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Journal of Virology, March 2006, p. 2405-2417, Vol. 80, No. 5
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.80.5.2405-2417.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, A-5301 Medical Center North, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2363,1 Virus-Cell Interaction Section, HIV Drug Resistance Program, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, Maryland 21702-12012
Received 13 October 2005/ Accepted 8 December 2005
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Unlike simple retroviruses, lentiviruses characteristically encode transmembrane glycoproteins with cytoplasmic tails greater than 100 amino acids in length. Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and HIV-2 are tolerant of CT truncation in vitro (31, 50, 87), but passage of CT-truncated SIV in macaques quickly selects for wild-type virus (42). Additionally, the CT is highly conserved in HIV-1, suggesting that this domain is functionally relevant. The 150-amino-acid CT of HIV-1 gp41 appears to be crucial for viral entry in many cell types (11, 16, 59) and for an early postentry step in infection in a cell-type-specific manner (26). The CT is not required for fusion as measured in cell-to-cell fusion assays, nor is it required for HIV-1 replication in selected cell types, including HeLa and MT-4 cells (32, 44, 53). However, in primary T cells and many other transformed T-cell lines, the gp41 CT is required for efficient Env incorporation during HIV-1 particle assembly (4, 53).
Following release, particles undergo proteolytic cleavage of the internal Gag and Gag-Pol polyproteins, resulting in structural morphogenesis termed maturation (77). The matrix (MA) protein is released upon processing of the amino-terminal segment of Pr55Gag (Gag) during an early step of HIV-1 maturation. MA performs diverse roles in the virus life cycle. During HIV-1 assembly, Gag associates with cellular membranes via its amino-terminal myristic acid and basic residues in the MA domain (28). MA is also important for the incorporation of the viral envelope glycoproteins (Env) gp41 and gp120 into nascent particles, as shown by the identification of HIV-1 MA mutants exhibiting low levels of particle-associated Env (7, 15, 23, 24, 52, 53, 55, 83, 84). During maturation, a fraction of MA localizes to the viral core (39, 75), where it may participate in early postentry events in infection, including uncoating (82), reverse transcription (7, 35, 36, 61, 62), and possibly nuclear import (6, 29, 66, 72), although the latter conclusion has been disputed (21, 22, 38).
Three lines of evidence indicate that the MA region of Gag interacts with gp41 during HIV-1 assembly. First, MA mutations that impair envelope incorporation can be rescued by subsequent truncation of the CT (23, 44), and deletions and mutations in the CT can be complemented by compensatory changes in MA (52, 76). Second, expression of Env targets the budding of HIV-1 particles to the basolateral surfaces of polarized epithelial cells; this activity depends on the gp41 CT and is blocked by mutations in MA (41, 57). Third, biochemical studies have demonstrated that gp41 is tightly associated with immature HIV-1 particles via the CT (80). Immature virions fuse poorly with target cells, but truncation of the CT relieves the fusion impairment, probably by releasing gp41 from Gag in the immature viral core (51, 80). Thus, binding of Gag to the gp41 CT appears to inhibit the function of the viral envelope proteins on immature HIV-1 particles.
Here we report a detailed analysis of an HIV-1 mutant containing a substitution of Asp for Leu at position 49 (L49D) in MA, which was previously shown by Freed and coworkers to be impaired for replication (25). We show that L49D mutant virions assemble efficiently, but are markedly impaired in infectivity. Quantitative assays of fusion and virion protein composition revealed a modest decrease in fusion capacity and a specific reduction of gp120 associated with the mutant particles. Truncation of the gp41 CT, or pseudotyping by vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV-G), restored both the fusion efficiency and infectivity of the L49D mutant particles to wild-type levels. Remarkably, mutation of the tyrosine-based endocytic motif in the gp41 CT also relieved the L49D mutant fusion and infectivity impairments. We conclude that the L49D substitution in MA results in reduced HIV-1 fusion capacity by destabilizing the association of gp120 with gp41 during particle assembly.
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Plasmid constructs.
Wild-type HIV-1 was generated from the pNL4-3 clone that carries full-length open reading frames for all HIV-1 genes (1). pNL4-3.L49D and pNL-CTdel144-2 were previously described (24, 25). All mutants were created in the pNL4-3 viral background. (Since the amino-terminal methionine is removed prior to Gag myristoylation, the L49D MA mutation corresponds to codon 50 in the Gag sequence.) pNL4-3
E and pNL4-3.L49D
E were constructed by replacing the 2.6-kbp SalI-BamHI fragment with the corresponding fragment from R9
E (2). pNL4-3.L49D-CT144 was created by transfer of the SalI-BamHI fragment from pNL4-3.CTdel144-2 (24), containing a stop codon at bp 8341 of Env. Mutations created in the gp41 CT domain were named according to their location based on the initial methionine in the pNL4-3 sequence. The Y710S mutation was created by PCR mutagenesis segment overlap extension using sense primer 5'-AGGCAGGGCTCCTCACCATTATCG-3' and antisense primer 5'-AGTATCCGTATCCAGAGGG-3'. These primers introduced a BamII restriction enzyme site into the proviral sequence. The Y710S mutation was introduced into the L49D proviral plasmid by transfer of the SalI-BamHI fragment into pNL4-3.L49D
E. Mutant clones were verified by restriction digestion or DNA sequencing as appropriate. Plasmids pHCMV-G (81) (encoding the glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus) and pCEET (60) (encoding a CT-truncated ecotropic murine leukemia virus Env protein) were generous gifts from Jane Burns and Jack Ragheb, respectively.
Virus production. HIV-1 stocks were produced by calcium phosphate transfection of subconfluent 293T cells by a standard protocol (10). VSV-G-pseudotyped viruses were created by transfecting subconfluent 293T cell monolayers with pHCMV-G (2 µg) and proviral DNA (20 µg), as previously described (2). Virus was harvested 48 h later; supernatants were clarified and filtered through a 0.45-µm syringe filter to removal cellular debris and frozen in aliquots at 80°C. Viral yields were quantified by a p24 antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (74).
For MLV envelope titrations, 293T cells were transfected with equal levels of proviral DNA (4 µg) and various amounts of MLV ecotropic envelope containing a truncated envelope glycoprotein (pCEET; 6 µg, 4 µg, and 2 µg). Virus particles were harvested, clarified, and filtered through a 0.45-µm filter. Dilutions of virus were then tested for single-cycle infectivity as described below using Z-24/Rec-1 reporter cells that express the MLV receptor but lack CD4.
Single-cycle infection assay. P4R5 cells, a HeLa-CD4/LTR-lacZ indicator cell line expressing both CXCR4 and CCR5, were employed to assess viral infectivity (3, 9). To determine virus titers, cells were plated in 48-well plates at a density of 20,000 cells/well. Ten-fold serial virus dilutions, supplemented with DEAE-dextran (20 µg/ml), were applied to wells in triplicate. Cells were fed with complete medium (0.5 ml) 24 h after infection. Forty-eight hours after infection, cells were fixed with a solution containing paraformaldehyde (1%) and glutaraldehyde (0.2%) and stained with 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-ß-D-galactopyranoside (X-Gal), as previously described (37). Images were captured using a charge-coupled device camera equipped with a macro lens and quantified using NIH Image software. The infectious titer units were normalized for virus concentration by normalizing for CA by p24 ELISA.
Virus-cell fusion assay. Quantitative HIV-1 fusion assays were performed as described previously (8, 79). Briefly, P4R5 cells were plated at 20,000 cells/well using black 96-well plates with clear bottoms (Packard). HIV-1 particles containing a ß-lactamase-Vpr (BlaM-Vpr) reporter protein were produced by transient transfection of 293T cells with the expression construct pMM310 (obtained from Mike Miller, Merck Research Laboratories). Viruses were diluted serially into complete medium supplemented with 10 mM HEPES (pH 7.3) and 20 µg/ml DEAE-dextran. Dilutions of viruses (100 µl volumes) were applied to the cells and incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 for 2 h. The BlaM substrate CCF2-AM (20 µM; Panvera) was prepared per the manufacturer's "enhanced loading protocol" and applied to the cells (88). Cells were incubated overnight at room temperature in the dark. Prior to reading fluorescence, the CCF2-AM was removed and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was added to each well. Fluorescence was quantified at 450 nm (blue) and 520 nm (green) using excitation at 410 nm in a microplate fluorometer (BMG FluoStar). Fluorescence ratios were determined after subtracting blue fluorescence of wells containing cells but no virus and green fluorescence of wells containing neither cells nor virus. Triplicate determinations were performed for each virus dilution, and the values typically agreed to within 10%.
Immunoblot analysis. Immunoblot analysis of viral proteins was performed as previously described (80). Briefly, virus produced by transient transfection of 293T cells was pelleted by ultracentrifugation (100,000 x g, 30 min in a Beckman TLA-55 rotor). Equivalent quantities of viral lysates, as determined by p24 ELISA, were subjected to electrophoresis on 4% to 20% Tris-HCl gradient gels (Bio-Rad) followed by transfer of protein to a nitrocellulose membrane (0.45-µm pore size; Perkin-Elmer). Blots were probed with HIV-1-specific antibodies for p24/CA (from D. Trono), p17/MA (from P. Spearman), gp41/TM (NIH AIDS Research and Reference Reagents Program, catalog no. 526 and 1475), gp120/SU (NIH AIDS Research and Reference Reagents Program, catalog no. 522), polyclonal antisera to VSV envelope (Lee Biomedical Research Laboratories), and polyclonal goat antiserum to MLV Env (ViroMed Safety Laboratories, Camden, NJ). ß-Lactamase was detected using a monoclonal antibody (QED Biosciences, Inc.) (79). Following incubation with the appropriate species-specific AlexaFluor 680- or IRDye 800-conjugated secondary antibody, protein bands were visualized using the Odyssey Infrared Imaging system (LI-COR) and quantified using the instrument software. Quantification of individual band intensities was determined as kilocounts, where 1 kilocount = 1,000 pixels/mm3.
Quantitative ELISA for gp120. gp120 levels on virions were determined by ELISA as previously described (43). Briefly, Immulon flat-bottom 96-well plates (Dynex) were coated with gp120-specific sheep polyclonal antibody (4 µg/ml; Cliniqa Inc.) for at least 6 h. Individual wells were blocked with 5% donor calf serum in PBS for 1 h, following washes. Dilutions of purified gp120 protein (IIIB; NIH AIDS Research and Reference Reagent Program, Division of AIDS, NIAID, NIH) were used to construct a standard curve. Dilutions of virus lysates and standards were applied and incubated for 2 h at 37°C. A gp120-specific human monoclonal antibody (NIH AIDS Research and Reference Reagents Program, catalog no. 1476) was applied for 1 h at 37°C followed by addition of horseradish peroxidase-conjugated antihuman antibody (0.2 µg/ml; Pierce). Signals were quantified by spectrophotometry following the application of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) substrate (Kirkegaard & Perry Laboratories).
Assays of gp120 shedding. Provirus-transfected 293T cells were washed with sterile PBS and fed with complete medium 16 h following transfection. Cells were cultured for an additional hour at 37°C. Virus-containing culture supernatants were harvested and clarified by filtration through a 0.45-µm filter. Virus samples were subsequently incubated at 37°C for various times (1, 2, 4, and 8 h). At each time point, a sample of each virus was collected and frozen at 80°C. The virus stocks were later thawed together and tested for single-cycle infectivity using P4 target cells. Virus samples were also pelleted by ultracentrifugation for 30 min through a cushion STE buffer (10 mM Tris-Cl [pH 7.4], 100 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA [39]) containing 20% sucrose in a Beckman TLA-55 rotor (45,000 rpm at 4°C). Virus pellets were dissolved with 1/10 original volume of p24 sample diluent (PBS, 0.2% Tween 20) and assayed for gp120 and p24 by ELISA. The relative levels of particle-associated gp120 were calculated as the ratio of the gp120 and p24 concentrations in each virus pellet.
HIV-1 replication assay. Viruses derived from 293T cells (1 ng p24) were used to inoculate duplicate parallel cultures of MT-4 cells seeded at 300,000 cells/well. Samples of culture supernatants (300 µl) were collected every 1 to 2 days, and the original culture volumes were restored with fresh medium. Cultures were split 1:2 when necessary to prevent senescence due to overgrowth. HIV-1 particle production in culture supernatants was quantified by p24 ELISA.
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FIG. 1. L49D virus particles exhibit efficient assembly but are poorly infectious. (A) Transient transfection of 293T cells with proviral DNAs resulted in comparable levels of particle production for wild-type (WT; NL4-3) and MA mutant (L49D) particles. Particle yield was determined by p24 ELISA. The data represent the average of at least three independent transfections, with error bars corresponding to 1 standard deviation. (B) Single-cycle infectivity was assayed in P4R5 target cells which contain the lacZ gene under transcriptional control of the HIV-1 promoter. Cells were inoculated with 293T-derived viruses, and infected cells were identified microscopically after staining with X-Gal. Infectivity is presented as infectious units (i.u.)/ng of p24. This figure represents the average of at least three independent assays. *, P < 0.001 from two-tailed Student's t test.
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FIG. 2. L49D mutant HIV-1 particles are moderately impaired for fusion. (A) HIV-1 particles were tested for fusion with P4R5 cells. Ratios represent the average of triplicate wells ± standard deviation and are representative of at least three independent assays. WT, wild type; E, Env defective. (B) Virus particles were pelleted through 20% sucrose and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Following protein transfer to nitrocellulose, immunoblots were probed for p24/CA, gp41/TM, gp120/SU, p17/MA, and ß-lactamase. (C) Band intensities were quantified by LI-COR Odyssey software. (D) ELISA quantitation of gp120 on virus particles. Viruses were pelleted and then dissolved in lysis buffer, and gp120 and p24 were quantified by ELISA. Shown is the mean ratio of gp120 to p24 from three independent assays, with error bars representing 1 standard deviation.
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The presence of gp41 on L49D mutant particles demonstrated that they were able to incorporate envelope during viral assembly. However, altered interactions between gp41 and MA could affect the structure of the gp41 ectodomain, potentially modulating the noncovalent association of gp120 and gp41 on the viral surface. To test this, we quantified gp120 levels on virus particles by immunoblotting. While the mutant particles efficiently incorporated gp41 during assembly, the level of gp120 on the virion surface was significantly reduced (Fig. 2B and C). The reduction in gp120 was consistently observed in multiple experiments, although its magnitude varied somewhat between experiments. To further confirm that gp120 levels were reduced on L49D particles, we quantified gp120 and p24 levels on pelleted virions by ELISA. Mutant particles retained only 40% as much gp120 as wild-type HIV-1, after being normalized by p24 core antigen (Fig. 2D). We conclude that L49D mutant particles exhibit a specific deficit in the gp120 subunit of Env.
The impaired infectivity of L49D particles is likely due to defects in both entry and postentry steps.
L49D mutant particles are strongly impaired in infectivity despite a modest reduction in virus-cell fusion. This apparent discrepancy suggested the possibility that the L49D mutant particles could also be impaired for early postentry steps in infection. Alternatively, viral infectivity might not exhibit a linear correspondence to virus-cell fusion. To determine if the observed reduction in fusion fully accounts for the 40-fold decrease in infectivity of the L49D particles, we compared mutant particles to virus containing various levels of HIV-1 envelope in single-cycle infectivity and virus-cell fusion assays (Fig. 3A and B). To this end, we produced wild-type HIV-1 fusion reporter particles containing decreasing quantities of Env by cotransfection of pNL4-3 and pNL4-3
E plasmids at various ratios, together with a fixed quantity of the BlaM-Vpr expression vector. We then compared the fusion and infectivity of the resulting viruses (Fig. 3). Immunoblot analysis of viral lysates revealed similar levels of BlaM protein (data not shown). In this experiment, the infectivity of L49D particles was decreased by nearly 100-fold relative to normal wild-type particles (Fig. 3A). Cotransfection of wild-type and Env-defective proviruses at a 1:1 ratio resulted in particles that were approximately one-half as infectious as the wild-type control (Fig. 3A); these particles also exhibited approximately 50% of wild-type fusion activity (Fig. 3B). Cotransfection of wild-type and Env-defective proviruses at a 1:3 ratio resulted in particles that were 7% as infectious as the wild type and exhibited 15% of wild-type fusion activity. Although these particles were less active for fusion than the L49D mutant particles, they were six times as infectious. These results suggest that the 50% reduction in fusion observed for the L49D mutant does not fully account for the strong infectivity impairment exhibited by this virus. Therefore, it is likely that a second, postentry impairment exists for this mutant.
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FIG. 3. Envelope titration reveals a second block to L49D infectivity. (A) Infectivity assays. 293T cells were transfected with various ratios of wild-type and Env-defective ( E) proviruses with a fixed quantity of the BlaM-Vpr reporter construct. The resulting particles were then assayed for infectivity. Shown are the mean values for triplicate determinations, with error bars representing 1 standard deviation. i.u., infectious units. (B) Assays of virus-cell fusion. Shown are the fusion signals resulting from 100-ng p24 inocula. The data shown are the mean values from triplicate determinations. Results are representative of three independent experiments.
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FIG. 4. Truncation of the gp41 CT complements the L49D mutant. (A) Single-cycle infectivity of mutant virus particles lacking the gp41 cytoplasmic tail. Shown are the mean values of three independent experiments, with error bars representing 1 standard deviation. I.U., infectious units. (B) Assays of virus-cell fusion. Shown are the mean values of quadruplicate assays, with error bars representing 1 standard deviation. E, Env defective. (C) Immunoblots of pelleted virus particles for CA, gp41, gp120, MA, and BlaM. (D) Quantification of the protein signals from the immunoblots shown in panel C using the LI-COR Odyssey imaging system and software.
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Fusion and infectivity of L49D mutant particles are restored upon pseudotyping with VSV-G. Previous studies have shown that pseudotyping HIV-1 particles with the VSV-G can relieve defects at both entry and postentry steps in HIV-1 infection (2, 79). VSV-G targets HIV-1 entry to an endocytic pathway and enhances HIV-1 fusion and infectivity (2). HIV-1 MA mutants presumed to be blocked for early postentry events have also been rescued by pseudotyping (7, 35, 36). To determine whether pseudotyping by VSV-G would restore normal infectivity to L49D mutant particles, we titrated pseudotyped particles on P4R5 indicator cells. HIV-1 infectivity was enhanced by VSV-G pseudotyping by approximately sevenfold, as previously reported (2). Pseudotyping by VSV-G resulted in equivalent infectivity of wild-type and L49D particles (Fig. 5A).
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FIG. 5. Pseudotyping by VSV-G suppresses the phenotype of the HIV-1 L49D mutation. (A) Infectivity of pseudotyped HIV-1 particles. Shown are mean values from triplicate determinations, with error bars representing 1 standard deviation. i.u., infectious units. (B) Assays of virus fusion with P4R5 cells. Shown are mean values of triplicate determinations, with error bars representing one standard deviation. Results are representative of at least three independent experiments. E, Env defective. (C) Immunoblots of pelleted virus particles for VSV-G, BlaM, CA, and MA. (D) Quantification of the bands shown in panel C using the Odyssey imaging system.
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The HIV-1 Env protein exerts a dominant inhibitory effect on the infectivity of particles containing the L49D mutation. The discordance between the fusion and infectivity impairments exhibited by L49D mutant particles suggested that this mutation results in an additional postentry defect. Truncation of the gp41 CT appears to suppress both impairments, indicating that the putative postentry defect may also depend on the CT. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that the L49D mutation results in an altered interaction of MA with the gp41 CT. One prediction of this hypothesis is that the gp41 CT would inhibit the infectivity of L49D mutant particles even when entry is mediated by a heterologous Env protein that rescues the infectivity defect. To test this hypothesis, we generated HIV-1 particles containing the wild-type HIV-1 Env as well as an ecotropic murine leukemia virus Env protein and determined the infectivity of the resulting particles on reporter target cells lacking CD4 but expressing the receptor for ecotropic MLV. The MLV Env TM protein is normally activated by cleavage of the CT by the viral protease; therefore, we employed an MLV Env lacking the cytoplasmic tail to avoid complications that might result from the requirement for cleavage of the CT. Virus particles were produced by transfection of wild-type and L49D mutant proviral clones with various quantities of the MLV Env expression plasmid. The resulting particles were assayed for p24 concentrations and titrated onto CD4-negative reporter target cells expressing Rec-1, the receptor for ecotropic MLV. At the highest dose of the MLV Env expression plasmid (6 mg), the wild-type and L49D mutant particles infected the target cells with similar efficiencies (Fig. 6). However, as the quantity of MLV Env was reduced, the ecotropic MLV-pseudotyped L49D mutant particles became less infectious than the control virions. When the cotransfections were performed with 2 µg of MLV Env plasmid, the L49D mutant virions were less than 10% as infectious as the corresponding wild-type particles (Fig. 6). In contrast, when the experiment was performed with particles lacking the HIV-1 Env proteins, the pseudotyped control and L49D mutant particles were of similar infectivity, irrespective of the quantity of the MLV Env plasmid used in the transfection (Fig. 6). Analysis of the viral particles by immunoblotting demonstrated that the decreased infectivity of the L49D particles containing both HIV-1 and MLV Env proteins was not due to impaired incorporation of the MLV Env protein (data not shown). These results therefore suggest that the HIV-1 Env protein exerts a dominant inhibitory effect on the infectivity of the L49D mutant particles even when entry into target cells is mediated by an Env protein that rescues the infectivity impairment. This observation also provides further evidence for a postentry impairment in infection by the L49D mutant that is dependent on the gp41 CT.
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FIG. 6. HIV-1 Env protein inhibits the infectivity of L49D mutant particles when cell entry is mediated through a heterologous viral Env protein. Dual-enveloped wild-type and L49D mutant particles were generated by cotransfection of cells with Env+ or Env-defective ( E) proviral clones with the indicated quantities of plasmid pCEET encoding a CT-truncated ecotropic MLV Env protein. Virus particles were collected and assayed for infection on CD4-negative reporter cells expressing the ecotropic MLV receptor. Shown are the mean infectivity values of triplicate infections, with error bars representing 1 standard deviation. Results are representative of two independent experiments. i.u., infectious units.
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FIG. 7. Assays of gp120 shedding and loss of infectivity during incubation of freshly-harvested HIV-1 particles. (A) Viruses were harvested from transfected 293T cells following a 1-h culture period and were then incubated at 37°C for the indicated time periods. Virus stocks were assayed for particle-associated gp120 and p24 by ELISA. Shown is the ratio of gp120 to p24 for each virus sample. (B) Infectivity of incubated HIV-1 particles. Virus stocks were assayed for infectivity with P4R5 cells. Shown are the mean values from triplicate determinations. The results in this figure are representative of two independent experiments, the results of which agreed well. i.u., infectious units.
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FIG. 8. Truncation of the gp41 CT enhances the replication of L49D mutant particles. (A) MT-4 cells were inoculated at low multiplicity with the indicated HIV-1 viruses (1 ng p24). Duplicate cultures were evaluated for virus replication every 1 to 2 days by p24 ELISA. The values shown are the averages of duplicate wells from two separate cultures. (B) Regrowth of viruses from cultures shown in panel A. Normalized quantities (1 ng p24) of viruses collected from the cultures shown in panel A were reinoculated onto fresh cultures of MT-4 cells. Duplicate cultures were analyzed, and samples were withdrawn daily. The data shown are the mean values from duplicate wells from two independent assays. , wild type; , CT144; , L49D; , L49D.CT144.
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The impaired fusion and infectivity of the L49D mutant are relieved by a mutation in the gp41 endocytic motif. HIV-1 envelope protein is internalized from the plasma membrane via a tyrosine-based endocytic motif (64). The L49D mutant was rescued by truncating the CT domain of gp41 (see Fig. 4), resulting in the loss of the membrane-proximal endocytic sequence (18). Mutation of this sequence has also been shown to complement some MA mutations that impair Env incorporation into HIV-1 particles (76). To ask whether the L49D mutant phenotype depends on the gp41 endocytic motif, we mutated this tyrosine to serine (Y710S) (Fig. 9A). Virus particles were produced by 293T transfection and assessed for single-cycle infectivity and virus-cell fusion. In this experiment, the control L49D particles were approximately 100-fold less infectious than wild-type particles (Fig. 9A) and were approximately 30% as active for fusion (Fig. 9B). Particles containing the Y710S mutation were approximately one-fourth as infectious as wild-type particles (Fig. 9A) and were slightly less fusogenic. However, the double mutant L49D.Y710S particles were similar to the control Y710S particles in both infectivity and fusion (Fig. 9A and B). Immunoblot analyses revealed similar levels of BlaM in the particles. Furthermore, addition of the Y710S mutation restored normal levels of gp120 to L49D mutant particles (Fig. 9C). These results indicate that a specific mutation in the endocytosis motif located in gp41 overcomes the impaired fusion and infectivity of L49D mutant particles, most likely by complementing the gp120 deficit on the particles.
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FIG. 9. Mutation of the gp41 endocytic motif restores L49D fusion and infectivity. (A) Infectivity of HIV-1 particles was determined by titration on P4R5 cells. Values are the means of triplicate determinations, with error bars representing 1 standard deviation. The results are representative of three independent experiments. i.u., infectious units; WT, wild type. (B) Fusion of BlaM-Vpr reporter viruses with P4R5 target cells. The results shown are representative of two independent experiments. (C) Immunoblot analysis of pelleted particles normalized by p24 ELISA. Blots were probed with antibodies specific for BlaM, gp120/SU, p24/CA, p17/MA, and gp41/TM.
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In this study, we observed that substitution of Asp for Leu at position 49 of MA results in HIV-1 particles that are impaired for replication in T cells. The mutant particles exhibited no obvious impairments in assembly, budding, and maturation, yet were deficient in the viral Env protein subunit gp120, despite having normal quantities of gp41. Single-cycle infection and particle fusion assays demonstrated that L49D particles were moderately (
60%) reduced in the ability to fuse with target cells, yet were profoundly impaired for infection of target cells (
40-fold reduction relative to wild type). Both the fusion and infectivity defects were relieved by truncation of the gp41 cytoplasmic tail and by pseudotyping by VSV-G. Truncation of the gp41 CT also partially restored the ability of the L49D mutant to replicate in MT-4 cells. Collectively, these results indicate that the L49D mutation destabilizes the noncovalent association of gp120 with gp41, either during HIV-1 assembly or following particle budding from cells. To our knowledge, the selective loss of gp120 from HIV-1 particles containing a mutation in Gag has not been previously observed. This novel phenotype suggests that interactions between Gag and gp41 modulate the gp120/gp41 association on the surface of HIV-1 particles.
How would a mutation in MA result in a specific decrease in gp120 levels on HIV-1 particles without affecting gp41? gp120 has been considered to be loosely associated with gp41 on the surface of HIV-1 particles, particularly on laboratory-adapted virus strains (30, 47-49, 56, 78). Thus, one possibility is that the L49D mutation in MA triggers the release of gp120 from HIV-1 particles following maturation of the core. However, freshly isolated L49D mutant particles that were harvested following a 1-h culture period were also deficient in gp120. Furthermore, in our studies both wild-type and L49D mutant particles exhibited minimal shedding of gp120 during an 8-h incubation at 37°C. These results imply that the decrease in gp120 on L49D particles is not due to enhanced shedding following particle budding. However, they do not exclude the possibility of a rapid dissociation of gp120 during particle release.
Another potential explanation for the novel L49D phenotype is that the MA region of Gag may stabilize the association of gp120 with gp41 during particle assembly. In a previous study, we observed that HIV-1 particles lacking the gp41 cytoplasmic tail also exhibit a selective reduction of gp120 relative to gp41, suggesting that the CT stabilizes the association of gp120 and gp41 (80). This interpretation is also consistent with studies demonstrating that mutations in the cytoplasmic domain of gp41 can affect the conformation of gp120 on the virus surface (17, 34, 69). The Leu at position 49 of MA resides on an exposed loop on the surface of the protein, providing a potential binding site for the gp41 CT (46). We postulate that engagement of gp41 by the MA domain of Gag stabilizes the Env protein complex within an intracellular assembly compartment, such as the multivesicular body, where Gag may encounter Env following its endocytosis from the cell surface. In the absence of the gp41 CT, or with an altered interaction between Gag and gp41 (as may occur with the L49D substitution), this stabilization may be impaired, resulting in incorporation of Env trimers deficient in gp120. In this study, we also observed that a point mutation in the tyrosine-based gp41 endocytic motif (Y710S) relieved the fusion and infectivity impairments of the L49D mutant. Mutations in this tyrosine have also been reported to complement other MA mutants without restoring Env incorporation (76). In contrast, we found that the Y710S mutant restored normal gp120 levels to the L49D mutant particles. We speculate that by inhibiting gp41 endocytosis, the Y710S mutation restricts Gag-Env interactions to the plasma membrane, thereby relieving the destabilizing effect of the L49D mutation on gp120-gp41 interactions during engagement of Env by Gag within endosomal compartments. This model thus assumes that the consequences of the L49D mutation depend on the intracellular site of Gag-Env association.
In addition to the fusion impairment associated with L49D mutant particles, our results indicate that the mutation affects a postentry step in the virus life cycle. The reduction in infectivity associated with the L49D particles was significantly greater than the fusion impairment. Remarkably, both the modest fusion and strong infectivity defects were rescued by pseudotyping with VSV-G or by truncating the gp41 CT. Our data therefore suggest the existence of a conditional postentry defect of the L49D mutant virions that depends on the gp41 cytoplasmic tail. In support of this, we observed that control "wild-type" HIV-1 particles lacking the L49D mutation were significantly more infectious than the mutant particles, even when the wild-type particles were rendered less active for fusion by expression of decreased Env levels in the producer cells. Additionally, the full-length HIV-1 Env protein exerted a dominant inhibitory effect on the infectivity of L49D mutant particles when cell entry was mediated by a heterologous viral Env protein that rescued the L49D infectivity impairment when the particles lacked HIV-1 Env. Based on these results, we speculate that an altered interaction between the mutant MA and gp41 results in an atypical composition or stability of the mature viral core, which has been reported to contain a fraction of virion-associated MA protein (39, 75). We are currently testing these hypotheses.
This work was supported by grant AI47056 from the NIH.
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-helix 2 of the gp41 cytoplasmic tail. J. Virol. 74:3548-3554.
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