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Journal of Virology, February 1999, p. 1546-1554, Vol. 73, No. 2
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Poliovirus/Hepatitis C Virus (Internal Ribosomal Entry Site-Core) Chimeric Viruses: Improved Growth Properties through Modification of a Proteolytic Cleavage Site and Requirement for Core RNA Sequences but Not for Core-Related Polypeptides

Wei Dong Zhao, Eckard Wimmer,* and Frederick C. Lahserdagger

Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5222

Received 5 June 1998/Accepted 20 October 1998

H.-H. Lu and E. Wimmer (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:1412-1417, 1996) have demonstrated that the internal ribosomal entry site (IRES) of poliovirus (PV) can be functionally replaced by the related genetic element from hepatitis C virus (HCV). One important finding of this study was that open reading frame sequences 3' of the initiating AUG, corresponding to the open reading frame of the HCV core polypeptide, are required to create a viable chimeric virus. This made necessary the inclusion of a PV 3C protease (3Cpro) cleavage site for proper polyprotein processing to create the authentic N terminus of the PV capsid precursor. Chimeric PV/HCV (P/H) viruses, however, grew poorly relative to PV. The goal of this study was to determine the molecular basis of impaired replication and enhance the growth properties of this chimeric virus. Genetic modifications leading to a different proteinase (PV 2Apro) cleavage site between the HCV core sequence and the PV polyprotein (P/H701-2A) proved far superior with respect to viral protein expression, core-PV fusion polyprotein processing, plaque phenotype, and viral titer than the original prototype PV/HCV chimera containing the PV 3Cpro-specific cleavage site (P/H701). We have used this new virus model to answer two questions concerning the role of the HCV core protein in P/H chimeric viral proliferation. First, a derivative of P/H701-2A with frameshifts in the core-encoding sequence was used to demonstrate that production of the core protein was not necessary for the translation and replication of the P/H chimera. Second, a viral construct with a C-terminal truncation of 23 amino acids of the core gene was used to show that a signal sequence for signal peptidase processing, when present in the viral construct, is detrimental to P/H virus growth. The novel P/H chimera described here are suitable models for analyzing the function(s) of the HCV elements by genetic analyses in vivo and for antiviral drug discovery.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5222. Phone: (516) 632-8787. Fax: (516) 632-8891. E-mail: wimmer{at}asterix.bio.sunysb.edu.

dagger Present address: Department of Antiviral Therapeutics, Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, NJ 07033.

Journal of Virology, February 1999, p. 1546-1554, Vol. 73, No. 2
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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