Previous Article | Next Article 
Journal of Virology, December 2004, p. 13351-13355, Vol. 78, No. 23
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.78.23.13351-13355.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Biological Significance of the Second Receptor Binding Site of Newcastle Disease Virus Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase Protein
Tatiana L. Bousse,1
Garry Taylor,2
Sateesh Krishnamurthy,3
Allen Portner,3
Siba K. Samal,4 and
Toru Takimoto1*
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York,1
Center of Biomolecular Science, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom,2
Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee,3
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland4
Received 25 May 2004/
Accepted 28 July 2004

ABSTRACT
The paramyxovirus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) is a multifunctional
protein responsible for attachment to receptors containing sialic
acid, neuraminidase (NA) activity, and the promotion of membrane
fusion, which is induced by the fusion protein. Analysis of
the three-dimensional structure of Newcastle disease virus (NDV)
HN protein revealed the presence of a large pocket, which mediates
both receptor binding and NA activities. Recently, a second
sialic acid binding site on HN was revealed by cocrystallization
of the HN with a thiosialoside Neu5Ac-2-
S-

(2,6)Gal1OMe, suggesting
that NDV HN contains an additional sialic acid binding site.
To evaluate the role of the second binding site on the life
cycle of NDV, we rescued mutant viruses whose HNs were mutated
at Arg516, a key residue that is involved in the second binding
site. Loss of the second binding site on mutant HNs was confirmed
by the hemagglutination inhibition test, which uses an inhibitor
designed to block the NA active site. Characterization of the
biological activities of HN showed that the mutation at Arg516
had no effect on NA activity. However, the fusion promotion
activity of HN was substantially reduced by the mutation. Furthermore,
the mutations at Arg516 slowed the growth rate of virus in tissue
culture cells. These results suggest that the second binding
site facilitates virus infection and growth by enhancing the
fusion promotion activity of the HN.

TEXT
The
Paramyxoviridae family includes many important human and
animal pathogens, such as parainfluenza viruses, measles virus,
mumps virus, and Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Two surface
glycoproteins, hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and fusion (F)
proteins project from the surface of the virion and play major
roles in the initiation of viral infection. HN is a multifunctional
molecule. HN is responsible for the attachment of virus to receptors
containing sialic acid and has neuraminidase (NA) activity that
hydrolyzes sialic acid residues to prevent virus self-aggregation
and enhances virus spread by analogy to the role of influenza
virus NA (
13). Further, HN is required for membrane fusion induced
by the F protein (
12,
13,
15).
Previously, we isolated and crystallized the NDV HN to understand the structure-function relationship of HN (16). From this structural analysis, the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the protein was revealed (9). HN contains a large binding pocket, which mediates both receptor binding and NA activities. A comparison of the HN structure, either crystallized alone or in complex with 2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid, revealed substantial conformational changes in several loops within or near the large hydrophobic surface that is involved in the fusion promotion activity of HN (15). These results suggest that receptor binding at the NA active site triggers the conformational change on HN, which in turn activates the F protein to initiate membrane fusion. In addition to the large binding pocket, we recently found a second sialic acid binding site on HN by cocrystallizing the HN with a thiosialoside [Neu5Ac-2-S-
(2,6)Gal1OMe], suggesting that NDV HN has an additional sialic acid binding site (18). The new binding site is made up of hydrophobic residues from both monomers and involves interactions with sialic acid and not galactose. The side chain of Arg516 was involved in interaction with thiosialoside, suggesting that Arg516 is one of the residues forming the second receptor binding site on HN (18) (Fig. 1). The Arg516 residue is strongly conserved among various NDV isolates (14).
In this study, we first determined whether the NDV HN on the
virion contains a second sialic acid binding site around Arg516.
Taking advantage of the reverse genetic system of NDV (
11),
we rescued two mutant NDVs whose Arg516 had been mutated. The
full-length NDV cDNA used to rescue the virus was synthesized
from strain Beaudette C (
11). Therefore, we replaced the HN
gene of the full-length cDNA with that of the Kansas strain,
which we used for the crystallization of HN. Before replacing
the HN gene, we substituted Cys for Tyr123 of Kansas HN cDNA
in pTF1 vector (
16) so that it expressed a disulfide-linked
dimer molecule. We performed this substitution, because most
NDV strains have disulfide-linked dimer HNs that show enhanced
fusion promotion activity. The HN gene was further mutated at
residue Arg516 to Ala or Ser. The F gene of the full-length
NDV cDNA was also mutated at the cleavage site from dibasic
to monobasic form (RRQKR to GRQGR) so that the rescued viruses
possess the nonvirulent pathotype (
17). These mutations were
created using the QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene).
Mutant viruses were rescued by the reverse genetic system as described previously (4, 11). Briefly, 293T cells in 100-mm-diameter dishes were infected with UV-inactivated vTF7-3, which expresses T7 RNA polymerase. Using 64 µl of Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies), we transfected the cells with 16 µg of mutated full-length genome NDV cDNA together with 8 µg of supporting plasmids pNP, 8 µg of pP, and 0.8 µg of pL (11). After 40 h of incubation at 37°C, cells were lysed by three cycles of freeze-thawing and then injected into embryonated eggs. In each case, mutant viruses were successfully recovered after a 48-h incubation. Mutant NDVs were cloned by plaque purification on LLC-MK2 cells, and the stock viruses were prepared by injecting cloned virus into the embryonated eggs. To confirm the inserted mutations, viral RNAs were extracted from purified viruses and amplified by reverse transcription-PCR using the Titan One-Tube RT-PCR system (Roche). The sequencing results confirmed that the rescued mutant viruses contain mutations only at residue 516 as designed in the HN gene. Mutant viruses with Ala516 and Ser516 in their HN were designated as NDVHN516A and NDVHN516S, respectively.
First, we characterized the mutant HNs of the rescued viruses. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of the purified viruses grown in embryonated eggs showed no significant difference in the virion HN contents (Fig. 2A). We next determined the NA activity of the mutant HNs. Purified wild-type NDV (NDVHNwt) or mutant NDVHN516A or NDVHN516S was incubated with N-acetylneuraminyl-lactose (Sigma) for 30 min at 37°C. NA activities were assayed by the colorimetric method of Aminoff (2), which detects N-acetylneuraminic acid released from the substrate. As shown in Fig. 2B, the NA activities of these mutant NDVs were almost equivalent to that of NDVHNwt, suggesting that mutations at residue 516 do not affect the NA activity of HN. These results correlate with the 3D structural data, which showed the additional sialic acid binding site located away from the NA catalytic site (Fig. 1).
The hemagglutination (HA) activity of the purified mutant viruses
was measured by a standard HA test using 0.5% chicken red blood
cells (cRBC), and the results were compared with that of NDVHNwt.
Wild-type NDV provided 128 HA units at a concentration of 10
µg/ml. NDV516A or NDV516S showed the same HA titer at
the same concentration (Fig.
3, top panel), indicating that
mutation at residue 516 did not affect HA activity at 4°C.
This was probably because the mutation at residue 516 has no
effect on the receptor binding at the NA catalytic site as described
above. The presence of the second binding site on wild-type
HN but not on mutant HNs was determined by shifting the same
HA plate to 34°C (Fig.
3, bottom panel). Mutant viruses
were eluted from the cRBC after 1 h of incubation at 34°C,
while NDVHNwt did not, suggesting that mutant HNs bound to sialic
acid-containing receptor only through the NA catalytic site,
which was cleaved by NA activity at elevated temperatures. In
contrast, wild-type virus likely remained attached to the cRBC
through the second HN binding site even at higher temperatures.
This result suggests that wild-type HN on the virion binds to
sialic acid-containing receptors through two separated sites,
one at the NA catalytic site and the other around residue 516.
Similar results were reported with NDV HN, which possessed mutations
at the hydrophobic surface (
8). Mutations at the predicted dimer
interface of NDV HN significantly impaired their ability to
adsorb to RBCs at 37°C but not at 4°C. Although mutated
residues (Phe220, Ser222, and Leu224) were not located close
to the Arg516, structural analysis of the HN-thiosialoside complex
indicated that HN dimer interaction is required for the formation
of the second binding site (
18).
To further confirm that wild-type HN possesses a second receptor
binding site around residue 516, we determined the HA activity
of HN in the presence of NA inhibitor BCX-2798 (
1). BCX-2798
was designed on the basis of the 3D structure of the catalytic
site of NDV HN. The compound is highly effective in inhibiting
NA activities in vitro and checks the growth of human parainfluenza
viruses type 1, 2, and 3 in LLC-MK
2 cells (
1). If wild-type
HN possesses two receptor binding sites, one at the NA catalytic
site and the other around residue 516, BCX-2798 will not inhibit
the HA activity of wild-type HN because it blocks only the NA
catalytic site. To test this possibility, BCX-2798 was serially
diluted and incubated with eight HA units of NDVHNwt, NDVHN516A,
or NDVHN516S. After 30-min incubation at room temperature, cRBC
(0.5% [vol/vol]) were added and incubated at 4°C for 45
min. As shown in Fig.
4, BCX-2798 did not inhibit the HA activity
of NDVHNwt even at 5,000 nM. In sharp contrast, the HA activity
of NDVHN516A and NDVHN516S was almost completely inhibited by
20 and 78 nM BCX-2798, respectively. These results together
with our structural data indicate that NDV HN has a second sialic
acid binding site on the protein and that residue 516 is involved
in the formation of the site.
Next we evaluated the role of the second binding site on the
biological activity of HN using mutant HNs expressed in cultured
cells. HN proteins were expressed in HeLa T4
+ cells using a
vaccinia virus T7 transient-expression system (
10). We characterized
their NA and receptor binding activities and their cell surface
expression for comparison with those of wild-type HN. Both mutant
HNs were expressed at levels similar to that of wild-type HN
(Table
1). NA activities of the expressed mutant HNs were almost
equivalent to that of the wild type as expected from the results
of characterization of rescued viruses (Fig.
2B). Receptor binding
activity of the expressed mutant HNs was determined by a hemadsorption
(HAD) assay with guinea pig red blood cells at 4°C. Mutations
at R516 resulted in a slight reduction in their HAD activity,
possibly due to the loss of the second binding site (Table
1).
The fusion promotion activity of these HNs was determined by
coexpressing each HN together with NDV F in HeLa T4
+ cells.
Fusion activity was scored by syncytium formation examined with
a light microscope as described previously (
5,
7). Coexpression
of the wild-type HN and F fused 25% of the cells. In contrast,
expression of HN516A or HN516S with NDV F resulted in syncytium
formation in only 10 and 12% of the cells, respectively (Fig.
5 and Table
1). This difference is not due to the level of expression
of HN because almost equivalent amounts of HN were expressed
at the cell surface (Table
1). These results indicate that wild-type
HN that has an additional sialic acid binding site promotes
membrane fusion more efficiently than mutant HNs. These results
suggest that receptor binding through the second binding site
plays a role in the membrane fusion induced by HN and F.
How does the second receptor binding site contribute to membrane
fusion? The results of our previous structural (
9) and biochemical
(
15) analyses suggest that the binding of a sialic acid receptor
to the NA catalytic site induces a conformational change on
the hydrophobic surface of HN, which triggers the membrane fusion
induced by F protein. This hypothetical model proposes that
the structural change triggered by receptor binding induces
dissociation between HN and F, which results in the hydrophobic
fusion peptide of the F protein being inserted into the target
cellular membrane (
12,
15). Further conformational changes of
the F protein merge the cellular and viral membranes by forming
a coiled-coil structure between the two heptad repeat regions
near the fusion peptide and transmembrane domain of the F protein
(
3,
6). Apparently, viral membrane must be in close proximity
to the target membrane during the whole process for efficient
membrane fusion. Therefore, a possible role of the second binding
site may be to maintain the close proximity of the target membrane
and virus during the fusion process. Receptor binding through
the NA active site is essential for the fusion promotion activity
of HN because it induces a series of conformational changes
on HN, which triggers fusion by F protein. However, hydrolysis
of the sialosides by NA will result in the separation of the
two membranes. The attachment of HN protein to the cellular
receptor through the second binding site will hold the target
membrane in close proximity to the virus throughout the process,
which may contribute to the efficient membrane fusion mediated
by HN and F proteins.
Finally, we evaluated the role of the second binding site on viral growth in tissue culture cells. Duplicate wells of LLC-MK2 cells in six-well plates were infected with wild-type NDV, NDVHN516A, or NDVHN516S at a multiplicity of infection of 0.01 for 1 h at room temperature. After the cells were washed three times with phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.2), the cells were cultured at 37°C in minimal essential medium supplemented with 0.15% bovine serum albumin and 2 µg of trypsin per ml. At the indicated time points, 200-µl aliquots of medium were taken and replaced with equal volumes of fresh medium. Titration of each virus sample indicated that growth of both mutants, especially NDVHN516S, was slower than that of wild-type NDV (Fig. 6). Both mutant viruses, however, reached the same titer as wild-type NDV 72 h after infection. These results indicate that the loss of the second binding site slows the multistep growth of the virus, possibly due to the less efficient fusion promotion activity of HN.
In this study, we confirmed the presence of an additional receptor
binding site on NDV HN using mutant viruses rescued by the reverse
genetic method. Our data for mutant viruses indicates that Arg516
is involved in the formation of the second binding site as suggested
by our structural data (
18). Mutations at Arg516 did not significantly
affect the NA activity or the HA activity at low temperatures.
However, the mutation did reduce the fusion promotion activity
of the HN protein. Mutant viruses that lack the second site
grow to a titer similar to that of wild-type virus in cultured
cells. This indicates that receptor binding through the second
site is not essential for viral infection. However, the kinetic
study of virus growth suggests that the second binding site
does enhance the efficiency of multistep growth in cells (Fig.
6). Receptor binding through the second site probably contributes
to efficient viral infection by enhancing the fusion promotion
activity of the HN protein.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported in part by grant AI-38956 from the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, by Cancer Center
Support grant CA-21765 from the National Cancer Institute, and
by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC).
We thank BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.) for providing BCX-2798.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642. Phone: (585) 273-2856. Fax: (585) 473-9573. E-mail:
toru_takimoto{at}urmc.rochester.edu.


REFERENCES
1 - Alymova, I. V., G. Taylor, T. Takimoto, T. H. Lin, P. Chand, Y. S. Babu, C. Li, X. Xiong, and A. Portner. 2004. Efficacy of novel hemagglutinin-neuraminidase inhibitors BCX 2798 and BCX 2855 against human parainfluenza viruses in vitro and in vivo. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 48:1495-1502.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2 - Aminoff, D. 1961. Methods for the quantitative estimation of N-acetylneuraminic acid and their application to hydrolysates of sialomucoids. Biochem. J. 81:384-392.[Medline]
3 - Baker, K. A., R. E. Dutch, R. A. Lamb, and T. S. Jardetzky. 1999. Structural basis for paramyxovirus-mediated membrane fusion. Mol. Cell 3:309-319.[CrossRef][Medline]
4 - Bousse, T., T. Matrosovich, A. Portner, A. Kato, Y. Nagai, and T. Takimoto. 2002. The long noncoding region of the human parainfluenza virus type 1 F gene contributes to the read-through transcription at the M-F gene junction. J. Virol. 76:8244-8251.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
5 - Bousse, T., T. Takimoto, W. L. Gorman, T. Takahashi, and A. Portner. 1994. Regions on the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase proteins of human parainfluenza virus type-1 and Sendai virus important for membrane fusion. Virology 204:506-514.[CrossRef][Medline]
6 - Colman, P. M., and M. C. Lawrence. 2003. The structural biology of type I viral membrane fusion. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell. Biol. 4:309-319.[CrossRef][Medline]
7 - Connaris, H., T. Takimoto, R. Russell, S. Crennell, I. Moustafa, A. Portner, and G. Taylor. 2002. Probing the sialic acid binding site of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase of Newcastle disease virus: identification of key amino acids involved in cell binding, catalysis, and fusion. J. Virol. 76:1816-1824.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
8 - Corey, E. A., A. M. Mirza, E. Levandowsky, and R. M. Iorio. 2003. Fusion deficiency induced by mutations at the dimer interface in the Newcastle disease virus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase is due to a temperature-dependent defect in receptor binding. J. Virol. 77:6913-6922.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
9 - Crennell, S., T. Takimoto, A. Portner, and G. Taylor. 2000. Crystal structure of the multifunctional paramyxovirus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase. Nat. Struct. Biol. 7:1068-1074.[CrossRef][Medline]
10 - 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]
11 - Krishnamurthy, S., Z. Huang, and S. K. Samal. 2000. Recovery of a virulent strain of Newcastle disease virus from cloned cDNA: expression of a foreign gene results in growth retardation and attenuation. Virology 278:168-182.[CrossRef][Medline]
12 - Lamb, R. A. 1993. Paramyxovirus fusion: a hypothesis for changes. Virology 197:1-11.[CrossRef][Medline]
13 - Lamb, R. A., and D. Kolakofsky. 2001. Paramyxoviridae: the viruses and their replication, p. 1305-1340. In D. M. Knipe and P. M. Howley (ed.), Fields virology, 4th ed., vol. 1. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, Pa.
14 - Sakaguchi, T., T. Toyoda, B. Gotoh, N. M. Inocencio, K. Kuma, T. Miyata, and Y. Nagai. 1989. Newcastle disease virus evolution. I. Multiple lineages defined by sequence variability of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase gene. Virology 169:260-272.[CrossRef][Medline]
15 - Takimoto, T., G. L. Taylor, H. C. Connaris, S. J. Crennell, and A. Portner. 2002. Role of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein in the mechanism of paramyxovirus-cell membrane fusion. J. Virol. 76:13028-13033.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
16 - Takimoto, T., G. L. Taylor, S. J. Crennell, R. A. Scroggs, and A. Portner. 2000. Crystallization of Newcastle disease virus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase glycoprotein. Virology 270:208-214.[CrossRef][Medline]
17 - Toyoda, T., T. Sakaguchi, K. Imai, N. M. Inocencio, B. Gotoh, M. Hamaguchi, and Y. Nagai. 1987. Structural comparison of the cleavage-activation site of the fusion glycoprotein between virulent and avirulent strains of Newcastle disease virus. Virology 158:242-247.[CrossRef][Medline]
18 - Zaitsev, V., M. von Itzstein, D. Groves, M. Kiefel, T. Takimoto, A. Portner, and G. Taylor. 2004. Second sialic acid binding site in Newcastle disease virus hemagglutinin-neuraminidase: implications for fusion. J. Virol. 78:3733-3741.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Journal of Virology, December 2004, p. 13351-13355, Vol. 78, No. 23
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.78.23.13351-13355.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Bishop, K. A., Hickey, A. C., Khetawat, D., Patch, J. R., Bossart, K. N., Zhu, Z., Wang, L.-F., Dimitrov, D. S., Broder, C. C.
(2008). Residues in the Stalk Domain of the Hendra Virus G Glycoprotein Modulate Conformational Changes Associated with Receptor Binding. J. Virol.
82: 11398-11409
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Mahon, P. J., Mirza, A. M., Musich, T. A., Iorio, R. M.
(2008). Engineered Intermonomeric Disulfide Bonds in the Globular Domain of Newcastle Disease Virus Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase Protein: Implications for the Mechanism of Fusion Promotion. J. Virol.
82: 10386-10396
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Alymova, I. V., Taylor, G., Mishin, V. P., Watanabe, M., Murti, K. G., Boyd, K., Chand, P., Babu, Y. S., Portner, A.
(2008). Loss of the N-Linked Glycan at Residue 173 of Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 1 Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase Exposes a Second Receptor-Binding Site. J. Virol.
82: 8400-8410
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Cantin, C., Holguera, J., Ferreira, L., Villar, E., Munoz-Barroso, I.
(2007). Newcastle disease virus may enter cells by caveolae-mediated endocytosis. J. Gen. Virol.
88: 559-569
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Bousse, T., Takimoto, T.
(2006). Mutation at residue 523 creates a second receptor binding site on human parainfluenza virus type 1 hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein.. J. Virol.
80: 9009-9016
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Porotto, M., Fornabaio, M., Greengard, O., Murrell, M. T., Kellogg, G. E., Moscona, A.
(2006). Paramyxovirus Receptor-Binding Molecules: Engagement of One Site on the Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase Protein Modulates Activity at the Second Site. J. Virol.
80: 1204-1213
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Melanson, V. R., Iorio, R. M.
(2006). Addition of N-Glycans in the Stalk of the Newcastle Disease Virus HN Protein Blocks Its Interaction with the F Protein and Prevents Fusion. J. Virol.
80: 623-633
[Abstract]
[Full Text]