Journal of Virology, September 1998, p. 7659-7663, Vol. 72, No. 9
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Detection of a Trimeric Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Gag Intermediate Is Dependent on Sequences in the Matrix
Protein, p17
Yuko
Morikawa,1,*
Wei-Hong
Zhang,2
David J.
Hockley,3
Milan V.
Nermut,3 and
Ian M.
Jones2,*
The Kitasato Institute, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108, Japan,1 and
National Institute for
Biological Standards and Control, South Mimms, Hertsfordshire EN6
3QG,3 and
NERC Institute of
Virology, Oxford OX1 3SR,2 United Kingdom
Received 9 February 1998/Accepted 20 May 1998
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ABSTRACT |
Previous studies have shown that single amino acid changes in the
amino-terminal matrix (MA) domain, p17, of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Gag precursor Pr55, can abrogate virion particle assembly.
In the three-dimensional structure of MA such mutations lie in a single
helix spanning residues 54 to 68, suggesting a key role
for this helix in the assembly process. The fundamental nature of this
involvement, however, remains poorly understood. In the present study,
the essential features of the MA helix required for virus assembly have
been investigated through the analysis of a further 15 site-directed
mutants. With previous mutants that failed to assemble,
residues mapped as critical for assembly were all located on the
hydrophobic face of the helix and had a key role in stabilizing the
trimeric interface. This implies a role for the MA trimer in virus
assembly. We support this interpretation by showing that purified MA is
trimeric in solution and that mutations that prevent virus assembly
also prevent trimerization. Trimerization in solution was also a
property of a larger MA-capsid (CA) Gag molecule, while under the
same conditions CA only was a monomer. These data suggest that Gag
trimerization driven by the MA domain is an intermediate stage in
normal virion assembly and that it relies, in turn, on an MA
conformation dependent on the hydrophobic core of the molecule.
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TEXT |
The matrix protein (MA) of human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), p17, has been ascribed a number of
biological functions. In the late stage of the viral life cycle, as
part of the Pr55 Gag precursor, MA contributes sequences that are
necessary for targeting the Gag precursor to the plasma membrane
(3, 31, 39, 42) and for the incorporation, by the assembling
virion, of the major surface glycoprotein gp160 (8, 11, 37,
38). Some studies have suggested that MA is dispensable for a
form of virus assembly (10, 21, 36), but a larger number of
studies suggest a role for MA in normal virus assembly (5, 6,
12, 28, 35). One study has reported that simian immunodeficiency
virus (SIV) MA alone is capable of the formation of virus-like
particles (VLP) (15). Together, these findings indicate
that while there are powerful assembly signals in other regions of Gag,
MA appears to have a key role in the process of authentic virus
assembly. Aside from mutations in the amino terminus of MA, some of
which prevent myristylation, the region of MA found to play a role
during the normal assembly process has been localized by site-directed mutagenesis studies to a discrete region between amino acids 54 and 68 (7, 12, 14, 28). Moreover, peptide inhibition of
virion assembly has been observed with peptides derived from an
overlapping sequence (5, 30). The importance of this region in MA is also highlighted by the conservation of amino acid sequence between residues 54 and 70 among HIV type 1 (HIV-1), HIV-2, and SIV
(14). The recently reported crystal structures of HIV
and SIV MAs reveal the molecule to be a trimer (16, 33) in
which residues 54 to 68 form a discrete alpha-helix (helix 4) suggested to provide an essential spar within the molecule, precisely spacing the
residues involved in trimer contact (33). Alteration of the
conformation of helix 4 could, therefore, be the molecular basis by
which the mutations in this region that prevent assembly, at Gly56,
Cys57, Leu64, and Ile60 (5, 12, 14, 28), exert their
phenotype. However, while the MA trimer is present in the crystal
structure and supports the finding of a threefold axis of symmetry in
the structure of Gag within the budding virus (29), it has
yet to be observed in solution (25), preventing a direct test of the hypothesis that it forms an essential assembly
intermediate. Here, to address these issues, we extend our previous
study (28) to examine the ability of a further 12 single-residue and 3 double-residue mutations of helix 4 to produce Gag
VLP and identify only one face of helix 4 as critical for assembly. We
also show that following expression and purification of soluble forms
of Gag, wild-type MA and a larger MA-capsid (CA) protein
sediment as trimers in solution, a property not shared with those
mutants that fail to assemble (referred to hereafter in this work as
assembly-negative mutants). These data provide a possible
explanation for the role of the MA domain within Pr55 during
virus assembly.
Expression of helix 4 mutants and VLP formation.
To identify
the features of helix 4 that were essential for assembly, 11 single-amino acid, and 3 double-amino acid changes as indicated in
Table 1 were introduced into the HIV-1 MA
in the context of the Gag precursor Pr55. Mutant
gag genes were cloned into the baculovirus expression vector
pAcCL29-1 (22) for expression of Gag VLP in recombinant
baculoviruses (2, 13, 19). In addition, each mutant MA
domain was rescued from the Pr55 precursor by PCR and cloned into the
Escherichia coli expression vector pGEX2T (34)
for the expression and purification of soluble MA antigen as described
previously (28). The ability of each mutation to support VLP
formation was assayed by (i) detection of particulate antigen in the
supernatant of infected Spodoptera frugiperda
(Sf9) cells at 36 to 48 h postinfection by sucrose
gradient fractionation and Western blotting and (ii) direct
visualization of VLP formation by electron microscopy (EM) of thin
sections of infected cells as described elsewhere (17, 19,
40). The ability of mutant MA antigen to oligomerize with
wild-type MA was assayed by protein overlay blotting (18) as
modified by Morikawa et al. (28). Finally, the ability of
each mutant to incorporate Env antigen was assayed after coinfection of
each Gag mutant virus with a recombinant baculovirus expressing HIV-1
gp160 (27, 37) followed by sucrose density fractionation
of the VLP and Western blotting for both Gag and Env
antigens. Of all the mutations, only the double mutation Leu-to-Ala at
position 61/68 (Leu61Ala/Leu68Ala) prevented Gag VLP formation, a
phenotype that was matched by an inability of the isolated MA domain to
interact with the wild-type MA protein in vitro (Table 1). All
mutations that allowed VLP development also incorporated the envelope
glycoprotein gp160 in keeping with the direct mapping of residues
concerned with Env incorporation to a more amino-terminal region of MA
(11, 39).
A predicted distal mutation also affects VLP assembly.
Helix 4 forms one boundary of a 5-Å-radius hydrophobic core within MA centered
on Ile60 (33), and the cumulative mutants identified to date
as essential for assembly were all hydrophobic in character and
oriented toward the MA interior. To test if other residues
marking out the hydrophobic core of MA may be required for assembly, we
identified in the structure a key tyrosine residue, Tyr79, present on
the long central helix 5, whose side chain interfaced with those
hydrophobic residues identified by our mutational studies as
essential for assembly. Accordingly, Tyr79 was mutated to Ala and the
effect on VLP formation was assessed as before. Generally, residues in
helix 5 have little or no effect on virus assembly (12), but
in our analysis mutation of Tyr79 led to near abolition of antigen
release into the media and to gross deformation of particle morphology
at the surface of the expressing cells (Fig. 1). Thus, the hydrophobic core of MA
between helices 4 and 5 generated by the residues Cys57, Leu61, Leu64,
Leu68, and Tyr79 appeared to be a crucial component of the MA
conformation required for virus assembly.

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FIG. 1.
Thin sections of Sf9 cells expressing
wild-type Pr55 (top panel) or Pr55 bearing the Tyr79Ala change in the
MA domain (bottom panel). Compared to the wild type, Tyr79Ala produced
deformed, only partly budded particles and an accumulation of Gag
antigen at the membrane typical of other virus assembly mutants
previously described (reference 17 and references
therein).
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We thank the AIDS reagent repository (Harvey Holmes) for the
provision of a number of enabling reagents and David Stuart, ZiHe Rao,
and Elizabeth Fry at the Department of Molecular Biophysics, University
of Oxford, United Kingdom, for constructive discussions.
The present work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Health
and Welfare of Japan and the Medical Research Council of the United
Kingdom.
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