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Journal of Virology, February 2000, p. 1566-1571, Vol. 74, No. 3
Institute of Virology, Department of
Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
and Institute of Biomembranes, Utrecht University, 3584 CL Utrecht, The
Netherlands
Received 21 June 1999/Accepted 19 October 1999
The type I glycoprotein S of coronavirus, trimers of which
constitute the typical viral spikes, is assembled into virions through
noncovalent interactions with the M protein. Here we demonstrate that
incorporation is mediated by the short carboxy-terminal segment comprising the transmembrane and endodomain. To this aim, we used the
virus-like particle (VLP) system that we developed earlier for the
mouse hepatitis virus strain A59 (MHV-A59) and which we describe now
also for the unrelated coronavirus feline infectious peritonitis virus
(FIPV; strain 79-1146). Two chimeric MHV-FIPV S proteins were
constructed, consisting of the ectodomain of the one virus and the
transmembrane and endodomain of the other. These proteins were tested
for their incorporation into VLPs of either species. They were found to
assemble only into viral particles of the species from which their
carboxy-terminal domain originated. Thus, the 64-terminal-residue
sequence suffices to draw the 1308 (MHV)- or 1433 (FIPV)-amino-acid-long mature S protein into VLPs. Both chimeric S
proteins appeared to cause cell fusion when expressed individually,
suggesting that they were biologically fully active. This was indeed
confirmed by incorporating one of the proteins into virions which
thereby acquired a new host cell tropism, as will be reported elsewhere.
The first step in virus infection is
the binding of the virus particle to a receptor on the target cell. In
enveloped viruses, this binding is mediated by one of the viral
membrane proteins. Coronaviruses, plus-stranded RNA viruses occurring
in various mammalian and avian species including humans, usually carry
three proteins in their envelope. Most abundant is the M protein, a triple-spanning membrane glycoprotein the main function of which involves the organization of the viral envelope and the interactions with the nucleocapsid during assembly (for a review, see reference 24). Another component essential in the assembly
process is the small E protein. This protein is generally a minor
virion constituent (for a review, see reference 29).
It is largely embedded within the viral membrane, and only its
hydrophilic carboxy terminus protrudes inside the virion (M. J. B. Raamsman, J. Krijnse Locker, A. de Hooghe, A. A. F. de Vries, G. Griffiths, H. Vennema, and P. J. M. Rottier,
submitted for publication). The third envelope protein is the spike (S)
protein, a type I membrane glycoprotein, trimers of which
(8) constitute the characteristic coronavirus spikes. It is
this protein that mediates the binding of the virus to the target cell
receptor and the subsequent fusion of viral and cellular membranes
during entry (for a review, see reference 3).
Coronavirus assembly is not dependent on the S protein. Studies in
which the glycosylation and thus the proper folding of the protein were
inhibited by treatment of mouse hepatitis virus strain A59
(MHV-A59)-infected cells with tunicamycin revealed that spikeless,
noninfectious particles can be formed (12, 23). These
observations were confirmed when we (32) and others (1, 2) showed that virus-like particles (VLPs) can be assembled in
cells simply from the M and E proteins by the coexpression of their
genes; neither the S protein nor a nucleocapsid appeared to be
required. These particles, which we found to be morphologically identical to normal virus, did contain spikes if the S gene was also coexpressed.
Incorporation of spikes into coronavirus particles is effected by
interactions between the S protein and the M protein. We demonstrated
such interactions in MHV-A59-infected cells, in virions, and during
coexpression of M and S genes (7, 21, 22). In an extensive
mutagenetic analysis of the primary structure requirements of the M
protein for M-S interactions, we observed that the amino-terminal domain of M In order to confirm this hypothesis, we have constructed two reciprocal
chimeric S proteins composed of the S ectodomain and carboxy-terminal
domain of two unrelated coronaviruses. Our aim was to functionally test
these proteins by evaluating their assembly into VLPs derived from
these viruses. The chimeric spikes were constructed with the S genes of
MHV-A59 and of feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV; strain
79-1146). These viruses belong to two different groups of coronaviruses
which are genetically and serologically very divergent. For the S
proteins, the overall amino acid sequence identity is only 27%;
maximal identity (44%) occurs in the segment comprising the
transmembrane and carboxy-terminal domain. Another distinguishing
feature of these S proteins is that the MHV protein is proteolytically
cleaved during transport to the cell surface while that of FIPV is not.
Construction of chimeric S genes.
For the construction of the
proteins, we have exploited the convenient presence of a
StyI restriction site in both S genes located just at the
position which encodes the transition between the protein's ectodomain
and transmembrane domain, i.e., where the polypeptide enters the lipid
membrane. The resulting constructs are depicted in Fig.
1A. One construct (FMS) is composed of
the 1,388-amino-acid-long FIPV S ectodomain and the 64-residue
transmembrane plus endodomain from MHV-A59 S. The other one (MFS) has
the reciprocal structure and consists of 1,260 and 64 amino acids,
respectively. The amino acid sequences of the carboxy-terminal regions
of the MHV-A59 and FIPV S proteins are compared in Fig. 1B.
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Assembly of Spikes into Coronavirus Particles Is
Mediated by the Carboxy-Terminal Domain of the Spike Protein
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the domain exposed on the outside of virions
is not involved (7). These observations indicate that the
association between the proteins takes place at the level of the
membrane, possibly also involving part of the M protein's
carboxy-terminal domain. For the S protein, this implies that the
interactions would be limited to the small part of the molecule
comprising the transmembrane domain and endodomain.
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FIG. 1.
(A) Spike constructs. MHV-A59 S was expressed from the
plasmid pTUMS (32), and the FIPV strain 79-1146 S protein
was expressed from pFIPVE2, which was made as follows. A 3'-terminal S
fragment was prepared by ligating the XbaI-SalI
fragment from pB1 (4) into pUC18, cutting with
AccI and SalI, and religating after filling in
with Klenow polymerase. From the resulting plasmid p3d, the
XbaI-SalI fragment was isolated and used. A
middle piece was prepared by isolating the
PstI-XbaI fragment from pB1. This fragment and
the 3' XbaI-SalI fragment were ligated into p1A
(4), which had been digested with PstI and
SalI to give pFIPVE2. Chimeric protein FMS was expressed
from pTFMS, which was constructed as follows. Plasmid p3d was digested
with HindIII, filled in with Klenow enzyme, and ligated
with BglII linkers, resulting in p3dHrB. After the plasmid
was cut with StyI and BglII, an MHV S gene
fragment was ligated into it; the fragment was prepared by digesting
the S gene, obtained as a BamHI fragment from pDGE2
(31), with StyI and taking the small fragment.
The resulting p3FM vector was cut with PstI and
SalI; into it were ligated the
XbaI-SalI fragment from p3d and the
PstI-XbaI fragment from pB1. The chimeric gene
was finally recloned as a BamHI fragment into pTUG3,
resulting in pTFMS. Chimeric protein MFS was expressed from pTMFS,
which was prepared starting with p3dHrB. This plasmid was cut with
StyI and BamHI, and a
BamHI-StyI fragment obtained from the MHV S
BamHI gene described above was ligated into it. The chimeric
S gene was recloned as a BamHI-SalI fragment into
pTUG3 cut with the same enzymes. TM, transmembrane domain; ecto,
ectodomain; endo, endodomain. (B) Carboxy-terminal sequences of the
MHV-A59 and FIPV spike proteins. The 67 terminal residues of each
protein are compared. The arrow indicates the junction point in the
chimeric S constructs.
Expression of chimeric S proteins. As the gene constructs were placed in plasmids behind a bacteriophage T7 polymerase promoter sequence, they could be tested by expression with the vaccinia virus T7 system (11). Cultures of mouse OST7-1 cells (9) infected with vTF7-3 were transfected in parallel with the plasmids as well as with similar plasmids containing the MHV-A59 and FIPV wild-type S genes. Starting at 5 h postinfection (p.i.), the cells were labeled for 1 h with 35S-amino acids. Cell lysates were then prepared, and immunoprecipitations were carried out on two aliquots of each lysate with the monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) WA3.10 and 23F4.5, known to recognize the ectodomain of the S protein of MHV-A59 (33) and of FIPV (19), respectively. The analysis of the precipitated proteins is shown in Fig. 2. The results demonstrate firstly that the antibodies used are specific and do not cross-react: the wild-type proteins are precipitated only by the proper MAb, not by the other. Secondly, the analysis reveals that the chimeric proteins have the expected properties. The MFS protein comigrates in the gel with the MHV S protein while the mobility of the FMS construct is similar to that of FIPV S.
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Biological activity of chimeric S proteins: cell fusion. Coronavirus S proteins undergo extensive co- and posttranslational modifications and conformational maturation (for a review, see reference 3). They are extensively glycosylated, become acylated, and undergo formation of multiple intrachain disulfide bonds (20, 21). Most of these events occur during and immediately after synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum and are critical for the subsequent oligomerization, assembly, and transport processes. In infected cells, the spike complexes are incorporated into viral particles and released with virions from the cell, but a fraction of the complexes is also transported to the plasma membrane where it causes fusion with neighboring cells. Likewise, fusion occurs when the S proteins are expressed individually in the proper cells.
Because the fusion phenotype of an S protein reflects its proper folding and transport to the cell surface as well as a biological property essential for infection, we performed fusion assays with our chimeric constructs. The different S genes were expressed by using the vaccinia virus expression system in BHK-21 cells in which neither of the wild-type S proteins induces fusion by itself. Fusion was evaluated in a coculture assay by overlaying the cell monolayer with mouse L cells or with feline FCWF cells. Pictures of the results are shown in Fig. 3. As predicted, the controls FIPV S (fS) and MHV-A59 S (mS) caused fusion only of the feline and mouse cells, respectively. The chimeric FMS protein induced fusion of the FCWF cells, not of the L cells, consistent with the feline nature of its ectodomain. The reciprocal construct MFS, which derives its ectodomain from MHV S, gave the opposite results, causing fusion only of the mouse cells. The observations demonstrate that the chimeric proteins are processed and transported properly and are biologically active.
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Assembly of chimeric S proteins into VLPs. As the final test to establish whether indeed the incorporation of spikes into coronavirus particles is determined by the carboxy-terminal domain, we analyzed the assembly of the chimeric and wild-type S proteins into both MHV-based and FIPV-based VLPs. Plasmids encoding the M, E, and S proteins were transfected into OST7-1 cells that had been infected with vTF7-3. The proteins were labeled by incubating the cells for 3 h with 35S-amino acids. VLPs secreted into the culture medium were purified by flotation in sucrose gradients. They were subsequently affinity purified with MHV S- and FIPV S-specific MAbs as well as with antisera to other viral structural proteins.
The analyses of the MHV-based VLPs are shown in Fig. 4. Coexpression of all three MHV-A59 wild-type membrane proteins led to the formation of particles that could be affinity isolated as expected by the MAb J1.3 against the MHV M protein ectodomain (6) as well as by the MAb WA3.10 against the MHV S ectodomain (33) but not by the MAb 23F4.5 against the FIPV S ectodomain (19). Control coexpressions of the M and S proteins were not productive, while coexpression of M and E yielded VLPs that could be isolated through their M protein with MAb J1.3 but that were recognized by neither of the anti-S MAbs. Of the chimeric S proteins, only the one with the MHV-derived carboxy-terminal domain (FMS) was incorporated into VLPs. These particles could indeed be collected through their FIPV-specific S ectodomain by using the FIPV S MAb as well as through their M protein with the anti-M MAb and showed the chimeric S protein having a slightly lower electrophoretic mobility than the MHV S protein. When the MFS protein was coexpressed with M and E, VLPs were produced as revealed by the anti-M MAbs, but these could not be isolated by the anti-S MAbs, demonstrating the absence of S protein. As judged from the varying intensities of the M protein bands, the amounts of VLPs produced seemed to differ for the different S proteins coexpressed. This may to some extent be accounted for by differences in the efficiencies with which the different VLPs were affinity isolated by the antibodies. More likely, however, the variations reflect the varying degrees of interference of the different S constructs with the expression of M and E which hampered the reproducible control of VLP production levels. Yet, when we quantitated the radioactivities in the M and S proteins in the VLPs containing MHV S and FMS, calculations revealed that the molar ratios of M and S were rather similar, suggesting that the chimeric S protein is incorporated into viral particles with an efficiency quite similar to that of wild-type S protein.
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through their
cytoplasmic domain
and the viral core is important (17) or
essential (30, 34). For coronaviruses, such interactions are
not essential: particle formation is nucleocapsid independent and
occurs irrespective of the presence of S protein (12, 23,
32; also the present paper).
The chimeric coronavirus S proteins appeared to be biologically active,
causing fusion of reporter cells in a coculture assay (Fig. 3). This
indicated that such proteins might mediate infection when incorporated
into coronavirions. We have therefore introduced the FMS gene construct
into the MHV-A59 genome by targeted RNA recombination, giving rise to a
murine coronavirus that, by virtue of its FIPV-derived spike
ectodomain, is unable to infect murine cells but has acquired the
property to infect and multiply in feline cells (L. Kuo, G.-J. Godeke,
M. J. B. Raamsman, P. S. Masters, and P. J. M. Rottier, unpublished data). Not only do these observations confirm the
results presented in this paper, the recombinant chimeric MHV also
provides a powerful new tool to introduce mutations into the
3'-terminal genomic domain encoding the structural proteins. By using
as a recombination partner a donor RNA construct that will restore the
wild-type S gene, isolation of mutants can simply be done by selecting
for growth on murine cells.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We are grateful to Rhône Mérieux (Lyon, France) for providing MAb 23F4.5 and to John Fleming (University of Wisconsin) for the MAb WA3.10.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.165, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands. Phone: 31-30-2532462. Fax: 31-30-2536723. E-mail: P.Rottier{at}vet.uu.nl.
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