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J. Virol., 12 1997, 9054-9064, Vol 71, No. 12
JR Doedens, TH Giddings Jr and K Kirkegaard
Poliovirus protein 3A, only 87 amino acids in length, is a potent inhibitor
of protein secretion in mammalian cells, blocking anterograde protein
traffic from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi complex. The
function of viral protein 3A in blocking protein secretion is extremely
sensitive to mutations near the N terminus of the protein. Deletion of the
first 10 amino acids or insertion of a single amino acid between amino
acids 15 and 16, a mutation that causes a cold- sensitive defect in
poliovirus RNA replication, abrogates the inhibition of protein secretion
although wild-type amounts of the mutant proteins are expressed.
Immunofluorescence light microscopy and immunoelectron microscopy
demonstrate that 3A protein, expressed in the absence of other viral
proteins, colocalizes with membranes derived from the ER. The precise
topology of 3A with respect to ER membranes is not known, but it is likely
to be associated with the cytosolic surface of the ER. Although the
glycosylation of 3A in translation extracts has been reported, we show that
tunicamycin, under conditions in which glycosylation of cellular proteins
is inhibited, has no effect on poliovirus growth. Therefore, glycosylation
of 3A plays no functional role in the viral replicative cycle. Electron
microscopy reveals that the ER dilates dramatically in the presence of 3A
protein. The absence of accumulated vesicles and the swelling of the
ER-derived membranes argues that ER-to-Golgi traffic is inhibited at the
step of vesicle formation or budding from the ER.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum-to-Golgi traffic by poliovirus protein 3A: genetic and ultrastructural analysis
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309, USA.
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