Journal of Virology, November 2001, p. 10563-10572, Vol. 75, No. 22
Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center,1 and Program in
Molecular and Cellular Biology2 and
Department of Microbiology,3 University
of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Received 11 June 2001/Accepted 30 July 2001
Different subgroups of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) use different
host cell receptors for entry. Subgroup A FeLV (FeLV-A) is the virus
that is transmitted from cat to cat, suggesting that cells expressing
the FeLV-A receptor are important targets at the earliest stages of
infection. FeLV-B evolves from FeLV-A in the infected cat through
acquisition of cellular sequences that are related to the FeLV envelope
gene. FeLV-Bs have been shown to infect cells using the Pit1 receptor,
and some variants can infect cells at a lower efficiency using Pit2.
Because these observations were made using receptor proteins of human
or rodent origin, the role that Pit1 and Pit2 may play in FeLV-B
replication in the cat is unclear. In this study, the feline Pit
receptors were cloned and tested for their ability to act as receptors
for different FeLV-Bs. Some FeLV-Bs infected cells expressing feline
Pit2 and feline Pit1 with equal high efficiency. Variable region A
(VRA) in the putative receptor-binding domain (RBD) was a critical
determinant for both feline Pit1 and feline Pit2 binding, although
other domains in the RBD appear to influence how efficiently the FeLV-B
surface unit can bind to feline Pit2 and promote entry via this
receptor. An arginine residue at position 73 in VRA was found to be
important for envelope binding to feline Pit2 but not feline Pit1.
Interestingly, this arginine is not found in endogenous FeLV sequences
or in recombinant viruses recovered from feline cells infected with FeLV-A. Thus, while FeLV-Bs that are able to use feline Pit2 can evolve
by recombination with endogenous sequences, a subsequent point mutation
during reverse transcription may be needed to generate a virus that can
efficiently enter the cells using the feline Pit2 as its receptor.
These studies suggest that cells expressing the feline Pit2 protein are
likely to be targets for FeLV-B infection in the cat.
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.22.10563-10572.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Feline Pit2 Functions as a Receptor for Subgroup B
Feline Leukemia Viruses
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of
Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview
Ave N., C3-168, Seattle, WA 98109-1024. Phone: (206) 667-3524. Fax: (206) 667-1535. E-mail: joverbau{at}fhcrc.org.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»