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Journal of Virology, October 2008, p. 10088-10101, Vol. 82, No. 20
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.01011-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Different Types of nsP3-Containing Protein Complexes in Sindbis Virus-Infected Cells{triangledown}

Rodion Gorchakov,1 Natalia Garmashova,1 Elena Frolova,1,2 and Ilya Frolov1*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-1019,1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-10722

Received 14 May 2008/ Accepted 29 July 2008

Alphaviruses represent a serious public health threat and cause a wide variety of diseases, ranging from severe encephalitis, which can result in death or neurological sequelae, to mild infection, characterized by fever, skin rashes, and arthritis. In the infected cells, alphaviruses express only four nonstructural proteins, which function in the synthesis of virus-specific RNAs and in modification of the intracellular environment. The results of our study suggest that Sindbis virus (SINV) infection in BHK-21 cells leads to the formation of at least two types of nsP3-containing complexes, one of which was found in association with the plasma membrane and endosome-like vesicles, while the second was coisolated with cell nuclei. The latter complexes could be solubilized only with the cytoskeleton-destabilizing detergent. Besides viral nsPs, in the mammalian cells, both complexes contained G3BP1 and G3BP2 (which were found in different ratios), YBX1, and HSC70. Rasputin, an insect cell-specific homolog of G3BP1, was found in the nsP3-containing complexes isolated from mosquito cells, which was suggestive of a high conservation of the complexes in the cells of both vertebrate and invertebrate origin. The endosome- and plasma membrane-associated complexes contained a high concentration of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs), which is indicative of their function in viral-RNA synthesis. The dsRNA synthesis is likely to efficiently proceed on the plasma membrane, and at least some of the protein-RNA complexes would then be transported into the cytosol in association with the endosome-like vesicular organelles. These findings provide new insight into the mechanism of SINV replication and virus-host cell interactions.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-1019. Phone: (409) 772-2327. Fax: (409) 772-5065. E-mail: ivfrolov{at}UTMB.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 6 August 2008.

Journal of Virology, October 2008, p. 10088-10101, Vol. 82, No. 20
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.01011-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kulasegaran-Shylini, R., Atasheva, S., Gorenstein, D. G., Frolov, I. (2009). Structural and Functional Elements of the Promoter Encoded by the 5' Untranslated Region of the Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Genome. J. Virol. 83: 8327-8339 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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