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Journal of Virology, October 2008, p. 9776-9781, Vol. 82, No. 19
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00917-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Carl P. Schaffner,3 and
Eric O. Freed1
Virus-Cell Interaction Section, HIV Drug Resistance Program,1 Image Analysis Laboratory, Research Technology Program, SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, Maryland 21702,2 Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, The Waksman Institute, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey 089033
Received 2 May 2008/ Accepted 11 July 2008
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AME inhibits HIV-1 particle production with no significant effect on Gag-membrane binding, raft association, or Gag multimerization.
We previously demonstrated that AME inhibits HIV-1 replication in T-cell lines and primary cell types (34). The inhibitory effect of AME on viral replication appeared to be due predominantly to a 50- to 100-fold reduction in viral infectivity. However, we also noted a significant (
4-fold) impairment in HIV-1 particle production from infected Jurkat cells. To understand the mechanism by which AME inhibits virus release, in this study we first examined the effect of AME on particle production from HeLa cells following transfection with the full-length, infectious HIV-1 molecular clone pNL4-3. Transfected cells were metabolically radiolabeled, and cell- and virus-associated proteins were immunoprecipitated and quantified. The virus release efficiency was reduced in a concentration-dependent manner; treating virus-producing cells with 5 µM AME reduced virus production by approximately threefold, whereas 10 µM AME reduced virus production over fivefold compared with that in untreated controls (Fig. 1A). Having established that AME treatment impairs HIV-1 particle production in multiple cell types, we next determined whether AME has any effect on Gag binding to membrane or on Gag association with detergent-resistant membrane (DRM), a commonly used biochemical surrogate for raft association. The steady-state distribution of Gag in membrane and DRM was monitored by immunoblotting. Virus-expressing HeLa cells were homogenized, divided into two aliquots, treated with or without a 0.25% final concentration of cold Triton X-100, and subjected to equilibrium flotation centrifugation on sucrose gradients as described previously (18, 19, 21, 25). The distribution of Gag in membrane and DRM fractions was determined by immunoblotting. We observed no significant effect of AME treatment on the distribution of Gag in the total membrane preparation or DRM (data not shown). This finding was confirmed by analyzing Gag association with membrane and DRM following pulse-chase labeling. We detected
36 and
43% of Pr55Gag in membrane fractions without and with AME treatment, respectively (Fig. 1B). After cold-Triton X-100 treatment,
25% of Pr55Gag was associated with DRM without AME treatment and
32% of Gag was DRM associated following treatment with 10 µM AME (Fig. 1B). These results indicate that the defect in virus release caused by AME is not due to the disrupted association of Gag with membrane or with DRM. This finding is in contrast to results obtained with cholesterol-depleting agents, which significantly impair Gag-membrane binding (24). We also observed that AME treatment did not affect the distribution of the raft marker caveolin or the nonraft marker transferrin receptor in the membrane or DRM fractions (data not shown). To determine whether AME treatment of virus producer cells affects higher-order Gag multimerization, we used a cell-based assay that measures assembly-induced masking of epitopes recognized by anti-Gag antibodies (25). As reported in our earlier study (25), the effect of sample denaturation on immunoprecipitation efficiency provides a measure of higher-order Gag multimerization. Gag-expressing cells treated or not with AME were metabolically radiolabeled, and cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with or without prior denaturation. We observed that
30% of membrane-bound Gag was epitope exposed and that AME treatment did not have a significant effect on this value (Fig. 1C). Similarly, the degree of epitope exposure of DRM-associated Gag was not affected by AME treatment (Fig. 1C). These data indicate that the higher-order multimerization of membrane-bound or DRM-associated Gag measured in this assay was not affected by the treatment of Gag-expressing cells with AME. We previously reported that the propagation of HIV-1 in the presence of AME leads to the emergence of AME-resistant variants (34). The mutations responsible for AME resistance (gp41 mutations P203L and S205L) map to a region of the gp41 cytoplasmic tail close to the membrane-spanning domain. To determine whether AME-resistant mutants overcome the defect in particle production caused by AME, we measured the release of AME-resistant mutants in the presence and absence of AME. We observed that the release of the AME-resistant mutants was inhibited by AME to an extent similar to that of the wild type (WT) (Fig. 1D). Thus, the mutations in gp41 that induce resistance to AME in the context of virus replication and single-cycle infectivity assays do not reverse the effects of AME on virus particle production.
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FIG. 1. AME inhibits HIV-1 particle production with no significant effect on Gag binding to the plasma membrane, Gag association with lipid rafts, or Gag multimerization. (A) HeLa cells were transfected with pNL4-3 (1) and treated 6 h posttransfection with the indicated concentrations of AME for 20 to 24 h. One day posttransfection, cells were metabolically labeled for 2 h with [35S]Met-Cys, and labeled viral proteins in cell and virion lysates were immunoprecipitated with HIV Ig and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by fluorography (6). The virus release efficiency was calculated as the amount of virion-associated p24 relative to total (cell- plus virion-associated) Gag. (B) HeLa cells transfected with pNL4-3/PR– (11) were treated (+) or not treated (–) with 10 µM AME and were pulse-labeled for 5 min and chased in unlabeled medium for 15 min. Postnuclear supernatants were incubated in the absence or presence of 0.25% Triton X-100 and subjected to membrane flotation centrifugation (18, 19, 21). Gradient fractions were treated with radioimmunoprecipitation assay buffer, and the sets of membrane fractions (fractions 1 to 5) and DRM fractions (fractions 1 to 5) were each pooled. Labeled Pr55Gag in each pooled fraction was recovered by immunoprecipitation after denaturation, and the amount of Gag present in membrane and DRM fractions compared to the total amount of Gag in all 10 fractions was determined. (C) HeLa cells transfected with pNL4-3/PR– were treated (+) or not treated (–) with 10 µM AME and subjected to the epitope exposure assay for higher-order Gag multimerization (25). The percentages of Gag epitope exposure in membrane and DRM fractions were determined. (D) HeLa cells were transfected with pNL4-3 or the AME-resistant mutant (P203L and S205L) constructs (34) and treated (+) or not (–) with 10 µM AME, and the virus release efficiency was calculated as described in the legend to panel A. Data are means ± standard deviations (SD; n = 3 to 5).
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Because AME treatment does not affect Gag binding to the plasma membrane or Gag multimerization, we examined whether this cholesterol-binding compound might disrupt virion budding from the cell surface. HeLa cells transfected with pNL4-3 were treated with 10 µM AME or were left untreated and were subsequently fixed and examined by transmission electron microscopy. In both AME-treated and untreated cells, numerous released mature particles were observed, with no striking accumulation of immature particles at the plasma membrane detected in treated cells (data not shown). These results indicate that AME does not act by disrupting HIV-1 late domain function.
It has been reported previously that the lipid bilayers of HIV-1 virions are enriched with cholesterol relative to the host cell plasma membrane (2, 4), raising the possibility that, as a cholesterol-binding compound, AME may bind preferentially to the viral versus the cellular membrane. To address this issue, we examined the impact on virion morphology of treating purified virions with AME in vitro. Intriguingly, the morphology of AME-treated viral particles differed significantly from that of untreated virions, with severely distorted viral membranes observed among the treated particles (Fig. 2A). The extent of virion distortion was quantified by measuring the deviations from circularity of 100 treated and 100 untreated particles. This analysis was performed by drawing a circle around each virion and measuring the distance between the viral membrane and the periphery of the circle along the radius. Virions whose circularity deviated by more than 20% of the radius were scored as distorted. Approximately 80% of the AME-treated virions were classified as being distorted, whereas only 11% of untreated virions were distorted. To examine the density of virions treated with AME in vitro, we sedimented particles treated or not with AME on linear sucrose gradients. A marked increase in virion density in the AME-treated samples was observed (Fig. 2B). The perturbation of virion morphology and density induced by AME treatment may be a major contributor to the previously reported infectivity defect imposed by this cholesterol-binding compound (34, 35) and is likely to result from direct binding of AME to cholesterol in the viral membrane.
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FIG. 2. AME treatment distorts the morphology and increases the density of purified virions. (A) Virions collected from HeLa cells 24 h posttransfection with pNL4-3 were treated (+) or not (–) with AME for 2 h, pelleted by ultracentrifugation, fixed, and analyzed by electron microscopy. (B) HIV-1 virions purified as described in the legend to panel A and treated with the indicated concentrations of AME were layered onto 20 to 70% (wt/vol) linear sucrose density gradients and subjected to ultracentrifugation (12). Ten fractions (Fr. 1 to 10) were collected from the top of the gradient and analyzed by Western blotting with HIV Ig.
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FIG. 3. The insertion of the membrane-targeting signal from c-Fyn does not diminish the ability of AME to disrupt virus particle production. HeLa cells transfected with pNL4-3, pNL4-3/Fyn(10)fullMA (17), or pNL4-3/Fyn(10)fullMA/delVpu [constructed by exchanging the BssHII-SphI fragment (pNL4-3 nucleotides 711 to 1443) of the Fyn(10)fullMA construct (24) with the corresponding fragment from pNL4-3delVpu] were treated with the indicated concentrations of AME and metabolically labeled with [35S]Met-Cys. The virus release efficiency was calculated as described in the legend to Fig. 1. The virus release efficiencies of the WT and the Fyn(10)fullMA Gag constructs were each normalized to 100%. The release efficiency of Fyn(10)fullMA was 6-fold higher than that of the WT. The Vpu-defective Fyn(10)fullMA/delVpu mutant displayed an 5-fold defect in particle production relative to Fyn(10)fullMA. Data are means ± SD (n = 4).
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10-fold (9.3% ± 2.4% relative to the WT level). AME treatment at 5 µM had no effect on the release of Vpu-defective HIV-1 and at 10 µM caused a reduction in Vpu– particle release of only
30%, compared to the 70% reduction observed for the WT at 10 µM AME (Fig. 4B).
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FIG. 4. The inhibition of virus release is Vpu dependent. (A to C) HeLa cells were transfected with HIV-1 molecular clones defective in PR (pNL4-3/PR–), Env (pNL4-3KFS) (7), or Nef (pNL4-3/delNef) (29) (A) or Vpu (pNL4-3delVpu; delVpu) (13) (B) or with the pNL4-3/PTAP– (PTAP–) mutant (11) or the pNL4-3/MA 29KE/31KE (29KE/31KE) mutant (23) (C). (D) Cells were transfected with pNL4-3 (HIV), an SIVmac239 molecular clone (SIV) (26), or a vector expressing MLV Gag-Pol (MLV) (14). Cells treated with the indicated concentrations of AME were metabolically labeled. Cell and viral lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-SIVmac239 antiserum or goat anti-MLV Gag p30 antiserum (obtained from ViroMed Biosafety Laboratories, Camden, NJ), and the virus release efficiency was calculated as described in the legend to Fig. 1. In panels A to C, virus release efficiencies for the WT and mutant molecular clones were each normalized to 100%. The release efficiencies of mutants compared to that of the WT (in percentages) were as follows: pNL4-3/PR–, 65 ± 21; pNL4-3KFS, 184 ± 108; pNL4-3/delNef, 120 ± 38; pNL4-3delVpu, 9 ± 2; pNL4-3/PTAP–, 7 ± 1; and pNL4-3/MA 29KE/31KE, 28.0 ± 11.0. In panel D, HIV-1, SIVmac239, and MLV release efficiencies were each normalized to 100%. Data are means ± SD (n = 3 to 5).
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4-fold as a result of AME treatment (Fig. 4C). We also observed that AME treatment significantly impaired the production of a pNL4-3 derivative encoding mutations in the MA domain of Gag (29KE/31KE) (23) (Fig. 4C). The 29KE/31KE mutant exhibits an
4-fold defect in virus release efficiency due to the retargeting of Gag to multivesicular bodies (20, 23). Thus, the inability of AME to potently inhibit the release of Vpu-defective HIV-1 is not due simply to the inefficient release of this mutant.
To confirm the requirement for Vpu expression in the ability of AME to inhibit particle production, we examined the effect of AME on the release of two retroviruses that do not encode Vpu: simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 and murine leukemia virus (MLV). We observed that treatment with a 5 µM concentration did not reduce SIVmac239 release and that 10 µM AME reduced particle production by only
20% (Fig. 4D). Similarly, MLV release was affected only minimally by AME treatment (Fig. 4D). These results are consistent with a connection between Vpu expression and the AME-imposed defect in virus particle production. To support the finding that Vpu deletion reverses the ability of AME to inhibit HIV-1 particle production, we constructed a Vpu-deficient variant of the Fyn(10)fullMA molecular clone [Fyn(10)fullMAdelVpu]. We observed that the release of the Fyn(10)fullMAdelVpu mutant was not significantly reduced by AME (Fig. 3). These results again highlight that the inhibition of HIV-1 particle production by AME exhibits a clear Vpu dependence.
AME inhibits the ability of Vpu to counter the host factor CD317/BST-2/tetherin.
Two recent studies demonstrated that Vpu promotes virus release by counteracting the ability of CD317/BST-2/tetherin to retain HIV-1 virions at the cell surface (15, 32). Because the data presented above provide evidence that the effect of AME on virus release is Vpu dependent, we tested whether AME might prevent Vpu from counteracting the virus-tethering activity of CD317/BST-2/tetherin. To investigate the relationship between AME inhibition and the counteraction of CD317/BST-2/tetherin activity by Vpu, we analyzed virus release in the 293T cell line, which does not express appreciable levels of endogenous tetherin. First, we confirmed that CD317/BST-2/tetherin overexpression in 293T cells induced a strong (
10-fold) inhibition of Vpu-defective HIV-1 release but had little effect on the release of WT HIV-1 (data not shown). We next tested the effect of AME on virus release in this context. We observed that in the presence of CD317/BST-2/tetherin overexpression, AME had no significant effect on the production of Vpu-defective particles (Fig. 5). This result recapitulates the lack of a major effect of AME on Vpu-defective virus release in HeLa cells, which constitutively express CD317/BST-2/tetherin. The coexpression of Vpu reversed the block in Vpu-defective virus release (Fig. 5), consistent with the findings in previous reports (15, 32). Interestingly, this Vpu-induced rescue of virus release was to a large extent inhibited by AME; in the context of Vpu-defective HIV-1 with exogenous Vpu and CD317/BST-2/tetherin expression, AME inhibited virus release by
5-fold (Fig. 5). These results suggest a model whereby AME inhibits HIV-1 particle production at least in part by interfering with the ability of Vpu to counter the virus-retaining function of CD317/BST-2/tetherin. The absence of an accumulation of mature virions tethered to the cell surface in AME-treated cells suggests that AME does not fully block Vpu function. In addition, we observed some reduction (
2-fold) in particle release from pNL4-3-transfected 293T cells (data not shown), which are not Vpu responsive (15, 33), suggesting that in this cell line AME may impose additional defects in particle production not directly related to CD317/BST-2/tetherin.
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FIG. 5. AME disrupts the ability of Vpu to counter CD317/BST-2/tetherin. 293T cells were cotransfected with a Vpu-defective pNL4-3 derivative (pNL4-3delVpu; delVpu) (13) and a hemagglutinin-tagged CD317/BST-2/tetherin expression vector (tetherin) (15), with or without the Vpu expression plasmid (pCMV-Vphu; Vpu) (16). Transfected cells were treated (+) or not (–) with 10 µM AME and metabolically labeled, and the virus release efficiency was calculated as described in the legend to Fig. 1. Data are means ± SD (n = 3).
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–MLV-env–. This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, and the NIH Intramural AIDS Targeted Antiviral Program (IATAP) and was funded in part by federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, NIH, under contract N01-CO-12400.
The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.
Published ahead of print on 23 July 2008. ![]()
Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, 6706 Medical Science Building II, 1150 W. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0620. ![]()
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