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Journal of Virology, August 2002, p. 7694-7704, Vol. 76, No. 15
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.15.7694-7704.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Pamela A. Williams,2,
Chris Harley,1 Shuo Shen,1 David I. Stuart,3 T. David K. Brown,1 and Susan M. Lea2*
Division of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QP,1 Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QU,2 Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom3
Received 5 March 2001/ Accepted 18 April 2002
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The molecular basis of enterovirus pathogenesis has been studied in detail for the polioviruses (11, 40, 44) and to a lesser degree for the group B coxsackieviruses (14, 19, 32). Studies of poliovirus have emphasized a role for the 5' untranslated region in determining neurovirulence phenotypes (15, 22, 36), but the role of poliovirus receptor (PVR) distribution in pathogenesis has also been studied in some detail (39). Receptor usage patterns are also implicated in determining pathogenesis of cardiovirulent coxsackie B viruses (26). The molecular pathogenesis of other enterovirus infections has not been studied in detail; however, the use of different receptors by closely related viruses could in principle influence the pathogenesis directly by effecting tissue tropism to produce different clinical outcomes (10). Variation in receptor usage is found when different isolates of a single serotype are compared and following limited passage of clinical isolates in cell culture. Thus different clinical syndromes may result from preexisting viruses present within the infecting population or from the evolution of receptor or coreceptor use within the host during an infection.
For many picornaviruses, a single cell surface molecule appears to be sufficient for virus entry (binding and productive uncoating) in the experimental systems employed. For example, the PVR is used by all three poliovirus serotypes (28) while intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) is the receptor for the major rhinovirus subgroup (45). In other cases, for example, a number of echoviruses and coxsackieviruses, the situation is more complex. A substantial number of enteroviruses that bind to the essentially ubiquitous complement regulatory protein decay accelerating factor (DAF; CD55) have been identified, and the DAF domains involved in infection for some viruses have been studied (4, 9, 46). These viruses are frequently capable of causing hemagglutination (HA) of human red blood cells, and this ability correlates with DAF binding (34, 38). In many cases monoclonal and polyclonal anti-DAF sera will efficiently inhibit binding, entry, and infection; the removal of DAF from cell surfaces by phospholipase (phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C) treatment also inhibits these processes. However DAF binding alone is not sufficient to permit infection under most circumstances, and interaction with soluble DAF does not trigger formation of an "altered" (A) particle (4, 37), a structurally distinct form of the viral capsid (thought to be a cell entry intermediate (3, 25) where portions of the capsid proteins that were previously within the particle are externalized. However, it seems inherently unlikely that DAF binding by enteroviruses, a common event, is irrelevant to entry. Indeed DAF's ubiquity within the organism makes it ideal for sequestering viruses at cell surfaces. Thus the identification and analysis of the mechanisms by which DAF and its elusive coreceptors/cofactors act to promote infection are relevant to a large number of pathogenic viruses. The subtlety of the requirements for additional factors is emphasized by the plasticity of receptor usage in DAF-binding viruses; variant viruses with altered receptor usage are readily selected by passage.
The choice of receptor system is thus likely to be dependent on both the capsid structure of the particular virus and the disposition and quantity of binding/receptor molecules on the particular cell surface (which may be modulated by molecules which themselves make no contact with the virus capsid).
Picornaviruses possess a common capsid architecture, with the outer surface of the virus being made up of contributions from viral protein 1 (VP1), VP2, and VP3. Structures of rhinoviruses and enteroviruses have revealed a large depression running around the fivefold symmetry axis termed the canyon. Rossmann (41) proposed that this canyon could provide the site of interaction between these picornaviruses and their cellular receptors. Recent low-resolution structures have demonstrated that, while the details of the receptor-canyon interaction differ greatly for poliovirus (3, 15, 48) and ICAM-binding rhinoviruses (20) and coxsackieviruses (47), these viruses do indeed bind their cellular receptors within this surface depression.
It is against this background that we have further characterized a DAF-binding clinical isolate of echovirus 11, EV11-207. We have previously reported a surface plasmon resonance study of EV11-207's DAF-binding properties (23), which mapped the site of interaction between DAF and EV11-207 to the third short consensus repeat (SCR) domain of DAF, which lies in the center of the four extracellular SCR domains. In light of this result it is difficult to envisage an organization of DAF SCR domains that would allow SCR3 to penetrate the canyon in the mode of a "classical" enterovirus receptor. We have now determined the structure of this virus isolate to nearly atomic resolution. We have also generated variants of EV11-207 in two independent experiments using serial blind passage of the virus on nonpermissive Vero (African green monkey kidney cells, which are human DAF negative) cells (Fig. 1), followed by passage on HT29 cells (the cell line used to propagate the parental virus) in an attempt to produce a revertant virus. We have characterized these variants and shown that they possess altered DAF-binding and utilization properties. These data are presented below.
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FIG. 1. Scheme for generation of variant viruses. See Materials and Methods for details.
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Antibodies and reagents. Polyclonal anti-DAF (CD55) was a kind gift from Paul Morgan (Cardiff, United Kingdom. Monoclonal anti-DAF (monoclonal antibody 854) was a kind gift from Andrew Macadam (National Institute of Biological Standards and Control). Pischia pastoris expressing soluble DAF containing SCR domains 1 to 4 was a kind gift from David Evans (Glasgow, United Kingdom).
Generation and plaque purification of virus mutants EV11-207M, EV11-207R, and EV11-207C. Confluent monolayers of Vero cells in 2-cm-diameter dishes were infected with purified EV11-207 at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 10. Infection was allowed to proceed for 3 days at 37°C. Adherent cells were scraped into the culture medium, which was then subjected to freezing and thawing three times followed by centrifugation at 2,000 x g for 5 min. A 10-fold dilution of this supernatant in culture medium was carried out, and a sample of this diluted material was used to infect a fresh plate of confluent Vero cells. This procedure was carried out seven times, and virus from the final passage was plaque purified on Vero cells three times. Five independent clones were isolated in this way; all proved to have identical characteristics on preliminary analysis, and one (EV11-207M) was chosen for further study. The same blind-passage procedure, using HT29 cells and infection with the EV11-207M variant, was carried out. This resulted in the isolation and plaque purification of a further variant, virus strain EV11-207R. In an independent experiment EV11-207 was passaged on Vero cells (as described above) to generate variant EV11-207C (passage of this variant back onto HT29 cells resulted in a virus with an identical sequence; hence only EV11-207C was used in further studies).
One-step growth curves. One-step growth curves were obtained in the following manner. Confluent monolayers of cells in 24-well plates (Falcon) were pretreated with either medium alone or medium containing a polyclonal anti-DAF antibody (at 1:500) for 30 min at 37°C. These cells were then infected with virus at 5 PFU per cell (in the absence or presence of polyclonal anti-DAF). Virus was allowed to attach by incubation at room temperature for 60 min. The cells were then washed three times with phosphate-buffered saline, and the medium was replaced. Infection was allowed to continue by incubation at 37°C. At various time points the cells were scraped off and placed into 1.5-ml tubes. The tubes were frozen and thawed three times, and the medium was harvested and clarified by centrifugation at 2,000 x g for 5 min. Titers of virus were then assessed by plaque assay using HT29 cells for EV11-207 and EV11-207R and Vero cells for EV11-207M and EV11-207C.
Inhibition of virus replication by anti-DAF antibodies. Cells in 96-well plates were pretreated with 50 µl of either medium alone or medium containing a 1:500 dilution of polyclonal anti-DAF for 30 min. Equal volumes of virus from a 10-fold dilution series were then added. Three replicate plates were produced. The level of virus cytopathic effect (CPE) was assessed 24, 48, and 72 h after the cells were fixed with formal saline and stained with 1% toluidine blue.
HA assay. Enterovirus samples were serially diluted twofold. Fifty microliters of a virus dilution was added to an equal volume of 1% (vol/vol) type O human red blood cells in phosphate-buffered saline in round-bottom 96-well plates (Falcon). Samples were mixed and incubated at 4°C for 1 h. Controls of red blood cells incubated with mock-infected cell supernatants were routinely included. One HA unit was considered to be present in the first well in which HA was observed.
HA inhibition (HAI) assay. Four HA units of virus was incubated with twofold serial dilutions of soluble DAF (starting concentration of 8 µM) for 1 h at room temperature. Fifty microliters of this mixture was added to an equal volume of 1% red blood cells and incubated for 1 h at 4°C. Twofold serial dilutions of anti-DAF monoclonal antibody 854 (starting concentration, 0.001x) were incubated with 1% red blood cells for 1 h at room temperature. Four HA units of virus was added, and the mixture was incubated for 1 h at 4°C.
Viral genome sequencing. Virus RNA was purified by a method derived from that described by Chomczynski and Mackey (8). Concentrated virus particles (approximately 1011 PFU) were mixed with 1 ml of denaturing solution (4 M guanidinium isothiocyanate, 25 mM sodium citrate [pH 7], 0.5% sarcosyl, 100 mM 2-mercaptoethanol) and vortexed briefly. Sequential addition of 0.1 ml of 2 M sodium acetate, pH 4, 1 ml of phenol saturated with H2O, and 0.2 ml of a chloroform-isoamyl alcohol mixture (49:1 [vol/vol]) was followed by mixing and chilling on ice prior to centrifugation at 13,000 x g for 20 min at 4°C. The aqueous phase was mixed with 1 ml of isopropanol in a fresh tube and placed at -70°C for 1 h. The precipitated RNA was recovered by centrifugation at 13,000 x g for 20 min at 4°C. The pellet was dissolved in 0.3 ml of denaturing solution and precipitated once more with 1 volume of isopropanol. After recentrifugation the pellet was washed in 75% ethanol and dried under vacuum for 5 min
Sequence was obtained by direct, automated sequencing of PCR products. First-strand cDNA was synthesized from RNA prepared as described above by using Expand reverse transcriptase (Roche). PCR of the bulk of the genome was carried out with primer E9 (TGGCTGCTTATGGTGACAAT) and the NotI (dT)18 primer using a long-PCR kit from Roche. Cycling conditions were as follows: 3 min at 94°C; 10 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 56°C for 1 min, and 68°C for 6 min; 20 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 56°C for 1 min, and 68°C for 10 min; and finally 7 min at 72°C. The 5'-most 600 nucleotides were amplified with 5' primer TTAAAACAGCCTGTGGGTTGATCCCA (24) and 3' primer EV2 (CACCGGATGGCCAATCCA). Cycling conditions for this reaction were as follows: 3 min at 94°C; 30 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 56°C for 1 min, and 68°C for 6 min; and finally 7 min at 72°C. PCR products were gel purified with Qiaex II (Qiagen) and sequenced with primers based on the previously determined virus sequence. DNA sequencing reactions were carried out with an Applied Biosystems Big Dye Terminator Ready Reaction kit and analyzed on either a PE/ABI Prism 377 or an ABI Prism 3700 sequence analyzer.
Purification of EV11-207. Purification of virus was carried out using standard protocols. Briefly, confluent HT29 monolayers were infected with virus at a multiplicity of infection of 5 PFU/cell. Incubation was continued until complete CPE had developed (normally 16 h). Intracellular virus was released by freezing and thawing cells twice, and supernatants were clarified by centrifugation for 5 min at 1,000 x g. Initial purification of the virus was carried out by centrifugation of supernatants through a 30% (wt/vol) sucrose cushion at 100,000 x g for 2.5 h. The virus was then resuspended, and 10,000 cpm of radioactively labeled purified EV11-207 was added. The virus was then purified by rate zonal centrifugation on 15 to 45% sucrose gradients in a Beckman SW28 rotor for 4 h at 100,000 x g. Samples of 1.5 ml were collected, and 10 µl was subjected to scintillation counting. Fractions containing the radioactivity peak were selected; virus was pelleted by centrifugation at 100,000 x g for 2.5 h, and the rate zonal centrifugation step on 15 to 45% sucrose gradients was repeated after resuspension of virus. All sucrose solutions contained 10 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.4. Purity of the virus preparation was monitored by electron microscopy.
Crystallization. EV11-207 stocks were concentrated to approximately 10 mg/ml (as judged by optical densities at 260 and 280 nm) with a Centricon 30s (Amicon) and crystallized by equilibrating 2-µl sitting drops (1 µl of virus plus 1 µl of mother liquor) with microbridges (Crystal Microsystems, Oxford, United Kingdom) against 0.5 ml of mother liquor sealed in Linbro plates. Initial screens were made using the Hampton Research Crystal Screen 1 kit. Poor crystals grew in several conditions, and crystals suitable for collection of X-ray diffraction data grew in condition 32 (2.0 M ammonium sulfate). Crystal growth was further optimized by dilution of condition 32.
Structure solution and refinement. Data were collected at the Synchrotron Radiation Station Daresbury (station 7.2) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) Grenoble (station ID2) at room temperature using crystals mounted in sealed quartz capillary tubes. This method of data collection was chosen as it allowed containment of the potentially infectious virus at all times during data collection. Data were collected as 0.5 to 1.5o oscillation images on MarResearch imaging plates (diameters, 18 [Daresbury] and 30 cm [ESRF]). Collection of data to 2.9 Å at the ESRF required swinging the detector away from the straight-through position by 15o.
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An attempt to alter the cell tropism by blind passage in cultures of Vero cells was therefore made. Signs of CPE were observed after the third passage, and a growth rate equivalent to that of the parental strain was observed after the sixth passage. Initial analysis of the virus strains that resulted from plaque purification of the product of the seventh passage revealed that all the viruses showed an identical growth phenotype: they formed plaques efficiently on Vero cells, but their plaque-forming efficiency on HT29 cells was severely compromised. One of these isolates, EV11-207M, was chosen for further study. In an independent experiment, carried out by an identical method, the resulting virus was termed EV11-207C.
In an effort to obtain revertants or pseudorevertants of EV11-207M and EV11-207C, the viruses were subjected to seven passages on HT29 cells. Signs of CPE were observed after the second round of passage. Three rounds of plaque purification were carried out after the seventh passage. Once more all of the viruses isolated in this way showed identical phenotypes. The virus resulting from passage of EV11-207M was termed EV11-207R. However, subsequent studies showed that the virus generated by passage of EV11-207C on HT29 cells was identical to its parent and so will not be discussed further.
Characterization of virus mutants EV11-207M and EV11-207R. (i)Analysis of DAF-binding properties of EV11-207M and EV11-207R. We have shown previously that EV11-207 is able to interact with DAF (23). To examine the DAF-binding ability of mutants EV11-207M, EV11-207R, and EV11-207C, we used a HA assay with human red blood cells. The results of the HA assay showed that EV11-207, EV11-207M, and EV11-207C could hemagglutinate red blood cells but that EV11-207R could not (Table 1). The HA titers for EV11-207, EV11-207M, and EV11-207C were each approximately 104 HA units/ml. The DAF-dependent nature of the HA was examined by using a HAI assay with anti-DAF monoclonal antibody 854 and soluble DAF. Both the monoclonal antibody and the soluble DAF could inhibit the HA induced by EV11-207, EV11-207M, and EV11-207C (Table 1), but a control antibody against CD59 had no effect (data not shown), indicating that all three viruses bind DAF. The results from the HA assay show that EV11-207R does not bind DAF at levels detectable in this assay.
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TABLE 1. DAF-specific HA of human red blood cells by EV11-207, EV11-207M, and EV11-207Ca
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FIG. 2. One-step growth curves of EV11-207 and variants EV11-207M, EV11-207R, and EV11-207C on Vero and HT29 cells. (A) Titers resulting from infections of Vero cells by the four viruses in the presence and absence of polyclonal anti-DAF sera. (B) Titers from infection of HT29 cells, once again in the presence and absence of polyclonal anti-DAF sera.
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These data also reveal that, although EV11-207 is unable to replicate in Vero cells, it is able to adhere to the cells (both in the presence and absence of anti-DAF antibodies), as the virus added to the cells is not removed by the wash step (Fig. 2A). This is in contrast to what is found when EV11-207 is preincubated with polyclonal anti-DAF sera prior to addition to HT29 cells: the data presented in Fig. 2B clearly show that no virus remains adherent on the cell surface after washing.
(iii) Antibody inhibition of growth. The effect of antibodies specific for DAF on the replication of viruses EV11-207, EV11-207M, EV11-207R, and EV11-207C was investigated. Results from antibody blocking assays shown in Fig. 3 demonstrate that DAF is necessary for infection by EV11-207 but is not required by EV11-207M, EV11-207R, or EV11-207C. Preincubation of cells with polyclonal anti-DAF sera resulted in a 106- to 107-fold reduction in the CPE resulting from infection by EV11-207 of HT29 cells (Fig. 3) but not Vero cells (data not shown). The antibodies were unable to block infection of either of the cell lines with EV11-207M, EV11-207R, or EV11-207C. Antibodies to receptors used by other enteroviruses (CD59, CAR, ICAM-1, and CD46) were tested to see if they had any effect on the EV11 viruses. None of these sera effected the growth of these EV11 viruses in HT29 or Vero cell lines (data not shown).
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FIG. 3. Infection by EV11-207 is inhibited by anti-DAF antibodies. HT29 cells were preincubated with a rabbit polyclonal sera (at a 1/500 dilution). Inhibition of CPE resulting from antibody treatment was scored 48 to 72 h after infection with EV11-207, EV11-207M, EV11-207R, or EV11-207C.
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TABLE 2. Mutations present in cell tropism variants EV11-207M, EV11-207R, and EV11-207Ca
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averaged map showed essentially no bias toward the starting model, with the electron density map clearly showing side chains and loops differing significantly from those in the starting model. Cycles of refinement and rebuilding (using programs XPLOR [5], CNS [6], and O [18]) and incorporation of the data to 2.9 Å have led to a model with R = 24% for all data to 2.9 Å and 82% of residues in the most-favored regions of the Ramachandran plot (Table 3). Coordinates (identifier, 1 h8t) and structure factors (identifier, r1 h8tsf) have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank |
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TABLE 3. Refinement statistics and model quality
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TABLE 4. RMSD in alpha-carbon positions for comparisons with some other human picornavirusesa
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FIG. 4. The structure of the viral protomer. (A) The structure of viral protomer is shown as a ribbon diagram to highlight secondary structural elements. Blue, VP1; green, VP2; red, VP3. Two neighboring protomers within a pentamer are shown, and the two views are related by a 90° rotation about the vertical axis (applicable also to panel B). The locations of the amino acid changes seen in variants are indicated (as shown in the key). (B) The same views as in panel A are shown with the structures of ICAM-1 and the PVR overlaid. These coordinates were obtained from the low-resolution structures of these receptors in complex with human rhinovirus 16 and human rhinovirus 14 (20) and poliovirus (3, 16). The coordinates were superposed on the EV11-207 structure by superposition of the picornavirus proteins. Both panels were drawn with Molscript (21) and rendered with Raster3D (29).
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FIG. 5. Mapping of EV11-207M, -C, and -R amino acid changes onto the surface of EV11-207. (A) Space-filling model of the complete EV11-207 virion. The majority of residues are blue, with the depth of color relating to their distance from the center of the virion. Those residues that are altered in the variants are colored as in Fig. 4. As in Fig. 4B the overlaid structures of PVR and ICAM-1 are shown to indicate the range of interactions with the viral capsid made possible by different modes of canyon-binding receptors. A single SCR domain from factor H (2) is shown in gold so that the small size of an SCR domain compared to those of the immunoglobulin (Ig) domains contained in ICAM-1 (two Ig domains contained in each coordinate set) and PVR (three Ig domains in each coordinate set) may be judged. (B and C) The canyon-binding receptors are shown more closely with views from opposite sides shown in the two panels. All panels were drawn with Molscript (21) and rendered with Raster3D (29).
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Considering the viruses one by one it can be seen that infection of HT29 cells by EV11-207 is dependent on DAF binding and that the virus is not able to infect cells in the absence of DAF although, as noted above, it is able to adhere to Vero cells in a DAF-independent fashion (Fig. 2A). By contrast the changes present in EV11-207M, while leaving it able to bind DAF, apparently allow infection of cells in a DAF-independent fashion. The assays used do not allow us to determine if the affinity of EV11-207M for DAF is subtly altered (use of surface plasmon resonance as previously described [22] was not possible due to difficulties in preparing large amounts of purified virus). We propose that this phenotype arises because the changes in VP1 and VP2, which cluster on the surface of the virion, act to increase the affinity of the virus for another cell surface molecule, which EV11-207M then utilizes as the receptor for cell entry. There has been much discussion in the literature about the role of DAF as a picornavirus receptor (37, 42, 43). DAF is thought by these groups to act as a primary receptor, sequestering virus at the cell surface, and so enabling interaction with another protein, which acts as the true receptor, leading to entry of the cell.
However, we have demonstrated previously that the interaction between EV11-207 and DAF plays an active role during infection and that DAF does not simply sequester virus at the cell surface. We have shown that binding to DAF directs internalization of EV11-207 through membrane domains known as lipid rafts and that it is during entry via this pathway that the virus uncoats and releases its RNA (A. D. Stuart, H. E. Eustace, T. A. McKee, and T. D. K. Brown, unpublished data). Work by Powell et al. (37) supports this hypothesis that some DAF-binding echoviruses, in contrast to other enteroviruses such as poliovirus, do not form A particles by interacting with a DAF at the cell surface but instead interact with an unknown factor(s) inside the cell during the entry process to uncoat the virus RNA.
In this light, we propose that the four changes between EV11-207 and EV11-207M, which have no discernible effect on the ability of EV11-207M to bind DAF, act by increasing the affinity of the virus for another cell surface molecule. This second molecule may not be used by EV11-207 (presumably due to insufficient affinity) since EV11-207 and EV11-207M enter the cell through different pathways (unpublished results). Since we are looking at the effects of only a few amino acid changes, increasing the affinity of a preexisting receptor-binding site seems more plausible than creation of a novel binding site on the virion surface. This hypothesis is supported by the ability of EV11-207 to adhere to Vero cells in a DAF-independent fashion (Fig. 2A). The changes present in EV11-207C must also act to increase the affinity for this alternate receptor.
The further changes present in EV11-207R result in the loss of DAF binding. These observations would be explained if the changes unique to EV11-207R leave binding to the second receptor unaffected but eliminate DAF binding.
In summary our interpretation is that the EV11-207R changes act to abolish the DAF-binding site while the EV11-207M changes act to increase the affinity for binding to a currently unidentified receptor. Mapping these changes onto the structure of EV11-207 might therefore point to those regions of the virion surface which are involved in binding DAF and the EV11-207M, -C, and -R receptor. This mapping is presented in Fig. 4 and 5 and leads us to propose that the EV11-207M, -C, and -R receptor is a classical, canyon-binding, picornavirus receptor in the mode of poliovirus-PVR (3, 15, 48), rhinovirus 16- and rhinovirus 14-ICAM-1 (20), and coxsackievirus A21-ICAM-1 interactions (47). The DAF-binding sites, in contrast, appear to lie at the fivefold axes. The mapping of DAF binding to the fivefold axes contrasts with work on other DAF-binding enteroviruses (42, 43), which has suggested that a depression at the twofold axis is important in DAF binding. This inconsistency can only be resolved by use of reverse genetics to map DAF binding precisely.
Binding in an exposed site (either at the two- or fivefold sites) rather than within the canyon may relate to the low affinity of EV11-207 for DAF (KD,
3 µM [23]) compared with that of poliovirus for PVR (estimates for KD range between 80 [48] and 100 to 700 nM [27]) or that of rhinovirus for ICAM-1 (KD,
190 nM [7]), since there is likely to be a smaller contact area between the virus and DAF leading to a weaker interaction overall.
Our data therefore support the idea that EV11 (and other DAF SCR3-binding viruses) infect cells via an infection pathway that involves interactions with a minimum of two proteins. The primary interaction is with the numerous DAF molecules present in the extracellular membrane; these interactions are characterized by a low affinity and a rapid off rate. By binding to DAF, the virus becomes sequestered in lipid raft domains, leading to the internalization and uncoating of the virus RNA by the interaction with an additional unidentified intracellular factor(s). The non-DAF-using EV11 mutants, however, appear to use a more classical picornavirus infection route, interacting with a cell surface receptor which is likely to be an extended molecule that binds with high affinity to the canyon surrounding the fivefold axis. Interaction with this receptor provides sufficient energy to allow A particle formation and hence cellular infection.
The use of the DAF SCR3 domain for entry by a substantial number of echovirus and coxsackie B virus clinical isolates is well documented. It is our view that this interaction initiates internalization of these viruses, thus permitting interactions with a further molecule (or molecules) that promote uncoating. However it is also clear that only a limited number of amino acid changes on the virion surface are required to permit productive recognition of alternative receptors. Given the high error rate in replication, such changes might occur during natural infections. The extent to which selection of receptor use variants actually occurs during natural infections and the specific identities of the alternate receptors are currently being investigated
S.M.L. was supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship. P.A.W. and A.D.S. were supported by the Wellcome Trust, and A.D.S. was also supported by Action Research. S.S. was supported by the PHLS central fund.
Present address: Division de Pathologie Clinique, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. ![]()
Present address: ASTEX-Technology, Cambridge CB4 0WE, United Kingdom. ![]()
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