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J. Virol., Sep 1997, 6541-6546, Vol 71, No. 9
BA Puffer, LJ Parent, JW Wills and RC Montelaro
We have previously demonstrated that the Gag p9 protein of equine
infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is functionally homologous with Rous sarcoma
virus (RSV) p2b and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) p6 in
providing a critical late assembly function in RSV Gag-mediated budding
from transfected COS-1 cells (L. J. Parent et al., J. Virol. 69:5455-5460,
1995). In light of the absence of amino acid sequence homology between EIAV
p9 and the functional homologs of RSV and HIV-1, we have now designed an
EIAV Gag-mediated budding assay to define the late assembly (L) domain
peptide sequences contained in the EIAV p9 protein. The results of these
particle budding assays revealed that expression of EIAV Gag polyprotein in
COS-1 cells yielded extracellular Gag particles with a characteristic
density of 1.18 g/ml, while expression of EIAV Gag polyprotein lacking p9
resulted in a severe reduction in the release of extracellular Gag
particles. The defect in EIAV Gag polyprotein particle assembly could be
corrected by substituting either the RSV p2b or HIV-1 p6 protein for EIAV
p9. These observations demonstrated that the L domains of EIAV, HIV-1, and
RSV were interchangeable in mediating assembly of EIAV Gag particles in the
COS-1 cell budding assay. To localize the L domain of EIAV p9, we next
assayed the effects of deletions and site-specific mutations in the p9
protein on its ability to mediate budding of EIAV Gag particles. Analyses
of EIAV Gag constructs with progressive N-terminal or C- terminal deletions
of the p9 protein identified a minimum sequence of 11 amino acids
(Q20N21L22Y23P24D25L26S27E28I29K30) capable of providing the late assembly
function. Alanine scanning studies of this L-domain sequence demonstrated
that mutations of residues Y23, P24, and L26 abrogated the p9 late budding
function; mutations of other residues in the p9 L domain did not
substantially affect the level of EIAV Gag particle assembly. These data
indicate that the L domain in EIAV p9 utilizes a YXXL motif which we
hypothesize may interact with cellular proteins to facilitate virus
particle budding from infected cells.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Equine infectious anemia virus utilizes a YXXL motif within the late assembly domain of the Gag p9 protein
Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
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