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Journal of Virology, February 2006, p. 1742-1751, Vol. 80, No. 4
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.80.4.1742-1751.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Claire Fung,1,2,
and
Chetankumar S. Tailor1,2*
Infection, Immunity, Injury Repair Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8,1 University of Toronto, Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, Toronto, Ontario M5G, Canada2
Received 17 August 2005/ Accepted 21 November 2005
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-retroviruses) is that they all contain multiple transmembrane (TM) segments (reviewed in reference 30). Furthermore, these receptors have been identified as transporters of important nutrients or have been shown to belong to transporter families (4, 12, 13, 20, 24-26, 33-37). Mapping receptor domains and residues critical for
-retrovirus infection has often relied on generating specific hybrid constructs between a functional receptor, isolated from cells sensitive to virus infection, and a nonfunctional receptor homologue, normally isolated from cells resistant to retrovirus infection. This functional approach has been successfully used to map critical receptor-functioning domains and residues in many gammaretroviral receptors (reviewed in reference 30) and have allowed identification of authentic virus binding sites and of sites that are critical for membrane orientation of the receptor (10). These studies have shown that multiple receptor domains are required for mediating efficient
-retrovirus binding and infection and suggest a common mechanism of interaction between
-retroviruses and their respective receptors. The only exception is the interaction of ecotropic murine leukemia virus with the cationic amino acid transporter, CAT1 (3, 13, 36). To date, only presumptive extracellular loop 3 (ECL3) has been identified as critical for virus infection (2, 9, 23, 38). The identification and characterization of a receptor for feline leukemia virus subgroup C (FeLV-C) has been of considerable interest because of its possible implication in feline and human pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) (25). This disease is characterized by a specific block in development of erythroid progenitor cells (1, 8), which are important precursor cells for erythrocytes. Feline PRCA is caused by FeLV-C (1, 8), which arises in infected cats from the weakly pathogenic progenitor FeLV subgroup A through mutations in the envelope gene responsible for receptor recognition (19, 28). These studies have led to the hypothesis that PRCA is caused by interaction of FeLV-C envelope with its cell surface receptor. The receptor for FeLV-C has been identified as FLVCR1 (also termed FLVCR) (24, 35), which is a member of the major facilitator superfamily of transporters (22). Hydropathy algorithms (11, 14) predict FLVCR1 to contain 12 potential membrane-spanning segments with six presumptive ECLs. The cellular function of FLVCR1 was recently identified as an exporter of heme (25). A block in surface expression of FLVCR1 causes a build-up of heme in erythroid progenitor cells and subsequent death of these cells by apoptosis.
In this study, we aimed to identify FLVCR1 domains that are critical for mediating efficient FeLV-C binding and infection and to ascertain whether interaction of FeLV-C with its receptor was consistent with interaction of other
-retroviruses with their respective receptors. In our previous attempt to map human FLVCR1 residues critical for mediating FeLV-C infections, we had focused on isolating an FLVCR1 homologue from Mus dunni tail fibroblast (MDTF) cells, which are resistant to FeLV-C infection, with the hypothesis that murine FLVCR1 was a nonfunctional receptor for FeLV-C. However, we found that MDTF FLVCR1 functions as an efficient FeLV-C receptor when overexpressed in MDTF cells (32). In this study, we independently isolated a human cDNA encoding FLVCR2, a protein that is highly related in sequence and topology to FLVCR1, and we show that this protein does not function as a receptor for FeLV-C when overexpressed in MDTF cells. By generating specific hybrids and mutants between FLVCR1 and FLVCR2, our results suggest that multiple FLVCR1 regions are critical for mediating efficient FeLV-C infection and that these regions are distinct from the FeLV-C envelope binding site.
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lacZ(FeLV-C) pseudotype virus was generated by transfection (calcium phosphate precipitation [Stratagene]) of TELCeB6 cells with the FBCsalf retroviral expression vector (FeLV-C Sarma envelope gene [27] cloned into the FBsalf retroviral expression vector [7]). Transfectants were selected with phleomycin (50 µg/ml), and resistant colonies were pooled. Infection of target cells with lacZ(FeLV-C) was carried out as described below.
Isolation of human FLVCR2 cDNA. Homologous sequences to human FLVCR1 cDNA were identified by BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/) sequence comparison. A cDNA sequence isolated from HepG2 human hepatoma cells, showing high sequence identity to human FLVCR1 cDNA, was identified. Specific primers were subsequently designed complementary to the 5' end (upstream primer) and 3' end (downstream primer) of the potential coding region of HepG2 FLVCR1-related (FLVCR2) cDNA sequence (upstream primer, 5'-ACTGTGGCGATGGTGAATGAAGGTCCCAAC-3'; downstream primer, 5'-TTCCTCTCAGAGATGATCCTCTGACACAGC-3'). These primers were used in the amplification of the homologous FLVCR2 cDNA from human TE671 cells. Briefly, total RNA from TE671 cells was isolated (QIAGEN RNA midiprep isolation system; Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) and subsequently used to generate a cDNA library (Stratagene, Cedar Creek, TX). TE671 FLVCR2 cDNA was isolated by PCR using the primers described above and the TE671 cDNA library as a template. The PCR was run for 30 cycles at an annealing temperature of 57°C for 1.5 min and an extension temperature of 68°C for 1.5 min. The isolated FLVCR2 cDNA was cloned into the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3.1V5HisTOPO (pcDNA3.1VH) (Invitrogen, Burlington, Ontario, Canada), in frame with the V5 epitope sequence, and subsequently sequenced on a PE/ABD 377 sequencer by using dye terminator cycle sequencing chemistry (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). V5-tagged FLVCR1 was generated by PCR amplification of human FLVCR1 cDNA and subsequent cloning in pcDNA3.1VH vector to obtain the plasmid pcDNA3.1FLVCR1V5.
Construction of hybrid FLVCR1/FLVCR2 cDNA expression vectors. Hybrid and mutant human FLVCR1/FLVCR2 cDNAs were generated by PCR. Specific forward and complementary primers were designed to the specified region to generate hybrid and mutant FLVCR1/FLVCR2 cDNAs (see Fig. 2). For V5-tagged constructs the amplified DNA was initially cloned into the pcDNA3.1VH vector in frame with sequence encoding the V5 epitope. The V5-tagged constructs were cloned into the pFBneo retroviral vector (Stratagene) as follows. Two oligonucleotide primers containing EcoRI restriction enzyme sites flanking XcmI restriction sites were generated. These primers specifically prime upstream and downstream of the multiple cloning site in pCDNA3.1FLVCR1V5 vector. These primers were used to amplify human FLVCR1V5 fusion cDNA. The amplified cDNA was digested with EcoRI and subsequently cloned into an EcoRI-digested pFBneo vector to generate the pFBneoTFLVCR1V5 construct. A pFBneo clone containing the FLVCR1V5 in the forward orientation was subsequently used to clone other FLVCR1/FLVCR2 hybrid constructs. Hybrid FLVCR1/FLVCR2V5 fusion constructs were isolated from pcDNA3.1VH vector by digestion with BstXI restriction enzyme. The cDNAs were subsequently cloned into a BstXI-digested pFBneoTFLVCR1V5 vector. A BstXI digest removes the FLVCR1 sequence and subsequently allows cloning of mutant or hybrid FLVCR1/FLVCR2 constructs in the pFBneo retroviral vector while maintaining a fusion with the V5 epitope. Hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged constructs were amplified by PCR and subsequently cloned into an XcmI-cut pFBneoTFLVCR1V5 vector. An XcmI digest of the pFBneoTFLVCR1V5 vector removes the FLVCR1V5 sequence, resulting in the generation of a pFBneo vector with T overhangs. All PCR-amplified HA receptor cDNAs were cloned into this vector.
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FIG. 2. Susceptibility of MDTF cells expressing FLVCR1, FLVCR2, or FLVCR1/FLVCR2 hybrid or mutant constructs to lacZ(FeLV-C). These structures are hypothetical based on hydrophobicity algorithms. Titers are the averages of three independent experiments. The potential extracellular loops are numbered above FLVCR1. Proteins that were not expressed on the cell surface are represented by asterisks.
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Virus infection. Target cells were seeded in 24-well plates (1.0 x 104 cells/well) and incubated overnight at 37°C. The following day the cells were incubated with 1 ml of serially diluted lacZ(FeLV-C) supernatant for 4 h in the presence of polybrene (8 µg/ml). The virus supernatant was then replaced with fresh growth medium, and cells were allowed to incubate for a further 2 days before X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indoyl-ß-D-galactopyranoside) (Sigma-Aldrich, Canada) staining. lacZ(FeLV-C) pseudotype titers were determined by counting the number of blue CFU, and titers were expressed as the number of CFU obtained per milliliter of virus supernatant.
Protein analysis.
Approximately, 1 x 107 receptor-expressing cells grown in a 75-cm2 tissue culture flask were lysed using 200 µl of cell lysis buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 1% Triton X-100, 0.05% sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS], 5 mg/ml sodium deoxycholate, 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride) at 4°C for 10 min. Cell genomic DNA was pelleted by centrifugation at 13,000 x g for 10 min at 4°C. Cell lysate supernatant was either stored at 80°C or used for protein analysis. Approximately 100 µg of total protein was run on a 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel, and proteins were subsequently transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane (Pall, Pensacola, FL). V5-tagged FLVCR1/FLVCR2 proteins were detected by incubation of nitrocellulose membranes with anti-V5 monoclonal antibody (Invitrogen) diluted 1 in 500 in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 0.1% Tween 20. This was followed by incubation with rabbit anti-mouse antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) (Sigma) diluted 1 in 1,000 in PBS-0.1% Tween 20. HA-tagged proteins were detected by incubation of nitrocellulose membranes with the anti-HA HRP antibody (Sigma-Aldrich). Signals were detected using chemiluminescence reagent (Perkin Elmer, Boston, MA), followed by exposure to Kodak Biomax MR film. For loading control of cell lysate samples, the nitrocellulose membrane was incubated with anti-actin monoclonal antibody (diluted 1 in 1,000; Sigma-Aldrich) followed by goat anti-mouse HRP (diluted 1 in 1,000; Sigma-Aldrich). Cell membrane samples were prepared from cells grown to confluence in 150-mm diameter tissue culture plates. Cells were initially washed with PBS and then resuspended in 3 ml of cold membrane lysis buffer (20 mM Tris [pH 7.4], 5 mM EGTA, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 20 mM aprotinin). The cells were scraped from the tissue culture dish using a cell scraper and then homogenized using a Dounce homogenizer. The nuclear fraction was pelleted by centrifugation at 1,000 x g for 20 min at 4°C. Membrane fractions were pelleted by centrifugation of the nucleus-free supernatant at 30,000 rpm for 1 h at 4°C in a Beckman SW41 rotor. The membrane pellet was resuspended in 40 µl of PBS. Twenty microliters of membrane sample was run on a 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel. Proteins were transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, and V5- and HA-tagged receptor proteins were detected as described above. For loading control, the remaining 20 µl of membrane sample was run on another 10% gel and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, which was subsequently incubated with a monoclonal antibody against the
subunit of the sodium potassium ATPase membrane protein (Sigma-Aldrich).
For analysis of glycosylated proteins, approximately 100 µg of total protein from cell lysates was incubated with or without N-glycosidase F enzyme PNGase F (Sigma) for 2 h at 37°C. Samples were run on a 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel and the V5- and HA-tagged receptor proteins were detected as described above.
Determining relative surface expression of FLVCR1/FLVCR2 receptor proteins. The relative surface expression of FLVCR1/FLVCR2 proteins was determined by estimating the band intensities of the proteins on scans of the immunoblots using the National Institutes of Health Image J (image processing) software (http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/) and then normalizing these band intensities to the band intensities of the control Na+K+ ATPase. The surface expression of hybrid FLVCR1/FLVCR2 proteins was then compared to expression of FLVCR1 and 2-1TM1 (a construct containing the amino intracellular region of FLVCR2 and the remaining TM-containing regions from FLVCR1 with the cross-junction at TM1), which were assigned a factor of 1.
FeLV-C SU envelope binding assay. A pCS-FSCHA expression construct containing FeLV-C surface unit (SU) cDNA fused in frame with a double HA epitope was kindly provided by Julie Overbaugh. This construct was generated as described previously by Sugai and colleagues (29). Human 293 cells were seeded at 1 x 106 cells in a 100-mm culture dish 1 day prior to transfection. The cells were then transfected with 10 µg of pCS-FSCHA using PolyFect transfection reagent. Two days posttransfection, the supernatant was harvested and filtered using a 0.45-µm-pore-size filter. The HA-tagged FeLV-C SU envelope was subsequently stored at 80°C and used for envelope binding studies.
MDTF cells stably expressing high levels of FLVCR1/FLVCR2 hybrid or mutant proteins were treated with a cell dissociation buffer (Invitrogen) to dislodge cells. Approximately 1 x 106 cells were used for each binding assay. The cells were first incubated with 1 ml of FeLV-C SU HA-tagged envelope in the presence of polybrene (8 µg/ml) for 30 min at 37°C. Cells were then centrifuged at 4,000 rpm for 3 min. All subsequent spins were carried out at 4,000 rpm for 3 min. Cells were then washed two times with cold PBS containing 2% FBS (2% PFBS). Target cells were then incubated on ice for 35 min with 100 µl 2% PFBS containing monoclonal HA.11 antibody (diluted 1:200; Covance, Berkley, CA). Cells were washed again two times with 2% PFBS before incubation for 35 min on ice with 100 µl of PFBS containing donkey anti-mouse antibody, at a dilution of 1:25, conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate (1 mg/ml) (Sigma). After 30 min of incubation, 1 µl of propidium iodide (2 mg/ml) was added and cells, were incubated on ice for a further 5 min before being washed two times with cold PFBS. Target cells were then incubated for 10 min with 1% paraformaldehyde to fix the cells. Cells were then analyzed for envelope binding using a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (Beckman Coultier, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada).
Nucleotide sequence accession number. The sequence of TE671 FLVCR2 cDNA was deposited in the GenBank database under accession number AF456126.
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FIG. 1. Sequence alignment of human FLVCR1 and human FLVCR2. Identical amino acids are shaded. Potential TM segments are shown as a line above amino acid sequence. The presumptive ECLs are also indicated above the sequence. Potential N-linked glycosylation sites are indicated by asterisks. Dashed lines are introduced for alignment. The assignment of TM segments is predicted by hydrophobicity algorithms (11, 14).
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FIG. 3. Western blot analysis of FLVCR1, FLVCR2, and hybrid FLVCR1/FLVCR2 proteins. Cell lysate (C.L.) and crude membrane (M) samples from MDTF cells infected with retrovirus carrying FLVCR1, FLVCR2, or hybrid FLVCR1/FLVCR2 constructs were analyzed for protein expression. The loading controls for actin and Na+ K+ ATPase are shown. (A) These proteins were tagged with V5 epitope and detected using monoclonal anti-V5 antibody and rabbit anti-mouse HRP antibody. Relative surface expression of proteins was determined by using Image J software (see Materials and Methods). Surface expression of proteins is relative to expression of FLVCR1. (B) These proteins were tagged with an HA epitope and detected using anti-HA HRP antibody. Surface expression is relative to the expression of 2-1TM1.
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To identify the specific FLVCR1 ECL6 residue(s) responsible for receptor function, we first compared the ECL6 sequence of FLVCR1 isolated from human, cat, and mouse cells with FLVCR2 ECL6 sequence (Fig. 4A). The human, feline, and murine FLVCR1 proteins function as efficient receptors for FeLV-C (24, 32, 35). Human FLVCR1 ECL6 sequence differs from FLVCR2 ECL6 sequence in 7 out of 10 residues. Most of the variations occur in the first five residues of FLVCR1 ECL6 (residues 483 to 487). Furthermore, the first five residues in ECL6 of human, cat, and mouse FLVCR1 proteins (Fig. 4A, hFLVCR1, feFLVCR1, and mdFLVCR1, respectively) are highly conserved compared to FLVCR2 ECL6 sequence, suggesting that this region may contain residues critical for infection. To test our hypothesis, we mutated the QIIDN (residues 459 to 463) in FLVCR2 ECL6 to the corresponding KLTSD (residues 483 to 487) present in FLVCR1 ECL6 (Fig. 4B, mutant 2KLTSD). Cells expressing 2KLTSD were highly susceptible to FeLV-C infection (Fig. 2, 2KLTSD). To identify specific residues, we mutated individual residues within FLVCR2 QIIDN sequence to the respective FLVCR1 ECL6 residues (Fig. 4B). As shown in Fig. 2, a single mutation of N463D in FLVCR2 ECL6 was sufficient to render FLVCR2 strongly functional for FeLV-C (the titer was approximately 2,000-fold greater than the titer on FLVCR2-expressing cells), whereas single mutations of Q459K, I461T, or D462S in FLVCR2 (Fig. 3B) caused a 10-fold increase in infection (data not shown). Together, our results suggest that the negatively charged D487 in FLVCR1 ECL6 is critical for FeLV-C receptor function.
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FIG. 4. (A) Comparison of presumptive ECL 6 sequences from human (h), feline (fe), and murine (m) FLVCR1 and from human FLVCR2. TM11 and TM12 are indicated by arrows above the sequence. FLVCR1 and FLVCR2 ECL6 residue numbers are indicated. Dots represent identical amino acids. (B) Mutations of human FLVCR2 ECL6 residues to FLVCR1 ECL6 residues. Dots represent identical amino acids. Also shown is the receptor function of the mutant FLVCR2, indicated by a plus sign, with each plus sign representing a 10-fold increase in virus infection titer on cells expressing the respective mutant FLVCR2 proteins. The minus symbol represents background infection.
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To determine whether other FLVCR1 ECLs are involved in receptor function, we used the 2-1TM1, 2-1TM4, 2-1TM6, 2-1TM8, and 2-1TM10 constructs (Fig. 2) as templates to generate additional mutants in which the critical receptor-functioning FLVCR1 ECL6 sequence was replaced by the FLVCR2 ECL6 sequence (Fig. 2, 2-1TM1 ECL6, 2-1TM4 ECL6, 2-1TM6 ECL6, 2-1TM8 ECL6, and 2-1TM10 ECL6). The 2-1TM1, 2-1TM4, 2-1TM6, 2-1TM8, and 2-1TM10 constructs contain specific FLVCR1 ECL sequences, and all function as efficient receptors for FeLV-C (Fig. 2). Therefore, if other ECLs are important for receptor function, then a replacement of the critical FLVCR1 ECL6 should not disrupt receptor function. All of the above receptors and subsequent ECL6 mutants generated from these receptors were tagged with an HA epitope at the C terminus for protein detection. Replacing the FLVCR1 ECL6 sequence in 2-1TM4, 2-1TM6, 2-1TM8 and 2-1TM10 with the FLVCR2 ECL6 sequence caused a 1,000- to 10,000-fold reduction in FeLV-C infection (Fig. 2, compare FeLV-C titers of 2-1TM4 to 2-1TM4 ECL6, 2-1TM6 to 2-1TM6 ECL6, 2-1TM8 to 2-1TM8 ECL6, and 2-1TM10 to 2-1TM10 ECL6). The reduction in virus titer was not caused by a disruption in surface expression, as surface expression of the above ECL6 mutant was comparable to expression of the respective parental receptors (Fig. 3B). ECL6 substitution in 2-1TM1 did not significantly disrupt FeLV-C infection (Fig. 2, compare titer on 2-1TM1 to 2-1TM1 ECL6). These results, first, confirm our initial observation that FLVCR1 ECL6 is critical for mediating FeLV-C infection, and, second, suggest that FLVCR1 ECL1 is also critical for receptor function. To confirm the importance of ECL1 in receptor function, we generated a FLVCR2 mutant in which the entire ECL1 sequence was substituted for FLVCR1 ECL1 sequence (Fig. 2, 2ECL1). Cells expressing 2-1ECL1 were approximately 7,000-fold more susceptible to FeLV-C infection than cells expressing FLVCR2. In summary, our results suggest that residues within ECL1 and ECL6 of human FLVCR1 are critical for receptor function.
FeLV-C envelope binding. To assess the importance of FLVCR1 ECL1 and ECL6 in binding FeLV-C envelope protein, we used an FeLV-C surface envelope protein fused to a double HA epitope (CSU-HA) for binding to MDTF cells expressing specific hybrid or mutant proteins. As shown in Fig. 5, CSU-HA efficiently bound to FLVCR1-expressing cells, whereas binding was not detected on FLVCR2-expressing cells or on control MDTF cells. This correlates with the ability of FLVCR1 and the inability of FLVCR2 and MDTF cells to mediate FeLV-C infection. To assess the importance of FLVCR1 ECL6 in envelope binding, we compared CSU-HA binding on cells expressing FLVCR1 and cells expressing 1-2ECL6. Both FLVCR1 and 1-2ECL6 function as efficient receptors for FeLV-C (Fig. 2) and show similar levels of receptor expression on the surface (Fig. 3A). CSU-HA binding was reduced on 1-2ECL6-expressing cells compared to binding on FLVCR1-expressing cells. We also analyzed envelope binding on cells expressing 2-1TM1, 2-1TM4, and 2-1TM6, and we compared it to envelope binding on their respective ECL6 mutants 2-1TM1 ECL6, 2-1TM4 ECL6, and 2-1TM6 ECL6 (Fig. 5). As mentioned above, surface expression of these ECL6 mutants was comparable to surface expression of their respective parental receptor. CSU-HA binding on cells expressing ECL6 mutants was significantly reduced compared to binding on cells expressing their respective parental receptor (Fig. 5, compare CSU-HA binding between 2-1TM1 and 2-1TM1ECL6, 2-1TM4 and 2-1TM4ECL6, and between 2-1TM6 and 2-1TM6ECL6). We did not detect CSU-HA binding on cells expressing 2-1TM8 or 2-1TM10 or on cells expressing the respective ECL6 mutants (Fig. 5). Taken together, these results suggest that ECL6 is important for FeLV-C envelope binding. To determine whether the D487 residue in FLVCR1 ECL6 was critical for envelope binding, we analyzed CSU-HA binding on 2N463D-expressing cells. We did not detect FeLV-C binding on 2N463D-expressing cells even though surface expression of 2N463D was comparable to FLVCR1 surface expression. We tested CSU-HA binding on 1D487N-expressing cells and observed a small but not a significant reduction in binding. These observations suggest that FLVCR1 D487 residue is not critical for strong envelope binding.
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FIG. 5. FeLV-C surface envelope binding on MDTF cells expressing FLVCR1, FLVCR2, or FLVCR1/FLVCR2 hybrids or mutants. Receptor-expressing cells were incubated with (white histogram) or without (black histogram) FeLV-C surface envelope protein tagged with a double HA epitope. Bound SU protein was detected using mouse anti-HA antibody (HA.11) and fluorescein-conjugated donkey anti-mouse. An increase in fluorescence (white histogram) denotes FeLV-C SU binding.
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FLVCR1 is N-linked glycosylated. As shown in Fig. 3A, we observed two FLVCR1 products, one product of approximately 70 kDa in size and another at approximately 55 to 60 kDa. The calculated molecular size of FLVCR1 is approximately 60 kDa. FLVCR1 contains three potential N-linked glycosylation motifs, with two motifs located in presumptive ECL3 and one motif in TM11 (Fig. 1, see asterisks above potential glycosylation sites). We also observed a difference in the molecular weights of the hybrid proteins 2-1TM1 and 2-1TM4 compared to 2-1TM6, 2-1TM8, and 2-1TM10. A major difference in these two sets of proteins is that the former set of proteins display FLVCR1 ECL3 that contains the two potential N-linked glycosylation motifs, whereas the latter set of proteins contain FLVCR2 ECL3 that lacks N-linked glycosylation motifs. We hypothesized that the FLVCR1 ECL3 was N-linked glycosylated. To test this, we treated cell lysate samples isolated from MDTF cells expressing FLVCR1, 2-1TM4, or 2-1TM6 with or without the N-glycosidase F enzyme PNGase F to remove N-linked oligosaccharides. As shown in Fig. 6A, PNGase F treatment of FLVCR1 caused a reduction in the molecular mass of the protein from 70 kDa to 55 kDa, suggesting that FLVCR1 is N-linked glycosylated. Furthermore, PNGase F treatment of 2-1TM4 reduced the molecular mass of this protein, whereas PNGase F treatment of 2-1TM6 did not cause a shift in the molecular mass (Fig. 6B). This result clearly suggests that FLVCR1 ECL3 is N-linked glycosylated. We also observed two FLVCR2 products of 55 kDa and 40 kDa (Fig. 3A). FLVCR2 also contains three potential N-linked glycosylation motifs (Fig. 1), suggesting that FLVCR2 may also be N-linked glycosylated. However, PNGase F treatment of FLVCR2 did not cause a reduction in either the 55 kDa or 40 kDa proteins, suggesting that FLVCR2 is not N-linked glycosylated.
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FIG. 6. Glycosylation studies of FLVCR1, FLVCR2, and FLVCR1/FLVCR2 hybrid proteins. Cell lysates from MDTF cells expressing FLVCR1, FLVCR2, or hybrid proteins were either not treated () or treated (+) with N-glycosidase F (PNGase F), and proteins were analyzed by Western blotting (see Materials and Methods). Proteins in panel A were detected using mouse anti-V5 antibody. Proteins in panel B were detected using anti-HA HRP.
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Our FeLV-C SU binding studies show that neither FLVCR1 ECL1 nor ECL6 alone is sufficient for mediating strong SU binding even though these ECLs are critical for mediating virus infection. Our results suggest that ECL1 and ECL6 are important for mediating strong SU binding only in conjunction with other FLVCR1 regions. Substitution of FLVCR1 ECL6 sequence for FLVCR2 ECL6 in FLVCR1 or 2-1TM1 proteins caused a dramatic reduction in SU binding (Fig. 5, 1-2ECL6 and 2-1TM1 ECL6), and similar ECL6 substitution in 2-1TM4 or 2-1TM6 proteins reduced SU binding to background levels. This clearly shows that FLVCR1 ECL6 plays an important role in mediating SU binding. However, our observation that ECL6 substitution in FLVCR1 or 2-1TM1 does not completely abrogate SU binding suggests that additional FLVCR1 regions are involved in mediating binding. Our results suggest the involvement of FLVCR1 ECL4 because SU binding is detectable on cells expressing 2-1TM6 (displays FLVCR1 ECL4, 5, and 6) but not detectable on cells expressing 2-1TM8 (displays FLVCR1 ECL5 and 6). Other FLVCR1 residues located between ECL1 and ECL2 and possibly including ECL1 and ECL2 must also be involved because SU binding was more efficient on cells expressing 2-1TM1 than on cells expressing 2-1TM4 (Fig. 5). FLVCR1 ECL1 alone is not sufficient for mediating strong SU binding (Fig. 5, 2-1ECL1), suggesting that either ECL2 alone is critical or ECL1 in conjunction with ECL2 or with other FLVCR1 regions is critical. We were not able to ascertain the role of FLVCR1 ECL2 in SU binding because the 2-1TM3 protein failed to be expressed on the cell surface (Fig. 3B, 2-1TM3 ECL6). Taken together, our results clearly show that FLVCR1 ECL1 and ECL6 alone are sufficient for mediating efficient FeLV-C infection but are not sufficient for mediating strong SU binding. It is possible that SU binding can only be detected if ECL1 and ECL6 and/or additional ECLs are simultaneously present. Alternatively, ECL1 and ECL6 may be involved in triggering virus entry, and the authentic FeLV-C SU binding site is located elsewhere on FLVCR1. Such a mechanism of distinct receptor regions controlling SU binding and virus entry has been proposed for the human T-cell leukemia virus 1 receptor Glut-1 (17, 18) and for the retroviral receptor Pit1 (10). It is also conceivable that ECL1 and ECL6 influence the membrane topology of the authentic SU binding site in a similar manner that has been proposed for Pit1 (10). The topology we have proposed is based on Kyte-Doolittle (14) and TMPredict (11) algorithms, but this may not represent the correct configuration of FLVCR1 on the cell surface. Our glycosylation studies clearly indicate that ECL3 is extracellular, and we have determined by tagging the N and C termini of FLVCR1 with HA and V5 epitopes, respectively, and analyzing the expression of tagged FLVCR1 by confocal microscopy that the N and C termini are intracellular (data not shown). Additional studies are needed to identify the authentic FeLV-C SU binding site and to determine the correct membrane topology of FLVCR1.
Both the FLVCR1 cDNA and the FLVCR2 cDNA express two protein products. Whereas the higher-molecular-mass 70-kDa FLVCR1 protein is the N-linked glycosylated form of FLVCR1 that is reduced to the 55-kDa protein upon treatment with PNGase F, the higher-molecular-mass 55-kDa FLVCR2 protein appears to be the native FLVCR2. The 40-kDa FLVCR2 protein may, therefore, represent a cleaved form of FLVCR2, or it may represent a truncated FLVCR2 encoded by a spliced FLVCR2 transcript or by a FLVCR2 transcript that has an alternative translation initiation site(s). Such alternative translation initiation sites have been shown to be present in the ASCT2 mRNA, which encodes a receptor for the large group of retroviruses that include feline RD114 virus, baboon endogenous virus, several simian retroviruses, and the type W human endogenous retrovirus (5, 15, 26, 31, 34). The ASCT2 mRNA encodes the full-length ASCT2 protein as well as several truncated forms of ASCT2 that function as receptors for the above group of retroviruses (31).
Although FLVCR2 is not a heme exporter like FLVCR1 (25), this protein is sufficiently related to FLVCR1 to the extent that it can function as a receptor for FeLV-C by an Asn463Asp mutation in its ECL6 (Fig. 2, see 2N463D). This raises the possibility that FLVCR2 protein from other species could function as a receptor for FeLV-C. Alternatively, variants of the prototype FeLV-C Sarma strain, which have expanded tropisms (Brian Willett, personal communication), may have adapted to use FLVCR2 as a receptor. The use of closely related proteins as receptors is common among many retroviruses including
-retroviruses (21, 30). This would ensure virus survival and would limit host escape mutations. In summary, our results suggest that distinct FLVCR1 regions control FeLV-C SU binding and virus infection. We propose that FeLV-C interacts with FLVCR1 using a mechanism that is highly related to other
-retrovirus-receptor interactions.
This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. C.S.T. is a holder of a Canada Research Chair in Retrovirus and Gene Therapy.
J.K.B. and C.F. contributed equally to this work. ![]()
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