexes in a globular domain. Numerous ribonucleoproteins were released from purified tubes disrupted in vitro. Actin and myosin I were identified by peptide mass fingerprinting in isolated tubes while actin and the viral NSm non-structural protein were detected in the tubes' internal proteinaceous scaffold by immunogold labelling. Studies with NSm deletion mutants and drugs affecting actin showed that both NSm and actin are key factors for tube and virus assembly in Golgi. Three-dimensional reconstructions based on oriented serial sections of infected cells showed that tubes anchor cell organelles to Golgi stacks and make contacts with intracellular viruses. We propose that this new structure, unique among enveloped viruses, assembles in association with the most stable component of Golgi stacks, the actin-containing matrix scaffold, connecting viral replication and morphogenesis inside viral factories.     

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Particle Morphogenesis in Plant Cells

A model for the maturation of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) particles is proposed, mainly based on results with a protoplast infection system, in which the chronology of different maturation events could be determined. By using specific monoclonal and polyclonal antisera in immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, the site of TSWV particle morphogenesis was determined to be the Golgi system. The viral glycoproteins G1 and G2 accumulate in the Golgi prior to a process of wrapping, by which the viral nucleocapsids obtain a double membrane. In a later stage of the maturation, these doubly enveloped particles fuse to each other and to the endoplasmic reticulum to form singly enveloped particles clustered in membranes. Similarities and differences between the maturation of animal-infecting (bunya)viruses and plant-infecting tospoviruses are discussed.     

Qualitative and quantitative ultrastructural analysis of the membrane rearrangements induced by coronavirus

Coronaviruses (CoV) are enveloped positive‐strand RNA viruses that induce different membrane rearrangements in infected cells in order to efficiently replicate and assemble. The origin, the protein composition and the function of these structures are not well established. To shed further light on these structures, we have performed a time‐course experiment in which the mouse hepatitis virus (MHV)‐induced membrane rearrangements were examined qualitatively and quantitatively by (immuno)‐electron microscopy. With our approach we were able to confirm the appearance of 6, previously reported, membranous structures during the course of a complete infection cycle. These structures include the well‐characterized double‐membrane vesicles (DMVs), convoluted membranes (CMs) and virions but also the more enigmatic large virion‐containing vacuoles (LVCVs), tubular bodies (TBs) and cubic membrane structures (CMSs). We have characterized the LVCVs, TBs and CMSs, and found that the CoV‐induced structures appear in a strict order. By combining these data with quantitative analyses on viral RNA, protein synthesis and virion release, this study generates an integrated molecular and ultrastructural overview of CoV infection. In particular, it provides insights in the role of each CoV‐induced structure and reveals that LVCVs are ERGIC/Golgi compartments that expand to accommodate an increasing production of viral particles.     

How Cells Tune Viral Mechanics—Insights from Biophysical Measurements of Influenza Virus

During replication, the physical state of a virus is controlled by assembly and disassembly processes, when particles are put together and dismantled by cellular cues, respectively. A fundamental question has been how a cell can assemble an infectious virus, and dismantle a virus entering an uninfected cell and thereby trigger a new round of infection. This apparent paradox might be explained by considering that infected and uninfected cells are functionally different, or that assembly and disassembly take place along different cellular pathways. A third possibility is that the physical properties of newly assembled viruses are different from the infection-ready viruses. Recent biophysical experiments measured the stiffness of single Influenza viruses and combined this with biochemical measurements and cell biological assays. Besides inducing the fusogenic state of hemagglutinin, low pH cues softened the virus and precluded aggregation of viral ribonucleoprotein particles with the matrix protein M1. The recent experiments suggest a two-step model for Influenza virus entry and uncoating involving low pH in early and late endosomes, respectively. I conclude with a short outlook into how combined biophysical and cell biological approaches might lead to the identification of new cellular cues controlling viral uncoating and infection.     

How Cells Tune Viral Mechanics—Insights from Biophysical Measurements of Influenza Virus

During replication, the physical state of a virus is controlled by assembly and disassembly processes, when particles are put together and dismantled by cellular cues, respectively. A fundamental question has been how a cell can assemble an infectious virus, and dismantle a virus entering an uninfected cell and thereby trigger a new round of infection. This apparent paradox might be explained by considering that infected and uninfected cells are functionally different, or that assembly and disassembly take place along different cellular pathways. A third possibility is that the physical properties of newly assembled viruses are different from the infection-ready viruses. Recent biophysical experiments measured the stiffness of single Influenza viruses and combined this with biochemical measurements and cell biological assays. Besides inducing the fusogenic state of hemagglutinin, low pH cues softened the virus and precluded aggregation of viral ribonucleoprotein particles with the matrix protein M1. The recent experiments suggest a two-step model for Influenza virus entry and uncoating involving low pH in early and late endosomes, respectively. I conclude with a short outlook into how combined biophysical and cell biological approaches might lead to the identification of new cellular cues controlling viral uncoating and infection.     

Remodeling of host membranes during herpesvirus assembly and egress

Many viruses,enveloped or non-enveloped,remodel host membrane structures for their replication,assembly and escape from host cells.Herpesviruses are important human pathogens and cause many diseases.As large enveloped DNA viruses,herpesviruses undergo several complex steps to complete their life cycles and produce infectious progenies.Firstly,herpesvirus assembly initiates in the nucleus,producing nucleocapsids that are too large to cross through the nuclear pores.Nascent nucleocapsids instead bud at the inner nuclear membrane to form primary enveloped virions in the perinuclear space followed by fusion of the primary envelopes with the outer nuclear membrane,to translocate the nucleocapsids into the cytoplasm.Secondly,nucleocapsids obtain a series of tegument proteins in the cytoplasm and bud into vesicles derived from host organelles to acquire viral envelopes.The vesicles are then transported to and fuse with the plasma membrane to release the mature virions to the extracellular space.Therefore,at least two budding and fusion events take place at cellular membrane structures during herpesviruses assembly and egress,which induce membrane deformations.In this review,we describe and discuss how herpesviruses exploit and remodel host membrane structures to assemble and escape from the host cell.     

Role of rubella virus glycoprotein domains in assembly of virus-like particles

Rubella virus is a small enveloped positive-strand RNA virus that assembles on intracellular membranes in a variety of cell types. The virus structural proteins contain all of the information necessary to mediate the assembly of virus-like particles in the Golgi complex. We have recently identified intracellular retention signals within the two viral envelope glycoproteins. E2 contains a Golgi retention signal in its transmembrane domain, whereas a signal for retention in the endoplasmic reticulum has been localized to the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of E1 (T. C. Hobman, L. Woodward, and M. G. Farquhar, Mol. Biol. Cell 6:7-20, 1995; T. C. Hobman, H. F. Lemon, and K. Jewell, J. Virol. 71:7670-7680, 1997). In the present study, we have analyzed the role of these retention signals in the assembly of rubella virus-like particles. Deletion or replacement of these domains with analogous regions from other type I membrane glycoproteins resulted in failure of rubella virus-like particles to be secreted from transfected cells. The E1 transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains were not required for targeting of the structural proteins to the Golgi complex and, surprisingly, assembly and budding of virus particles into the lumen of this organelle; however, the resultant particles were not secreted. In contrast, replacement or alteration of the E2 transmembrane or cytoplasmic domain, respectively, abrogated the targeting of the structural proteins to the budding site, and consequently, no virion formation was observed. These results indicate that the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of E2 and E1 are required for early and late steps respectively in the viral assembly pathway and that rubella virus morphogenesis is very different from that of the structurally similar alphaviruses.     

Two Types of Virus-Related Particles Are Found during Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus Morphogenesis

The intracellular assembly of the transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus (TGEV) was studied in infected swine testis (ST) cells at different postinfection times by using ultrathin sections of conventionally embedded infected cells, freeze-substitution, and methods for detecting viral proteins and RNA at the electron microscopy level. This ultrastructural analysis was focused on the identification of the different viral components that assemble in infected cells, in particular the spherical, potentially icosahedral internal core, a new structural element of the extracellular infectious coronavirus recently characterized by our group. Typical budding profiles and two types of virion-related particles were detected in TGEV-infected cells. While large virions with an electron-dense internal periphery and a clear central area are abundant at perinuclear regions, smaller viral particles, with the characteristic morphology of extracellular virions (exhibiting compact internal cores with polygonal contours) accumulate inside secretory vesicles that reach the plasma membrane. The two types of virions coexist in the Golgi complex of infected ST cells. In nocodazole-treated infected cells, the two types of virions coexist in altered Golgi stacks, while the large secretory vesicles filled with virions found in normal infections are not detected in this case. Treatment of infected cells with the Golgi complex-disrupting agent brefeldin A induced the accumulation of large virions in the cisternae that form by fusion of different membranous compartments. These data, together with the distribution of both types of virions in different cellular compartments, strongly suggest that the large virions are the precursors of the small viral particles and that their transport through a functional Golgi complex is necessary for viral maturation.     

A cell-line-specific defect in the intracellular transport and release of assembled retroviral capsids

Retrovirus assembly involves a complex series of events in which a large number of proteins must be targeted to a point on the plasma membrane where immature viruses bud from the cell. Gag polyproteins of most retroviruses assemble an immature capsid on the cytoplasmic side of the plasma membrane during the budding process (C-type assembly), but a few assemble immature capsids deep in the cytoplasm and are then transported to the plasma membrane (B- or D-type assembly), where they are enveloped. With both assembly phenotypes, Gag polyproteins must be transported to the site of viral budding in either a relatively unassembled form (C type) or a completely assembled form (B and D types). The molecular nature of this transport process and the host cell factors that are involved have remained obscure. During the development of a recombinant baculovirus/insect cell system for the expression of both C-type and D-type Gag polyproteins, we discovered an insect cell line (High Five) with two distinct defects that resulted in the reduced release of virus-like particles. The first of these was a pronounced defect in the transport of D-type but not C-type Gag polyproteins to the plasma membrane. High Five cells expressing wild-type Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV) Gag precursors accumulate assembled immature capsids in large cytoplasmic aggregates similar to a transport-defective mutant (MA-A18V). In contrast, a larger fraction of the Gag molecules encoded by the M-PMV C-type morphogenesis mutant (MA-R55W) and those of human immunodeficiency virus were transported to the plasma membrane for assembly and budding of virions. When pulse-labeled Gag precursors from High Five cells were fractionated on velocity gradients, they sedimented more rapidly, indicating that they are sequestered in a higher-molecular-mass complex. Compared to Sf9 insect cells, the High Five cells also demonstrate a defect in the release of C-type virus particles. These findings support the hypothesis that host cell factors are important in the process of Gag transport and in the release of enveloped viral particles.     

Inhibition of enveloped virus infection of cultured cells by valproic acid

Valproic acid (VPA) is a short-chain fatty acid commonly used for treatment of neurological disorders. As VPA can interfere with cellular lipid metabolism, its effect on the infection of cultured cells by viruses of seven viral families relevant to human and animal health, including eight enveloped and four nonenveloped viruses, was analyzed. VPA drastically inhibited multiplication of all the enveloped viruses tested, including the zoonotic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus and West Nile virus (WNV), while it did not affect infection by the nonenveloped viruses assayed. VPA reduced vesicular stomatitis virus infection yield without causing a major blockage of either viral RNA or protein synthesis. In contrast, VPA drastically abolished WNV RNA and protein synthesis, indicating that this drug can interfere the viral cycle at different steps of enveloped virus infection. Thus, VPA can contribute to an understanding of the crucial steps of viral maturation and to the development of future strategies against infections associated with enveloped viruses.     

Paramyxovirus assembly and budding: Building particles that transmit infections

The paramyxoviruses define a diverse group of enveloped RNA viruses that includes a number of important human and animal pathogens. Examples include human respiratory syncytial virus and the human parainfluenza viruses, which cause respiratory illnesses in young children and the elderly; measles and mumps viruses, which have caused recent resurgences of disease in developed countries; the zoonotic Hendra and Nipah viruses, which have caused several outbreaks of fatal disease in Australia and Asia; and Newcastle disease virus, which infects chickens and other avian species. Like other enveloped viruses, paramyxoviruses form particles that assemble and bud from cellular membranes, allowing the transmission of infections to new cells and hosts. Here, we review recent advances that have improved our understanding of events involved in paramyxovirus particle formation. Contributions of viral matrix proteins, glycoproteins, nucleocapsid proteins, and accessory proteins to particle formation are discussed, as well as the importance of host factor recruitment for efficient virus budding. Trafficking of viral structural components within infected cells is described, together with mechanisms that allow for the selection of specific sites on cellular membranes for the coalescence of viral proteins in preparation of bud formation and virion release.     

Biochemical requirements of virus wrapping by the endoplasmic reticulum: involvement of ATP and endoplasmic reticulum calcium store during envelopment of African swine fever virus

Enwrapment by membrane cisternae has emerged recently as a mechanism of envelopment for large enveloped DNA viruses, such as herpesviruses, poxviruses, and African swine fever (ASF) virus. For both ASF virus and the poxviruses, wrapping is a multistage process initiated by the recruitment of capsid proteins onto membrane cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) or associated ER-Golgi intermediate membrane compartments. Capsid assembly induces progressive bending of membrane cisternae into the characteristic shape of viral particles, and envelopment provides virions with two membranes in one step. We have used biochemical assays for ASF virus capsid recruitment, assembly, and envelopment to define the cellular processes important for the enwrapment of viruses by membrane cisternae. Capsid assembly on the ER membrane, and envelopment by ER cisternae, were inhibited when cells were depleted of ATP or depleted of calcium by incubation with A23187 and EDTA or the ER calcium ATPase inhibitor, thapsigargin. Electron microscopy analysis showed that cells depleted of calcium were unable to assemble icosahedral particles. Instead, assembly sites contained crescent-shaped and bulbous structures and, in rare cases, empty closed five-sided particles. Interestingly, recruitment of the capsid protein from the cytosol onto the ER membrane did not require ATP or an intact ER calcium store. The results show that following recruitment of the virus capsid protein onto the ER membrane, subsequent stages of capsid assembly and enwrapment are dependent on ATP and are regulated by the calcium gradients present across the ER membrane cisternae.     

Self-protection and survival of arbovirus-infected mosquito cells

Arboviruses are serious pathogens for men but cause little damage to their arthropod vectors. We have studied how a mosquito cell line derived from one of the relevant vectors for arboviruses responds to Bunyamwera virus, a well-characterized arbovirus. Confocal, live cell microscopy and electron microscopy showed that Bunyamwera virus induces deep changes in mosquito cells. Early in infection these cells develop long projections and create new intercellular connections where cell organelles and viral proteins are detected. Live cell microscopy shows that these connections are developed before viral protein can be detected by immunofluorescence. Interestingly, their proliferation is accompanied by a progressive trapping of the nucleocapsid and RNA polymerase viral proteins into large cytoplasmic aggregates. A significant drop in the release of infectious virions then follows. Before that, numerous viruses assemble in peripheral Golgi stacks and they apparently exit the cells immediately since they do not accumulate intracellularly. This mechanism of assembly seems to cause little damage to the integrity of cell endomembranes. The characterization of the antiviral mechanisms operating in mosquito cells can be of great help in the fight against pathogenic arboviruses.     

Direct observation of the budding and fusion of an enveloped virus by video microscopy of viable cells

Video-enhanced microscopy and digital image processing were used to observe the assembly, budding, and fusion of Respiratory Syncytial virus. Viral filaments were seen to bud from the plasma membrane of viable infected cells to a final length of 5-10 micron with an average speed of elongation of 110-250 nm/s. The rapidity of viral assembly and its synchronous occurrence (leading to the production of several viral particles per minute from the same surface domain) suggests a directed process of recruitment of viral components to an area selected for virus maturation. Virions were also seen to adsorb to the cell surface, and to fuse with the plasma membrane. These are the first real time observations of viral morphogenesis and penetration which are crucial events in the infectious cycle of enveloped viruses.     

Fusing structure and function: a structural view of the herpesvirus entry machinery

Herpesviruses are double-stranded DNA, enveloped viruses that infect host cells through fusion with either the host cell plasma membrane or endocytic vesicle membranes. Efficient infection of host cells by herpesviruses is remarkably more complex than infection by other viruses, as it requires the concerted effort of multiple glycoproteins and involves multiple host receptors. The structures of the major viral glycoproteins and a number of host receptors involved in the entry of the prototypical herpesviruses, the herpes simplex viruses (HSVs) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), are now known. These structural studies have accelerated our understanding of HSV and EBV binding and fusion by revealing the conformational changes that occur on virus-receptor binding, depicting potential sites of functional protein and lipid interactions, and identifying the probable viral fusogen.     

A swine arterivirus deubiquitinase stabilizes two major envelope proteins and promotes production of viral progeny

Arteriviruses are enveloped positive-strand RNA viruses that assemble and egress using the host cell’s exocytic pathway. In previous studies, we demonstrated that most arteriviruses use a unique -2 ribosomal frameshifting mechanism to produce a C-terminally modified variant of their nonstructural protein 2 (nsp2). Like full-length nsp2, the N-terminal domain of this frameshift product, nsp2TF, contains a papain-like protease (PLP2) that has deubiquitinating (DUB) activity, in addition to its role in proteolytic processing of replicase polyproteins. In cells infected with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), nsp2TF localizes to compartments of the exocytic pathway, specifically endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) and Golgi complex. Here, we show that nsp2TF interacts with the two major viral envelope proteins, the GP5 glycoprotein and membrane (M) protein, which drive the key process of arterivirus assembly and budding. The PRRSV GP5 and M proteins were found to be poly-ubiquitinated, both in an expression system and in cells infected with an nsp2TF-deficient mutant virus. In contrast, ubiquitinated GP5 and M proteins did not accumulate in cells infected with the wild-type, nsp2TF-expressing virus. Further analysis implicated the DUB activity of the nsp2TF PLP2 domain in deconjugation of ubiquitin from GP5/M proteins, thus antagonizing proteasomal degradation of these key viral structural proteins. Our findings suggest that nsp2TF is targeted to the exocytic pathway to reduce proteasome-driven turnover of GP5/M proteins, thus promoting the formation of GP5-M dimers that are critical for arterivirus assembly.     

Morphogenesis of aura virus

Aura virus, a member of the Western equine-encephalitis-Whataroa subgroup of group A arboviruses, was studied by electron microscopy in suckling mouse brain and chick embryo cultured cells. Virus precursors, budding particles, and complete virus particles were first detected 10 hr after infection in chick embryo cells and 24 hr after inoculation in mouse brain. Virus precursors were generally seen aligned along cytomembranes, and were less frequently seen closely associated with viroplasm-like foci, tubular aggregates, or scattered in the cytoplasmic matrix without an apparent connection to any other structure. The assembly of mature virus was observed to take place by a budding process of the virus precursor from the plasma membrane into the extracellular space, and from the cytoplasmic membranes into the lumina of vacuoles and cisternae. It was demonstrated that the endoplasmic reticulum participates in the assembly of intracellular virions. Indirect evidence was found to indicate that the Golgi complex may also form mature virus. Aura virions had a size, shape, and structure similar to those of the previously described group A arboviruses.     

Viperin抑制黄病毒属感染作用机制研究进展

Viperin是近年来发现的具有重要免疫活性的宿主蛋白之一,其在细胞内的表达在病毒感染或干扰素诱导后明显上升,显示出广泛的抗病毒活性。已证实它可以影响许多囊膜病毒在宿主细胞中的组装和释放,但在不同的病毒中所表现的具体抗病毒活性不同。黄病毒属病毒为单股正链具囊膜的RNA病毒,该种属病毒具有相似的结构特征。Viperin蛋白可以抑制多数黄病毒在细胞中的复制。就Viperin抗几种黄病毒属病毒作用机制进行综述,为相关研究提供参考。