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Journal of Virology, July 2001, p. 6303-6309, Vol. 75, No. 14
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.14.6303-6309.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
An Amino Acid Substitution in the Coding Region of the E2
Glycoprotein Adapts Ross River Virus To Utilize Heparan Sulfate as
an Attachment Moiety
Marintha L.
Heil,1
Alison
Albee,1,
James H.
Strauss,2 and
Richard
J.
Kuhn1,*
Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907,1
and Division of Biology, California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, California 911252
Received 26 January 2001/Accepted 19 April 2001
Passage of Ross River virus strain NB5092 in avian cells has been
previously shown to select for virus variants that have enhanced
replication in these cells. Sequencing of these variants identified two
independent sites that might be responsible for the phenotype. We now
demonstrate, using a molecular cDNA clone of the wild-type T48 strain,
that an amino acid substitution at residue 218 in the E2
glycoprotein can account for the phenotype. Substitutions
that replaced the wild-type asparagine with basic residues had enhanced
replication in avian cells while acidic or neutral residues had little
or no observable effect. Ross River virus mutants that had increased
replication in avian cells also grew better in BHK cells than the
wild-type virus, whereas the remaining mutants were unaffected in
growth. Replication in both BHK and avian cells of Ross River virus
mutants N218K and N218R was inhibited by the presence of heparin or by
the pretreatment of the cells with heparinase. Binding of the mutants,
but not of the wild type, to a heparin-Sepharose column produced
binding comparable to that of Sindbis virus, which has previously been shown to bind heparin. Replication of these mutants was also adversely affected when they were grown in a CHO cell line that was deficient in
heparan sulfate production. These results demonstrate that amino acid
218 of the E2 glycoprotein can be modified to create an
heparan sulfate binding site and this modification expands the host
range of Ross River virus in cultured cells to cells of avian origin.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Phone: (765) 494-1164. Fax: (765) 496-1189. E-mail:
rjkuhn{at}bragg.bio.purdue.edu.

Present address: Sigma Chemical Company, St. Louis, MO
63118.
Journal of Virology, July 2001, p. 6303-6309, Vol. 75, No. 14
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.14.6303-6309.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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