Previous Article | Next Article 
Journal of Virology, June 2002, p. 6121-6130, Vol. 76, No. 12
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.12.6121-6130.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Restriction of Measles Virus RNA Synthesis by a Mouse Host Cell Line: trans-Complementation by Polymerase Components or a Human Cellular Factor(s)
Séverine Vincent,1 Isabelle Tigaud,2 Henriette Schneider,3 Christian J. Buchholz,3 Yusuke Yanagi,4 and Denis Gerlier1*
Immunité & Infections Virales, CNRS-UCBL UMR 5537, IFR62, Faculté de Médecine Lyon RTH Laennec, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08,1
Laboratoire de Cytogénétique Moléculaire, Hopital Edouard Herriot, 69437 Lyon, France,2
Institut für Molekularbiologie, Universität Zürich-Irchel, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland,3
Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan4
Received 7 December 2001/
Accepted 19 March 2002

ABSTRACT
The mouse epithelial MODE-K cell line expressing human CD46
or CD150 cellular receptors was found to be nonpermissive for
measles virus (MV) replication. The virus binding and membrane
fusion steps were unimpaired, but only very limited amounts
of virus protein and RNA synthesized were detected after the
infection. In a minigenome chloramphenicol acetyltransferase
assay, MODE-K cells were as able as the permissive HeLa cells
in supporting MV polymerase activity. The restriction phenotype
of MODE-K cells could be alleviated by providing, in
trans,
either N-P-L or N-P functional protein complexes but not by
P-L complexes or individual N, P, and L proteins. Several human
x mouse (HeLa
x MODE-K) somatic hybrid clones expressing human
CD46 were isolated and found to be either nonpermissive or permissive
according to their human chromosomal contents. The MV-restricted
phenotype exhibited by the MODE-K cell line suggests that a
cellular factor(s) can control MV transcription, possibly by
stabilizing the incoming virus polymerase templates.

INTRODUCTION
Members of the order
Mononegavirales are among the most simple
enveloped mammalian viruses which replicate within the cytosol.
Their negative-strand RNA genome is used as a template for both
transcription of mRNA and virus replication involving the synthesis
of antigenomic and genomic RNA. For example, the measles virus
(MV) genome encodes the nucleoprotein N (which associates with
the genomic [and antigenomic] RNA to form the polymerase template),
the phosphoprotein P, a polymerase cofactor, the large L protein
(which harbors the polymerase enzymatic activities), the envelope
hemagglutinin (H) and fusion (F) proteins, and the matrix (M)
protein.
MV replication is regulated by the virion structure and/or the entry pathway, as shown by the much slower replication of chimeric MV having their H and F glycoprotein genes substituted with that of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) G protein (51) and by the transcriptional inhibitory activity of mutated M proteins (52). Regulatory nucleic sequences also control the level of MV replication (3, 27). MV replication in a cellular host is also regulated by nonstructural viral proteins MV-C (15, 45, 56) and MV-V (55) proteins. Changes in the primary sequences of these proteins and/or L polymerase protein are associated with transcriptional impediment (53).
Much less is known on the possible involvement of cellular factors in MV replication outside the key role of the cellular receptors CD46 (12, 37) and CD150 (13, 30, 54) allowing MV entry in human cells and the potent inhibitory activity of alpha/beta interferon (IFN) (36, 39). MV gene expression and replication have been reported to be enhanced in human and simian host cells after heat shock or by the overexpression of Hsp72 (40, 57, 58). In acellular conditions, MV polymerase activity can be observed only when cytosolic fractions are present, and tubulin seems to act as a cellular cofactor of the polymerase (35). The host cell can exert late control of virus budding, as shown by the reduced amounts of virus progeny observed in murine L.CD46 cells (61), associated with a defect in MV assembly in membrane rafts (34, 60) (S. Vincent and D. Gerlier, unpublished data). Several studies have pointed out that host cells can exert control early in MV replication; MV replication is reduced in CD46-expressing chicken embryo fibroblasts or Vero cells without prior growth adaptation (14, 53) and in lymphocytes from CD46 transgenic mice (16, 28). During an initial screening of MV replication in various murine cell lines expressing human CD46 as MV receptor, we observed that CD46-expressing MODE-K epithelial cells derived from murine intestine were poorly infected. A detailed study was undertaken and revealed an early postentry block of MV replication affecting the initial transcription.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Cells.
Human epithelial HeLa and mouse intestinal epithelial MODE-K
(
59) cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium
(DMEM) supplemented with 6% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum
(FCS), 10 mM HEPES, 2 mM glutamine, and 10 µg of gentamicin
per ml at 37°C in the presence of 7% CO
2. MODE-K.CD46 and
MODE-K.CD150 clones were obtained by transfection using Lipofectamine
reagent (Life Technologies) with pIRV.CD46 (coding for B1 CD46
isoform) and pCAGG-SLAM (coding for CD150/SLAM) (
54) together
with pAG475-2 (
33) (coding for hygromycin resistance). Hygromycin-resistant
HeLa cells were derived after transfection with pAG475-2 and
selection by growth in 500 µg of hygromycin per ml. Somatic
cell hybrids were derived by fusing 2
x 10
6 G418-resistant MODE-K
cells with 2
x 10
6 hygromycin-resistant HeLa cells using polyethylene
glycol 1500 (
10,
11,
42). Briefly, the two cell types were mixed
overnight in a 60-mm-diameter petri dish, washed with DMEM without
FCS, and incubated with 3 ml of polyethylene glycol 1500 (Roche
Molecular Biochemicals) for 1 min at room temperature. After
three washes with DMEM, the cell monolayer was incubated in
complete growth medium for 24 h. The cells were then detached
by trypsin-EDTA treatment and seeded in six 35-mm-diameter petri
dishes in the presence of 500 µg of hygromycin per ml
and 2 mg of G418 per ml. Somatic cell clones were recovered
after 1 month of culture and selected for dual expression of
mouse major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) and human
CD46 using immunolabeling and flow cytometry. The hybrid cell
clones were thereafter quickly tested for their permissiveness
to MV and human chromosome contents.
Viruses.
Hallé (recombinant Edmonston-based tag strain of MV [43]) and chimeric MGV and MG/FV (where the reading frames of MV envelope proteins H and F were substituted by a single reading frame encoding the VSV G glycoprotein or a G/F hybrid molecule [51]) were amplified in Vero cells. The recombinant vaccinia viruses vv-N, vv-P (62), vv-L, vv-NP, vv-PL, vv-NPL (29), vv-HF (63), vv T7lacZ (1), vv-Tk, vv-T3, and vv-T7 (19) code for MV-N; MV-P; MV-L; MV-N and -P; MV-P and -L; MV-N, -P, and -L; MV-H and -F; ß-galactosidase under T7 polymerase control; thymidine kinase; and T3 and T7 polymerases, respectively. After one cycle of freeze-thawing of infected cells, clarified supernatants were collected and used as virus stocks.
Infections.
Cells that had been plated and were allowed to grow overnight were infected at the indicated multiplicity of infection (MOI). After 1 h at 37°C, the cells were washed once with fresh medium and incubated at 37°C in the presence or absence of a fusion inhibitory peptide z-D-Phe-L-Phe-Gly (46) at 20 µg/ml. Virus progeny was titrated from infected cells that had been frozen and thawed once and then centrifuged at 400 x g for 5 min to discard cell debris. The supernatants were titrated by the 50% tissue culture infective dose method (25) on a Vero cell monolayer.
Antibodies.
The following antibodies and monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were used: rabbit anti-MV-F cytoplasmic tail, produced as reported by Cathomen et al. (6); mouse anti-MV-H BH195 (18) and cl55 MAbs; anti-MV-N MAb cl25 (22); anti-MV-P, a mouse anti-MV serum; anti-MV-M MAb CLONE from Chemicon; anti-VSV-G MAb P5D4 from Sigma; anti-CD46 MAb MCI20.6 (38); anti-CD150 MAb A12 from Pharmingen-Becton-Dickinson; anti-Hsp72 MAb W27 from Santa-Cruz; and anti-mouse MHC-I H2-Kk MAb 16-3-1N (American Type Culture Collection).
Flow cytometry analysis.
For cell surface detection of protein, 2 x 105 cells were incubated for 30 min at 4°C in a final volume of 60 µl of DMEM-6% FCS-0.05% NaN3 containing an appropriate dilution of the antibody, in round-bottom 96-well microplates. Cells were then washed three times by centrifugation at 280 x g for 2 min and incubated for 30 min with 50 µl of phycoerythrin-labeled goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin (Ig) (Beckman-Coulter). After two washes, labeled cells were fixed in 1% paraformaldehyde diluted in ISOTON II (Beckman-Coulter) buffer. The fluorescence labeling was then measured by flow cytometry.
Virus binding assay.
The virus binding assay was described previously (37). In brief, 2 x 105 cells were incubated at 4°C for 60 min with purified MV Hallé at a final protein concentration of 50 µg/ml. Following incubation, the cells were washed, and the binding was revealed with an anti-H antibody. After incubation with a phycoerythrin-conjugated anti-Ig antibody, a flow cytometry analysis was performed.
Cell fusion assay.
A virus-based quantitative cell fusion-dependent reporter gene system detailed previously (8) was used. Briefly, the "receptor" cell partners were infected with a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing T7 RNA polymerase (MOI = 5). Simultaneously, the "fusion" cell partners were infected with vv-HF (MOI = 5) and a recombinant vaccinia virus encoding the T7 promoter linked to the lacZ gene (vv T7lacZ) (MOI = 5). After removal of nonadsorbed virus by washing, cells were resuspended in medium containing 5 µg of the fusion inhibitory peptide z-D-Phe-L-Phe-Gly per ml. This ensured the inhibition of potential fusion between neighboring fusion cells expressing functional MV receptor and the H and F proteins. After overnight incubation at 37°C and several washes at 37°C to completely remove the fusion inhibitory peptide, the cells were detached with a brief trypsin-EDTA treatment. The receptor and fusing partners were then cocultured at a ratio of 1:1 in a 96-well flat-bottom plate in the presence of cytosine arabinoside (40 µg/ml). After incubation at 37°C for 6 h, the fusion was then determined by the reporter gene activation assay for ß-galactosidase using o-nitrophenyl-ß-D-galactopyranoside as a colorimetric substrate.
Western blot analysis.
Infected cells, washed in phosphate-buffered saline, were lysed in radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) buffer (25 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.4], 150 mM NaCl, 5 mM EDTA, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 0,5% desoxycholate, 1% Triton X-100) containing a cocktail of protease inhibitors (Complete; Roche Biochemicals). After 20 min of incubation at 4°C, the lysates were centrifuged for 15 min at 12,000 x g at 4°C. Proteins were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and then transferred onto a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane. Membranes were saturated with 5% nonfat dried milk in TBS-T (20 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.6], 150 mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween 20) and incubated for 1 h with specific antibodies in TBS-T containing 1% nonfat dried milk. Immunoreactive bands were visualized by using secondary horseradish peroxidase-conjugated antibodies (Promega) and enhanced chemiluminescence (Roche Molecular Biochemicals).
RNA quantification by RT-PCR.
Total RNA was extracted from cells using SV Total RNA Isolation System from Promega. MV-N mRNA and antigenomic RNA were detected by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). cDNA was synthesized from 0.2 µg of RNA using antisense oligonucleotide 5' GAG ATT CCT GCC ATG GCT TG 3' (genomic positions 1601 to 1620) and C-Therm reverse transcriptase (Roche Molecular Biochemicals) (10 min at 32°C, 30 min at 70°C, and 5 min at 90°C). Amplification of the cDNA was done by adding Taq DNA polymerase (Life Technologies) and the sense primer 5' TGC TCT GGA GCT ATG CCA TG 3' (genomic positions 1098 to 1117) for 35 cycles (1 cycle consists of 40s at 95°C, 60s at 55°C, and 50s at 72°C). The PCR fragments were run on 2% agarose gels and visualized by ethidium bromide staining. RT-PCRs were run in parallel on each RNA sample using ß-actin primers: sense primer 5' AGG CCA ACC GCG AGA AGA TGA C 3' and antisense primer 5' AGC TCG TAG CTC TTC TCC AGG G 3'.
Minigenome CAT assay.
The minigenome chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) assay was described previously (43, 47). Briefly, HeLa, MODE-K, and MODE-K.CD46 cells were infected with vv-T7 at 3 to 5 MOI and transfected with 1.5 µg of pEMC-Na, 1.5 µg of pEMC-Pa, 0.5 µg of pEMC-L, and 1.5 µg of p107MV(-):CAT which is transcribed by the T7 polymerase into the MV-CAT minigenome encoding CAT. Thirty hours postinfection (p.i.), cells were lysed with reporter lysis buffer (Promega). Protein lysates were incubated with [14C]chloramphenicol and acetyl coenzyme A for 1 to 2 h. The acetylated products were resolved by thin-layer chromatography.
Human chromosome analysis.
The interspecies somatic hybrids were resuspended in RPMI and blocked in metaphase by colchicin. The cell suspension was then made hypotonic (by adding KCl) and fixed in methanol-acetic acid (3:1). After the cells were washed, they were dropped onto a cold wet slide to spread the metaphase plates. R-banding was performed after Earle pretreatment for 55 min. Classification of the human chromosomes was done according to the International Standard for Chromosome Nomenclature.

RESULTS
Postentry restriction of MV replication in mouse MODE-K.CD46 cells.
A transfected MODE-K cell clone expressing CD46 at a level similar
to that of the permissive human HeLa cells was isolated and
further characterized. The MV binding ability of MODE-K.CD46
cells was similar to that of HeLa cells, and MODE-K.CD46 cells
were able to fuse with either HeLa or MODE-K cells expressing
MV H and F glycoproteins, although apparently not as efficiently
as HeLa cells did (Fig.
1). When MODE-K.CD46 cells were infected
by MV Hallé strain, there were very few viral progeny,
more than 1 log unit below that observed when HeLa cells were
infected (Fig.
2). Similar results were obtained with the recombinant
tag virus derived from the Edmonston strain. After infection
with recombinant MGV and MG/FV virus, which code for the unique
envelope glycoprotein G from VSV and a chimeric VSV-G/MV-F protein
instead of MV H and F glycoproteins, respectively, the viral
progeny from MODE-K.CD46 cells was reduced to a undetectable
level. The restricted MV replication in MODE-K.CD46 cells was
observed whichever cell clone was tested, as well as in MODE-K.CD150
cells (see below). This restriction was specific for MV replication
machinery and likely occurs at the postentry level, since the
replication of VSV, another member of the
Mononegavirales order,
was as efficient as that observed in HeLa cells.
To identify the step where the virus cycle was blocked, the
expression of viral proteins was examined. Small amounts of
N, P, M, and F protein could be detected 2 days p.i. in MV-infected
MODE-K.CD46 cells, whereas all viral proteins accumulated in
HeLa cells (Fig.
3). This lack of protein expression was correlated
with a very small amount of N
+ RNA strand which could be detected
only after 1 day p.i., whereas N
+ RNA was already detected at
3 h p.i. in HeLa cells and accumulated thereafter (Fig.
4).
The low signal observed at 1 h p.i. in both cells reflects the
input RNA of the infecting virus.
Ability of MODE-K cells to support MV polymerase activity in a MV minigenome CAT assay.
MODE-K and MODE-K.CD46 cells were transfected with eucaryotic
vectors encoding the minimal components required for MV polymerase
activity, namely, the N, P, and L proteins and a minigenome
encoding for the CAT enzymatic activity. As shown by the level
of acetylated chloramphenicol (Fig.
5), both of these cell lines
were as efficient as the permissive human HeLa cells in supporting
MV polymerase transcription activity. It should be noted that
the transcription level reflects both the transcription from
the primary minigenome and the possible transcription from replicated
genomes. The transfection efficiency was independently tested
and found to be similar in the three cell types. Thus, there
is not a general defect preventing MV polymerase activity in
MODE-K cells. When tested for their ability to support the rescue
of synthetic MV CAT minireplicons after infection with MV (
48),
the MODE-K.CD46 cells were inefficient, as expected, because
they are nonpermissive (data not shown).
Recovery of MV protein synthesis by MV polymerase components provided in trans.
Since the MV replication block was early after infection and
affected the polymerase RNA synthesis, we attempted to supplement
in
trans the infected cells with MV polymerase components. MODE-K.CD46
cells were infected with MV alone or together with a recombinant
vaccinia virus encoding an appropriate ratio of N, P, and L
proteins in complexes proficient for polymerase activity measured
using a MV CAT minigenome rescuing assay (
29). A dose-dependent
increase of H expression was observed when the cells were coinfected
with vv-NPL, whereas coinfection with vv-Tk, vv-T3, or vv-T7
did not increase the level of H expression (Fig.
6). For a control,
the MV and vv-NPL coinfection of HeLa cells resulted in a dose-dependent
reduction of the level of H expression. The inhibitory effect
of the coinfection of HeLa cells with vv-Tk was likely due to
its much higher replication level in human cells and increased
cytopathic effect, an effect not observed with vv-NPL which,
like the vv MVA strain, has both K1L and C7L genes deleted (
29).
The
trans-complementation effect was further explored using
MODE-K cells expressing CD150 as an alternate cellular receptor
(Fig.
7). The expression of CD150 allowed a significant expression
of H protein after MV infection at a MOI of 2. Increasing infectious
MV input up to a MOI of 10 resulted in cell surface contents
in H just above that observed after infection at a MOI of 2
(20 and 15 arbitrary units, respectively), the H excess reflecting
mostly the H brought by the higher input virus particles as
measured when using 10 equivalent MOI of UV-inactivated MV (9
arbitrary units). The infection of MODE-K.CD150 cells with vv-T7
resulted in some apparent increase of H expression whether the
cells were coinfected or not coinfected with MV, which was inactivated
or not inactivated with UV. This nonspecific effect was likely
due to some vaccinia virus-induced cytopathic effect. Indeed,
the infection with vv-NPL in the absence of MV or with UV-inactivated
MV resulted in a similar higher level of H expression compared
to that of the corresponding MV infections in the absence of
any vaccinia virus coinfection. In contrast, providing N-P-L
or N-P proteins in
trans, using vv-NPL or vv-NP, resulted in
a significant increase in H expression (Fig.
7). The isolated
expression of N, P, or L protein was not able to circumvent
the virus replication block with an H expression level similar
to that observed after vv-T7 infection. Likewise, the expression
of P-L complexes was unable to alleviate the H expression defect.
As expected, UV irradiation of MV prior to MODE-K.CD150 infection
resulted in the lack of significant increase in the level of
H expression induced by vv-NPL (Fig.
7).
Inability of heat shock to alleviate MV replication block in MODE-K.CD46 cells.
Heat shock and Hsp72 protein have been reported to enhance MV
replication in permissive human and simian cells (
40,
57,
58).
MODE-K.CD46 cells were heated at 44°C for 1 h, resulting
in an increase in the expression of endogenous Hsp72 (Fig.
8).
However, after MV infection, no change in MV-N expression was
observed.
HeLa x MODE-K somatic hybrids display either blocked or permissive MV replication phenotype.
HeLa
x MODE-K (H
xM) somatic hybrid cell clones, isolated on
the basis of dual expression of human CD46 and murine MHC-I,
were tested for their ability to support MV infection. As shown
on Fig.
9, four of seven clones exhibited a permissive phenotype,
with more than 50% of cells expressing H protein 2 days p.i.
The three other clones exhibited a nonpermissive phenotype similar
to that of MODE-K.CD46 cells. Since human
x mouse somatic cell
hybrids are characterized by variable contents of human chromosomes,
the permissiveness of some H
xM hybrids indicate that one (or
a combination of several) human cellular factor(s) can alleviate
the MV replication block of the MODE-K cells. Indeed, as expected
from the chromosome location of the CD46 gene, they all contained
chromosome 1 (Table
1). The permissive phenotype was associated
with the presence of chromosomes 2, 6, 8, 13, 18 and 22, pointing
to these chromosomes as encoding the putative cellular factor(s)
enabling MV replication in the MODE-K cellular context. The
fact that chromosome 6 was present only in the permissive clone
makes it the best candidate, but the possibility that the human
factor(s) results from a complex interaction of proteins encoded
by distinct chromosomes cannot be excluded.

DISCUSSION
Here, we reported a detailed host restriction phenotype for
a member of the
Mononegavirales order characterized by an early
block of MV transcription which can be
trans-complemented by
either MV N-P and MV N-P-L complexes or by a human cellular
factor(s).
There are several pieces of data that support the hypothesis that the restriction of MV replication in the mouse MODE-K cell line is caused by a defect in MV RNA synthesis. MV replication block was observed irrespective of the cell entry pathway, namely, CD46 (12, 37) and CD150 (13, 30, 54) cellular receptor-mediated pathway or VSV-G pH-dependent endocytic pathway (4), as shown by the lack of replication of recombinant MGV and MG/FV viruses. Indeed, both CD46- and CD150-mediated MV binding and fusion activity could be detected when these receptors were expressed in MODE-K cells. Furthermore, the ability of N-P or N-P-L protein complexes to alleviate this block in MODE-K.CD46 and MODE-K.CD150 cells implies that the MV nucleocapsids from incoming infectious virus have entered the cytosol of MODE-K cells.
The order of genes in the MV genome and the reduced reinitiation at every intergenic region result in the optimal balance between the three proteins involved in the polymerase activity. The first gene encodes the N protein, which is required in large amounts to encapsidate the 15,894-nucleotide MV genome and antigenome. The P protein is synthesized in smaller amounts because of the downstream position of the gene, the transcription into the two mRNAs (P/C and V), and the translation of the P/C mRNA into P and C proteins (2, 7). The most downstream gene encodes the L protein, which is therefore synthesized in limited amounts. Overall, a single ribonucleoparticle contains an estimated 2,600 N, 300 P, and 40 L proteins for each genome. The importance of this N/P/L balance for transcription and replication of genomic RNA has been demonstrated in MV reverse genetic studies (43, 47, 48). Although encapsidation and concomitant replication of MV genomes require a constant supply of N, P, and L proteins, transcription is favored when they are in limited supply (24, 32). This likely explains why increasing amounts of N, P, and L proteins, provided in trans, reduced virus protein synthesis in HeLa cells, which are permissive for MV. The trans-complementation of restricted MV RNA synthesis in the MODE-K cell lines by N-P-L or N-P complexes suggests that N-P-L or N-P complexes may act by maintaining (stabilizing?) the incoming N-RNA genome template proficient for polymerase activity. The lack of increase in MV protein expression when the MOI was increased from 2 to 10 argues for this hypothesis, with every incoming infectious ribonucleoparticle being similarly destabilized. The lack of effect of providing N protein alone can be explained by the chaperone role of P to prevent the aggregation and nuclear accumulation of N protein and to favor viral RNA encapsidation (27, 31, 50). The L protein tends to be unstable and is unable to bind to the viral RNA or to the N-RNA template. It has to form complexes with the P protein in order to recognize the N-RNA template, as shown for the related VSV (20). Likewise, complexes of L-P and N-P proteins from Sendai virus are required for in vitro polymerase activity (26). The inability of P-L complexes to alleviate the RNA synthesis block in MODE-K cells indicates that P-L complexes from the incoming virions are not the primary target of the cellular defect.
What could be the cellular factor(s) responsible for the MV restriction phenotype of MODE-K cells? It cannot be attributed to the synthesis of alpha/beta IFN because (i) VSV, which is highly sensitive to inhibition (44), replicates normally in MODE-K cells, (ii) cells should be pretreated with IFN in order to be efficient in blocking incoming virus replication, and (iii) if mouse IFN synthesis were involved, one would expect that all human x mouse somatic cell hybrids exhibit the restrictive phenotype because only human chromosomes are lost at random. The Hsp72 protein has been associated with increased MV replication (40, 57, 58). This highly conserved protein (a single amino acid difference between mouse and human species) was detected in MODE-K.CD46 cells. Submitting these cells to a heat shock resulted in a large increase in Hsp72 expression without enhancement of MV replication. This indicates that the phenotype of MODE-K cells is unlikely to be related to Hsp72. The permissive or nonpermissive phenotype of human x mouse somatic cell hybrid according to their contents in human chromosome suggest that a human factor(s) can act in trans to allow efficient natural MV transcription. A limited number of mouse cell lines expressing either human CD46 or CD150 has been tested so far for their MV permissiveness, and they exhibit various phenotypes, from permissiveness to restriction in MV replication at various stages of the virus infection cycle (16, 28, 37, 61). The phenotype of MODE-K cells may reflect the property of a subset of mouse tissues, since MV growth in some tissues of CD46 transgenic mice is restricted at an early stage (28).
The observation that MODE-K cells efficiently support MV polymerase-driven RNA synthesis in a CAT minigenome assay indicates that transcription does work in these cells. What the minigenome experiment and the trans-complementation have in common is (i) vaccinia virus infection, which we can exclude as a complementing factor from the controls and (ii) a high level of N-P(-L) protein synthesis. Therefore, the native N-P synthesized in the cytoplasm seems to be the crucial point. Therefore, we can conclude that in the natural MV infection, RNA synthesis is restricted in MODE-K cells expressing one of the human MV receptors but can be overcome either by producing native N-P complexes or by human cellular factors (hybrid cells). Why N-P proteins have to be supplied in the cytoplasm is then a matter of speculation. One possibility is that they become inactivated when the nucleocapsid enters into the mouse cell cytoplasm, either because of additional posttranslational modifications (e.g., phosphorylation or dephosphorylation, which have been shown to be important for VSV [21, 49]) and/or because of enhanced dissociation of the polymerase-template complexes. Alternatively, the lack of association with a putative cellular cofactor acting, e.g., as a N(-P?)-RNA stabilizer, cannot be excluded. Significant amounts of additional native N-P proteins, likely outweighing the incoming N-P proteins from the few infectious particles, would either provide template building blocks in active state or increase the N(-P?) to template dissociation time according to the mass action law. A cell site-specific inactivation of natural MV RNA synthesis occurring within the vicinity of the plasma membrane is also possible. Indeed, a change in the virus entry site from plasma membrane (for MV) to acidic endosomal compartment (for recombinant MGV and MG/FV) is associated with a much reduced replication kinetics (51; D. Gerlier, unpublished data). The Sendai virus polymerase exhibits a much poorer transcription processivity in vitro than in vivo, indicating that the living cell environment is more critical for transcription than for replication of the virus genome (23). In the case of the respiratory syncytial virus, the processivity of transcription is ensured by the virus-encoded M2-1 protein (17). It is possible that MV replication fails in MODE-K cells because of the lack of efficient processivity during transcription. Besides the inhibitory activity of M protein (5, 9, 41, 52), nothing is known about the molecular events leading to the stop and start of Mononegavirales polymerase activities during budding from the host cell and fusion within the target cell, respectively. Identifying the cellular factor(s) responsible for the restriction phenotype of the MODE-K cell line will help in unraveling the regulation of MV RNA synthesis.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank R. Drillien, M. Billeter, H. Y. Naim, R. Cattaneo,
D. Kaiserlian, C. Muller, and F. Wild for providing useful reagents;
G. Varior-Krishnan for her contribution; C. Rabourdin-Combe
for her support in the initiation of this work; and H. Vidal
and E. Dusserre for useful advice. vCB21R-lacZ was obtained
through the AIDS Research and Reference Reagent Program, Division
of AIDS, NIAID, from C. C. Broder, P. E. Kennedy, and E. A.
Berger. The flow cytometry studies were done using the facilities
of the Centre Commun d'Imagerie de Laennec.
This work was performed with financial support from the Commission of European Communities (RTD programme "Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources" [QLK2-CT2001-01225]) and from the Ministère de l'Education Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie (PRFMMIP).
The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission of European Communities and in no way anticipates the Commission's future policy in this area.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Immunité & Infections Virales, VPV, CNRS-UCBL UMR 5537, Faculté de Médecine Lyon RTH Laennec, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France. Phone: 33 4 78 77 86 18. Fax: 33 4 78 77 87 54. E-mail:
gerlier{at}laennec.univ-lyon1.fr.


REFERENCES
1
- Alkhatib, G., C. C. Broder, and E. A. Berger. 1996. Cell type-specific fusion cofactors determine human immunodeficiency virus type 1 tropism for T-cell lines versus primary macrophages. J. Virol. 70:5487-5494.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2
- Bellini, W. J., G. Englund, S. Rozenblatt, H. Arnheiter, and C. D. Richardson. 1985. Measles virus P gene codes for two proteins. J. Virol. 53:908-919.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
3
- Blumberg, B. M., J. Chan, and S. A. Udem. 1991. Function of paramyxovirus 3' and 5' end sequences: in theory and practice, p. 235-248. In D. W. Kingsbury (ed.), The paramyxoviruses. Plenum Press, New York, N.Y.
4
- Brown, J. C., W. W. Newcomb, and S. Lawrenz-Smith. 1988. pH-dependent accumulation of the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein at the ends of intact virions. Virology 167:625-629.[Medline]
5
- Carroll, A. R., and R. R. Wagner. 1979. Role of the membrane (M) protein in endogenous inhibition of in vitro transcription by vesicular stomatitis virus. J. Virol. 29:134-142.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
6
- Cathomen, T., H. Y. Naim, and R. Cattaneo. 1998. Measles viruses with altered envelope protein cytoplasmic tails gain cell fusion competence. J. Virol. 72:1224-1234.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
7
- Cattaneo, R., K. Kaelin, K. Baczko, and M. A. Billeter. 1989. Measles virus editing provides an additional cysteine-rich protein. Cell 56:759-764.[CrossRef][Medline]
8
- Christiansen, D., P. Devaux, B. Reveil, A. Evlashev, B. Horvat, J. Lamy, C. Rabourdin-Combe, J. H. M. Cohen, and D. Gerlier. 2000. Octamerization enables soluble CD46 receptor to neutralize measles virus in vitro and in vivo. J. Virol. 74:4672-4678.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
9
- Clinton, G. M., S. P. Little, F. S. Hagen, and A. S. Huang. 1978. The matrix (M) protein of vesicular stomatitis virus regulates transcription. Cell 15:1455-1462.[CrossRef][Medline]
10
- Davidson, R. L., and P. S. Gerald. 1976. Improved techniques for the induction of mammalian cell hybridization by polyethylene glycol. Somatic Cell Genet. 2:165-176.[CrossRef][Medline]
11
- Davidson, R. L., K. A. O'Malley, and T. B. Wheeler. 1976. Polyethylene glycol-induced mammalian cell hybridization: effect of polyethylene glycol molecular weight and concentration. Somatic Cell Genet. 2:271-280.[CrossRef][Medline]
12
- Dörig, R. E., A. Marcil, A. Chopra, and C. D. Richardson. 1993. The human CD46 molecule is a receptor for measles virus (Edmonston strain). Cell 75:295-305.[CrossRef][Medline]
13
- Erlenhoefer, C., W. J. Wurzer, S. Loffler, S. Schneider-Schaulies, V. ter Meulen, and J. Schneider-Schaulies. 2001. CD150 (SLAM) is a receptor for measles virus but is not involved in viral contact-mediated proliferation inhibition. J. Virol. 75:4499-4505.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
14
- Escoffier, C., and D. Gerlier. 1999. Infection of chicken embryonic fibroblasts by measles virus: adaptation at the virus entry level. J. Virol. 73:5220-5224.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
15
- Escoffier, C., S. Manie, S. Vincent, C. P. Muller, M. Billeter, and D. Gerlier. 1999. Nonstructural C protein is required for efficient measles virus replication in human peripheral blood cells. J. Virol. 73:1695-1698.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
16
- Evlashev, A., H. Valentin, P. Rivailler, O. Azocar, C. Rabourdin-Combe, and B. Horvat. 2001. Differential permissivity to measles virus infection of human and CD46-transgenic murine lymphocytes. J. Gen. Virol. 82:2125-2129.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
17
- Fearns, R., and P. L. Collins. 1999. Role of the M2-1 transcription antitermination protein of respiratory syncytial virus in sequential transcription. J. Virol. 73:5852-5864.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
18
- Fournier, P., N. H. Brons, G. A. Berbers, K. H. Wiesmuller, B. T. Fleckenstein, F. Schneider, G. Jung, and C. P. Muller. 1997. Antibodies to a new linear site at the topographical or functional interface between the hemagglutinin and fusion proteins protect against measles encephalitis. J. Gen. Virol. 78:1295-1302.[Abstract]
19
- Fuerst, T. R., E. G. Niles, F. W. Studier, and B. Moss. 1986. Eukaryotic transient-expression system based on recombinant vaccinia virus that synthesizes bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:8122-8126.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
20
- Gao, Y., and J. Lenard. 1995. Cooperative binding of multimeric phosphoprotein (P) of vesicular stomatitis virus to polymerase (L) and template: pathways of assembly. J. Virol. 69:7718-7723.[Abstract]
21
- Gao, Y., and J. Lenard. 1995. Multimerization and transcriptional activation of the phosphoprotein P of the vesicular stomatitis virus by casein kinase-II. EMBO J. 14:1240-1247.[Medline]
22
- Giraudon, P., C. Gerald, and T. F. Wild. 1984. A study of measles virus antigens in acutely and persistently infected cells using monoclonal antibodies: differences in the accumulation of certain viral proteins. Intervirology 21:110-120.[Medline]
23
- Gubbay, O., J. Curran, and D. Kolakofsky. 2001. Sendai virus genome synthesis and assembly are coupled: a possible mechanism to promote viral RNA polymerase processivity. J. Gen. Virol. 82:2895-2903.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
24
- Hall, W. W., D. Genius, and V. ter Meulen. 1977. The effect of cycloheximide on the replication of measles virus. J. Gen. Virol. 35:579-582.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
25
- Hierholzer, J. C., and R. A. Killington. 1996. Quantitation of virus, p. 35-46. In B. W. J. Mahy and H. O. Kangro (ed.), Virology methods manual. Academic Press, London, United Kingdom.
26
- Horikami, S. M., J. Curran, D. Kolakofsky, and S. A. Moyer. 1991. Complexes of Sendai virus NP-P and P-L proteins are required for defective interfering particle genome replication in vitro. J. Virol. 66:4901-4908.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
27
- Horikami, S. M., and S. A. Moyer. 1995. Structure, transcription and replication of measles virus. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 191:35-50.[Medline]
28
- Horvat, B., P. Rivailler, G. Varior-Krishnan, A. Cardoso, D. Gerlier, and C. Rabourdin-Combe. 1996. Transgenic mice expressing human measles virus (MV) receptor CD46 provide cells exhibiting different permissivities to MV infection. J. Virol. 70:6673-6681.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
29
- Howley, P. M., B. Lafont, D. Spehner, K. Kaelin, M. A. Billeter, and R. Drillien. 1999. A functional measles virus replication and transcription machinery encoded by the vaccinia virus genome. J. Virol. Methods 79:65-74.[CrossRef][Medline]
30
- Hsu, E. C., C. Iorio, F. Sarangi, A. A. Khine, and C. D. Richardson. 2001. CDw150 (SLAM) is a receptor for lymphotropic strain of measles virus and may account for the immunosuppressive properties of this virus. Virology 279:9-21.[CrossRef][Medline]
31
- Huber, M., R. Cattaneo, P. Spielhofer, C. Orvell, E. Norrby, M. Messerli, J. C. Perriard, and M. A. Billeter. 1991. Measles virus phosphoprotein retains the nucleocapsid protein in the cytoplasm. Virology 185:299-308.[CrossRef][Medline]
32
- Lamb, R. A., and D. Kolakofsky. 1996. Paramyxoviridae: the viruses and their replication, p. 1177-1204. In B. N. Fields, D. M. Knipe, and P. M. Howley (ed.), Field's virology, 3rd ed. Lippincott-Raven, New York, N.Y.
33
- Long, E. O., S. Rosen-Bronson, D. R. Karp, M. Malnati, R. P. Sekaly, and D. Jaraquemada. 1991. Efficient cDNA expression vectors for stable and transient expression of HLA-DR in transfected fibroblast and lymphoid cells. Hum. Immunol. 31:229-235.[CrossRef][Medline]
34
- Manié, S. N., S. Debreyne, S. Vincent, and D. Gerlier. 2000. Measles virus structural components are enriched into lipid raft microdomains: a potential cellular location for virus assembly. J. Virol. 74:305-311.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
35
- Moyer, S. A., S. C. Baker, and S. M. Horikami. 1990. Host cell proteins required for measles virus reproduction. J. Gen. Virol. 71:775-783.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
36
- Mrkic, B., J. Pavlovic, T. Rulicke, P. Volpe, C. J. Buchholz, D. Hourcade, J. P. Atkinson, A. Aguzzi, and R. Cattaneo. 1998. Measles virus spread and pathogenesis in genetically modified mice. J. Virol. 72:7420-7427.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
37
- Naniche, D., G. Varior-Krishnan, F. Cervoni, T. F. Wild, B. Rossi, C. Rabourdin-Combe, and D. Gerlier. 1993. Human membrane cofactor protein (CD46) acts as a cellular receptor for measles virus. J. Virol. 67:6025-6032.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
38
- Naniche, D., T. F. Wild, C. Rabourdin-Combe, and D. Gerlier. 1992. A monoclonal antibody recognizes a human cell surface glycoprotein involved in measles virus binding. J. Gen. Virol. 73:2617-2624.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
39
- Naniche, D., A. Yeh, D. Eto, M. Manchester, R. M. Friedman, and M. B. Oldstone. 2000. Evasion of host defenses by measles virus: wild-type measles virus infection interferes with induction of alpha/beta interferon production. J. Virol. 74:7478-7484.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
40
- Parks, C. L., R. A. Lerch, P. Walpita, M. S. Sidhu, and S. A. Udem. 1999. Enhanced measles virus cDNA rescue and gene expression after heat shock. J. Virol. 73:3560-3566.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
41
- Pinney, D. F., and S. U. Emerson. 1982. In vitro synthesis of triphosphate-initiated N-gene mRNA oligonucleotides is regulated by the matrix protein of vesicular stomatitis virus. J. Virol. 42:897-904.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
42
- Pontecorvo, G. 1975. Production of mammalian somatic cell hybrids by means of polyethylene glycol treatment. Somatic Cell Genet. 1:397-400.[CrossRef][Medline]
43
- Radecke, F., P. Spielhofer, H. Schneider, K. Kaelin, M. Huber, C. Dotsch, G. Christiansen, and M. A. Billeter. 1995. Rescue of measles viruses from cloned DNA. EMBO J. 14:5773-5784.[Medline]
44
- Rasmussen, L., and L. B. Farley. 1975. Inhibition of Herpesvirus hominis replication by human interferon. Infect. Immun. 12:104-108.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
45
- Reutter, G. L., C. Cortese-Grogan, J. Wilson, and S. A. Moyer. 2001. Mutations in the measles virus C protein that up regulate viral RNA synthesis. Virology 285:100-109.[CrossRef][Medline]
46
- Richardson, C. D., A. Scheid, and P. W. Choppin. 1980. Specific inhibition of paramyxovirus and myxovirus replication by oligopeptides with amino acid sequences similar to those at the N-termini of the F1 or HA2 viral polypeptides. Virology 105:205-222.[CrossRef][Medline]
47
- Schneider, H., P. Spielhofer, K. Kaelin, C. Dotsch, F. Radecke, G. Sutter, and M. A. Billeter. 1997. Rescue of measles virus using a replication-deficient vaccinia-T7 vector. J. Virol. Methods 64:57-64.[CrossRef][Medline]
48
- Sidhu, M. S., J. Chan, K. Kaelin, P. Spielhofer, F. Radecke, F. Schneider, M. Masurekar, P. C. Dowling, M. A. Billeter, and S. A. Udem. 1995. Rescue of synthetic measles virus minireplicons: measles genomic termini direct efficient expression and propagation of a reporter gene. Virology 208:800-807.[CrossRef][Medline]
49
- Spadafora, D., D. M. Canter, R. L. Jackson, and J. Perrault. 1996. Constitutive phosphorylation of the vesicular stomatitis virus P protein modulates polymerase complex formation but is not essential for transcription or replication. J. Virol. 70:4538-4548.[Abstract]
50
- Spehner, D., R. Drillien, and P. M. Howley. 1997. The assembly of the measles virus nucleoprotein into nucleocapsid-like particles is modulated by the phosphoprotein. Virology 232:260-268.[CrossRef][Medline]
51
- Spielhofer, P., T. Bachi, T. Fehr, G. Christiansen, R. Cattaneo, K. Kaelin, M. A. Billeter, and H. Y. Naim. 1998. Chimeric measles viruses with a foreign envelope. J. Virol. 72:2150-2159.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
52
- Suryanarayana, K., K. Baczko, V. ter Meulen, and R. R. Wagner. 1994. Transcription inhibition and other properties of matrix proteins expressed by M genes cloned from measles viruses and diseased human brain tissue. J. Virol. 68:1532-1543.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
53
- Takeda, M., A. Kato, F. Kobune, H. Sakata, Y. Li, T. Shioda, Y. Sakai, M. Asakawa, and Y. Nagai. 1998. Measles virus attenuation associated with transcriptional impediment and a few amino acid changes in the polymerase and accessory proteins. J. Virol. 72:8690-8696.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
54
- Tatsuo, H., N. Ono, K. Tanaka, and Y. Yanagi. 2000. SLAM (CDw150) is a cellular receptor for measles virus. Nature 406:893-897.[CrossRef][Medline]
55
- Tober, C., M. Seufert, H. Schneider, M. A. Billeter, I. C. Johnston, S. Niewiesk, V. ter Meulen, and S. Schneider-Schaulies. 1998. Expression of measles virus V protein is associated with pathogenicity and control of viral RNA synthesis. J. Virol. 72:8124-8132.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
56
- Valsamakis, A., H. Schneider, P. G. Auwaerter, H. Kaneshima, M. A. Billeter, and D. E. Griffin. 1998. Recombinant measles viruses with mutations in the C, V, or F gene have altered growth phenotypes in vivo. J. Virol. 72:7754-7761.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
57
- Vasconcelos, D., E. Norrby, and M. Oglesbee. 1998. The cellular stress response increases measles virus-induced cytopathic effect. J. Gen. Virol. 79:1769-1773.[Abstract]
58
- Vasconcelos, D. Y., X. H. Cai, and M. J. Oglesbee. 1998. Constitutive overexpression of the major inducible 70 kDa heat shock protein mediates large plaque formation by measles virus. J. Gen. Virol. 79:2239-2247.[Abstract]
59
- Vidal, K., I. Grosjean, J. P. Revillard, C. Gespach, and D. Kaiserlian. 1993. Immortalization of mouse intestinal epithelial cells by the SV40-large T gene. Phenotypic and immune characterization of the MODE-K cell line. J. Immunol. Methods 166:63-73.[CrossRef][Medline]
60
- Vincent, S., D. Gerlier, and S. N. Manié. 2000. Measles virus assembly within membrane rafts. J. Virol. 74:9911-9915.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
61
- Vincent, S., D. Spehner, S. Manie, R. Delorme, R. Drillien, and D. Gerlier. 1999. Inefficient measles virus budding in murine L.CD46 fibroblasts. Virology 265:185-195.[CrossRef][Medline]
62
- Wild, T. F., A. Bernard, D. Spehner, and R. Drillien. 1992. Construction of vaccinia virus recombinants expressing several measles virus proteins and analysis of their efficacy in vaccination of mice. J. Gen. Virol. 73:359-367.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
63
- Wild, T. F., E. Malvoisin, and R. Buckland. 1991. Measles virus: both the haemagglutinin and fusion glycoproteins are required for fusion. J. Gen. Virol. 72:439-442.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Journal of Virology, June 2002, p. 6121-6130, Vol. 76, No. 12
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.12.6121-6130.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Pohl, C., Duprex, W. P., Krohne, G., Rima, B. K., Schneider-Schaulies, S.
(2007). Measles virus M and F proteins associate with detergent-resistant membrane fractions and promote formation of virus-like particles. J. Gen. Virol.
88: 1243-1250
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Yanagi, Y., Takeda, M., Ohno, S.
(2006). Measles virus: cellular receptors, tropism and pathogenesis.. J. Gen. Virol.
87: 2767-2779
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Chen, M., Cortay, J.-C., Logan, I. R., Sapountzi, V., Robson, C. N., Gerlier, D.
(2005). Inhibition of Ubiquitination and Stabilization of Human Ubiquitin E3 Ligase PIRH2 by Measles Virus Phosphoprotein. J. Virol.
79: 11824-11836
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Plumet, S., Duprex, W. P., Gerlier, D.
(2005). Dynamics of Viral RNA Synthesis during Measles Virus Infection. J. Virol.
79: 6900-6908
[Abstract]
[Full Text]