Vesicular stomatitis virus M protein in the nuclei of infected cells.

The M protein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was localized in the nuclei and cytoplasm of VSV-infected cells by subcellular fractionation and immunofluorescence microscopy. Nuclei isolated from VSV-infected Friend erythroleukemia cells were fractionated into a nuclear membrane and a nucleoplasm fraction by DNase digestion and differential centrifugation. G protein was present in the membrane fraction, and M protein was present in the nucleoplasm fraction. Immunofluorescence detection of M protein in the nucleus required that fixed cells be permeabilized with higher concentrations of detergent than were required for detection of M protein in the cytoplasm of VSV-infected BHK cells.     

Vesicular stomatitis virus growth in Drosophila melanogaster cells: G protein deficiency.

In cultured Drosophila melanogaster cells, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) established a persistent, noncytopathic infection. No inhibition of host protein synthesis occurred even though all cells were initially infected. No defective interfering particles were detected, which would explain the establishment of the carrier state. In studies of the time course of viral protein synthesis in Drosophila cells, N, NS, and M viral polypeptides were readily detected within 1 h of infection. The yield of G protein and one of its precursors; G1, was very low at any time of the virus cycle; the released viruses always contained four to five times less G than those produced by chicken embryo cells, whatever the VSV strain or serotype used for infection and whatever the Drosophila cell line used as host. Actinomycin D added to the cells before infection enhanced VSV growth up to eight times. G and G1 synthesis increased much more than that of the other viral proteins when the cells were pretreated with the drug; nevertheless, the released viruses exhibited the same deficiency in G protein as the VSV released from untreated cells. Host cell control on both G-protein maturation process and synthesis at traduction level is discussed in relation to G biological properties.     

Vesicular stomatitis virus M protein may be inside the ribonucleocapsid coil.

Vesicular stomatitis virus is an enveloped virus with an external glycoprotein G and a nucleocapsid that form, together with the M protein, a tight helically coiled structure: the skeleton. Negative staining and immunoelectron microscopy studies on skeleton preparations were performed to determine the localization of the M protein. These studies have resulted in a new model for the structure of rhabdoviruses in which the nucleocapsid is wound around a core containing the M protein. This model predicts contact between M and lipid only at the extreme ends of the skeleton, which is confirmed by skeleton-liposome binding studies.     

Shedding of the glycoprotein from vesicular stomatitis virus-infected cells.

In a culture of Chinese hamster ovary cells infected with vesicular stomatitis virus, there is specific shedding of viral antigens into the medium. This shedding appears to be unrelated to progeny formation or to cell lysis. Although all five of the virus-specific proteins are detected in the extracellular soluble fraction, the major antigen is the Gs protein. This protein has a molecular weight of 54,000. Indirect analysis of the content of sialic acid as well as peptide analysis of the Gs and G proteins of vesicular stomatitis virus suggest that the Gs protein is derived from the G protein by proteolysis. Both proteins are hydrophobic when analyzed by charge-shift electrophoresis. The presence of phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride in the culture medium or the removal of serum from the culture medium partially reduces the shedding of Gs protein. Increased shedding of the Gs protein is seen when there is an unstable M or matrix protein synthesized by a temperature-sensitive mutant, tsG31. These results indicate that the G protein is cleaved at the cell surface, thus releasing Gs protein into the medium. Furthermore, the stability of G protein at the cell surface appears to be dependent on its association with the M protein.     

Accessibility to proteases of the cytoplasmic G protein domain of vesicular stomatitis virus is increased during intracellular transport

G1 and G2 are two forms of the membrane-integrated G protein of vesicular stomatitis virus that migrate differently in gel electrophoresis because G1 is modified by high-mannose and G2 by complex-type oligosaccharide side chains. The cytoplasmic domain in G1 is less exposed to cleavage by several proteases than in G2 molecules. Acylation by palmitic acid as well as inhibition of carbohydrate processing by swainsonine and deoxynojirimycin resulted in the same pattern of proteolytic sensitivity of both glycoproteins as in untreated cells. In contrast, accessibility of the cytoplasmic domain to proteases did not change when the intracellular transport of the G protein was blocked in carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone- or monensin-treated BHK-21 cells, respectively. The results suggest that the increase in accessibility of the cytoplasmic tail of the G protein occurs after the monensin block in the trans-Golgi and might reflect a conformational change of functional significance--i.e., making the cytoplasmic domain of the viral spike protein competent for its interaction with the viral core, inducing thereby the formation of the budding virus particle.     

A fluorescence photobleaching study of vesicular stomatitis virus infected BHK cells. Modulation of G protein mobility by M protein

The mobility of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) G protein on the surface of infected BHK cells was studied by using the technique of fluorescence photobleaching recovery. The fraction of surface G protein that was mobile in that time scale of the measurement (minutes) was at least 75%, a relatively high value among cell surface proteins so far observed. For studies of the effect of an internal viral protein (M protein) on G protein mobility, cells infected with wild-type VSV were compared with those infected with temperature-sensitive VSV mutants of complementation group III, which contains lesions in the M protein. At the permissive temperature, a pronounced decrease in the mobile fraction of surface G was observed for each of three mutants studied, while mobility of surface G at the nonpermissive temperature was indistinguishable in mutant and wild-type infected cells. A significantly lower mobile fraction of G protein was also observed in SV40 transformed 3T3 cells infected with wild-type VSV, but not in 3T3 or chick embryo fibroblast cells similarly infected. None of the variables tested had a measurable effect on the lateral diffusion coefficient of the mobile G protein. These results are interpreted as modulation of the mobility of a specific cell surface protein by a specific intracellular protein.     

Immunocytochemical study of the intracellular localization of M protein of vesicular stomatitis virus

Summary The purpose of this paper is to describe the immunocytochemical localization of M protein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in infected cells. Vero cells, MDBK cells, Swiss 3T3 cells, and BHK cells were examined at various times after infection. For immunofluorescent staining, the cells were fixed with PLP fixative and then treated with 0.05% Triton X-100 before incubation with antibodies. Three hours after infection, M protein exhibited diffuse immunostaining throughout the cytoplasm and later accumulated along the cell membrane. The localization of M protein differed from the granular localization of the nucleocapsid N protein of VSV in the cytoplasm. For electron microscopy, the cells were fixed first in a mixture of 2% paraformaldehyde and 0.05% glutaraldehyde and then with PLP fixative, this being followed by treatment with 0.05% saponin. They were then immunostained using the immunoperoxidase method. The M protein was found to be distributed throughout the cytoplasm and later under the cell membrane, especially at virus budding sites. We also used postembedding immunostaining and freeze-fracture immunostaining to avoid the translocation of M protein caused by the detergent treatment. These techniques confirmed our previous results. Our findings are consistent with the view that the M protein of VSV is synthesized on free ribosomes and is then associated with the cell membrane where viral assembly may occur.S. Ohno was a visiting fellow from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health, USA, from September 1981 to August 1983, while some parts of this work were in progress.     

Glycosylation of vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein in virus-infected HeLa cells.

Glycosylation of the envelope glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus was examined using virus-infected HeLa cells that were pulse-labeled with radioactive sugar precursors. The intracellular sites of glycosylation and the stepwise elongation of the carbohydrate side chains of the G protein were monitored by membrane fractionation and gel filtration of Pronase-digested glycopeptides. The results with short pulses of sugar label (5 to 10 mtein linkage (glucosamine and mannose) are added to G which was associated with the rough endoplasmic reticulum-enriched membrane fraction, whereas the more distal sugars (galactose, sialic acid, fucose, and possibly more glucosamine) are added in the light-density internal membrane fraction. Accumulation of mature G was observed in the plasma membrane-enriched fraction. The gel filtration studies indicated that the initial glycosylation event may be the en bloc addition of a mannose and glucosamine oligomer, followed by the stepwise addition of the more distal sugars.     

Cell lines with reduced UDP-N-acetylhexosamine pool in the presence of ammonium.

The glycosylation of pharmaglycoproteins from recombinant cell lines can be affected by an uncontrolled accumulation of ammonium in the medium. Glucosamine-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI) has been proposed as the key enzyme responsible for elevating the intracellular UDP-N-acetylhexosamine pool (UDPGNAc) by accepting ammonium from the medium of cultured mammalian cells. As previously reported, the increased UDPGNAc pool then affects the N-glycan complexity in glycoproteins. To understand the entry of extracellular ammonium into the cellular metabolism, GPI has been isolated to homogeneity from BHK-21 cells and characterized. Thus, the complete pathway by which ammonium enters the cellular metabolism was elucidated. To reduce the negative effects of ammonium, GPI was inhibited using two different strategies. First, the addition of mannose to the culture media and, second, antisense RNA expression. In both cases, the cellular UDPGNAc pool was suppressed in the presence of high ammonium concentrations in the medium. However, constant suppression of the UDPGNAc pool could not be achieved by antisense RNA expression because antisense clones were apparently unstable. Further studies showed that the main reason for instability was the inducibility of GPI by its substrate ammonium. GPI was induced to a factor of two under ammonium-containing medium conditions. We propose gene knockout technology for GPI repression to obtain cell lines consisting of an UDPGNAc pool unaffected by the presence of ammonium.     

Vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein is anchored to intracellular membranes near its carboxyl end and is proteolytically cleaved at its amino terminus.

The intracellular vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (G) is inserted into membranes such that a small portion of one end of the molecule is exposed on the cytoplasmic surface of the endoplasmic reticulum and is susceptible to proteolytic digestion (T.G. Morrison, C.O. McQuain, and D. Simpson, J. Virol. 28:368-374). We have determined that this region of the G protein contains two methionyl tryptic peptides. The methionyl tryptic peptides of the G protein have been ordered by the use of the antibiotic pactamycin, and the two methionyl tryptic peptides removed by proteolytic digestion of intracellular G protein have been shown to be derived from the carboxyl terminal end of the protein. In addition, we have found that the unglycosylated G protein synthesized in a reticulocyte cell-free reaction migrates on polyacrylamide gels slightly slower than the unglycosylated G protein synthesized in tunicamycin-treated infected cells. We have also compared these G proteins derived from different sources by partial proteolysis (D.W. Cleveland, S.G. Fischer, M.W. Kirschner, and V.K. Laemmli, J. Biol. Chem. 252:1102-1106) and by chymotryptic peptide analysis. We have found minor differences between the two proteins consistent with the removal of 10 to 15 amino acids from the amino terminus of the intracellular G protein.     

Characterization of the soluble glycoprotein released from vesicular stomatitis virus-infected cells.

Vesicular stomatitis virus-infected Chinese hamster ovary cells release into the extracellular medium a soluble form of the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (G protein) termed Gs (Kang and Prevec, Virology 46:678-680, 1971). The properties of this molecule and the cellular site at which it is generated were characterized. By comparing the sizes and the peptide maps of the unglycosylated forms of G and Gs, we found that between 5,000 and 6,000 daltons of the carboxy-terminal end of the G protein is cleaved to generate the Gs molecule. This truncated molecule contains no fatty acid. Gs released from cells grown at 39 degrees C migrated on polyacrylamide gels slightly slower than Gs released at 30 degrees C. The unglycosylated form of Gs also showed this size difference. Furthermore, unglycosylated Gs was resolved into two species upon isoelectric focusing: the relative amounts of the two species depended upon the temperature at which infected cells were incubated. Full-sized unglycosylated virus-associated G also was resolved into two species, but the more basic form predominated at both 30 and 39 degrees C. The appearance of Gs in the extracellular medium depended upon the presence of stable, full-sized G at the cell surface. The amount of Gs released was quantitated in seven different situations in which the migration of G to the cell surface was inhibited. In all cases, the amount of Gs released was also decreased. In addition, incubation of cells surface labeled with 125I resulted in the release of 125I-labeled Gs protein, as well as full-sized G protein. These results suggest that Gs is generated primarily by proteolytic cleavage of plasma membrane-associated G at a site in the molecule just amino terminal to the membrane-spanning region of the molecule.     

Vesicular stomatitis virus G protein acquires pH-independent fusion activity during transport in a polarized endometrial cell line

Entry of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), the prototype member of the rhabdovirus family, occurs by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Subsequently, during traversal through the endosomal compartments, the VSV G protein acquires a low-pH-induced fusion-competent form, allowing for fusion of the viral membrane with endosomal and lysosomal membranes. This fusion event releases genomic RNA into the cytoplasm of the cell. Here we provide evidence that the VSV G protein acquires a fusion-competent form during exocytosis in a polarized endometrial cell line, HEC-1A. VSV infection of HEC-1A cells results in high viral yields and giant cell formation. Syncytium formation is blocked in a concentration-dependent manner by treatment with the lysosomotropic weak base ammonium chloride, which raises intravesicular pH. Virus release is somewhat delayed by treatment with ammonium chloride, but virus yields gradually reach those of control cells. In addition, inhibition of vacuolar H(+)-ATPases by treatment with bafilomycin A1 also inhibited cell to cell fusion without altering virus yields. Virions released from infected HEC cells were themselves not fusion competent, since viral entry required an active H(+)-ATPase and a low-pH-induced conformational change in the viral G protein. Thus, the conformation change leading to fusion competence during exocytotic transport is reversible and reverts during or after release of the virion from the infected cell.     

The M protein of vesicular stomatitis virus associates specifically with the basolateral membranes of polarized epithelial cells independently of the G protein

Using monoclonal antibodies and indirect immunofluorescence microscopy, we investigated the distribution of the M protein in situ in vesicular stomatitis virus-(VSV) infected MDCK cells. M protein was observed free in the cytoplasm and associated with the plasma membrane. Using the ts045 mutant of VSV to uncouple the synthesis and transport of the VSV G protein we demonstrated that this distribution was not related to the presence of G protein on the cell surface. Sections of epon-embedded infected cells labeled with antibody to the M protein and processed for indirect horseradish peroxidase immunocytochemistry revealed that the M protein was associated specifically with the basolateral plasma membrane. The G and M proteins of VSV have therefore evolved features which bring them independently to the basolateral membrane of polarized epithelial cells and allow virus to bud specifically from that membrane.     

Newly synthesized G protein of vesicular stomatitis virus is not transported to the Golgi complex in mitotic cells

Newly synthesized G protein of vesicular stomatitis virus is not transported to the surface of cultured mammalian cells during mitosis (Warren et al., 1983, J. Cell Biol. 97:1623-1628). To determine where intracellular transport is inhibited, we have examined the post-translational modifications of G protein, which are indicators of specific compartments on the transport pathway. G protein in mitotic cells had only endo H-sensitive oligosaccharides containing seven or eight mannose residues, but no terminal glucose, and was not fatty acylated. These modifications were indicative of processing only by enzymes of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Quantitative immunocytochemistry was used as an independent method to confirm that transport of G protein out of the ER was inhibited. The density of G protein in the ER cisternae was 2.5 times greater than in infected G1 cells treated similarly. Incubation of infected mitotic cells with cycloheximide, which inhibits protein synthesis without affecting transport, did not result in a decrease in the density of G protein in the ER cisternae, demonstrating that G protein cannot be chased out of the ER. These results suggest that intracellular transport stops at or before the first vesicle-mediated step on the pathway.     

Interferon treatment reduced adherence, invasiveness and intracellular multiplication of Shigella flexneri in coxsackie B1 virus-infected cells.

The effect of interferon treatment on interaction of Shigella flexneri with in vitro cultured cells was investigated. Pretreatment of HEp-2 cells with human interferons had no effect on the susceptibility of cells to S. flexneri, measured by invasiveness and adhesiveness. Human leukocyte interferon and human recombinant interferon-alpha-A reduced adhesiveness, intracellular multiplication and invasiveness of S. flexneri in HEp-2 cells preinfected with coxsackie B1 virus. Also non-receptor mediated-phagocytosis was reduced by interferon treatment in virus infected cells. The interferon effects were dependent on continuous protein synthesis, because they were not expressed when cycloheximide or abrin was added to the virus infected cell cultures. No effect of interferon was detected on intracellular content of Na+ or K+, Na(+)-K+ activated ATPase activity or cytoplasma membrane polarity, in virus infected or control cell cultures. The interferon effect on bacterial invasiveness seems to be dependent on an interferon receptor interaction on cytoplasma membrane level because directly microinjected interferon showed no effect.     

Regulation of protein synthesis in vesicular stomatitis virus-infected mouse L-929 cells by decreased protein synthesis initiation factor 2 activity.

Infection of mouse L-cell spinner cultures by vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) effected the selective translation of viral mRNA by 4h after viral adsorption. Cell-free systems prepared from mock- and VSV-infected cells reflected this phenomenon; protein synthesis was reduced in the virus-infected cell lysate by approximately 75% compared with the mock-infected (control) lysate. This effect appeared to be specific to protein synthesis initiation since (i) methionine incorporation into protein from an exogenous preparation of initiator methionyl-tRNA gave completely analogous results and (ii) the addition of a ribosomal salt wash (containing protein synthesis initiation factors) stimulated protein synthesis by the infected cell lysate but had no effect on protein synthesis by the control. Micrococcal nuclease-treated (initiation-dependent) VSV-infected cell lysates were not able to translate L-cell mRNA unless they were supplemented with a ribosomal salt wash; a salt wash from ribosomes from uninfected cells effected a quicker recovery than a salt wash from ribosomes from infected cells. When salt wash preparations from ribosomes from uninfected and infected cells were tested for initiation factor 2 (eIF-2)-dependent ternary complex capacity with added GTP and initiator methionyl-tRNA, we found that the two preparations contained equivalent levels of eIF-2. However, initiation complex formation by the factor from virus-infected cells proceeded at a reduced initial rate compared with the control. When the lysates were supplemented with a partially purified eIF-2 preparation, recovery of activity by the infected cell lysate was observed. Mechanisms by which downward regulation of eIF-2 activity might direct the selective translation of viral mRNA in VSV-infected cells are proposed.