Decreased Dependence on Receptor Recognition for the Fusion Promotion Activity of L289A-Mutated Newcastle Disease Virus Fusion Protein Correlates with a Monoclonal Antibody-Detected Conformational Change

Abstract

It has been shown that the L289A-mutated Newcastle disease virus (NDV) fusion (F) protein gains the ability to promote fusion of Cos-7 cells independent of the viral hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein and exhibits a 50% enhancement in HN-dependent fusion over wild-type (wt) F protein. Here, we show that HN-independent fusion by L289A-F is not exhibited in BHK cells or in several other cell lines. However, similar to the results in Cos-7 cells, the mutated protein plus HN does promote 50 to 70% more fusion above wt levels in all of the cell lines tested. L289A-F protein exhibits the same specificity as the wt F protein for the homologous HN protein, as well as NDV-human parainfluenza virus 3 HN chimeras. The mutated F protein promotes fusion more effectively than the wt when it is coexpressed with either the chimeras or HN proteins deficient in receptor recognition activity. In addition, its fusogenic activity is significantly more resistant to removal of sialic acid on target cells. These findings are consistent with the demonstration that L289A-F interacts more efficiently with wt and mutated HN proteins than does wt F by a cell surface coimmunoprecipitation assay. Taken together, these findings indicate that L289A-F promotes fusion by a mechanism analogous to that of the wt protein with respect to the HN-F interaction but is less dependent on the attachment activity of HN. The phenotype of the mutated F protein correlates with a conformational change in the protein detectable by two different monoclonal antibodies. This conformational change may reflect a destabilization of F structure induced by the L289A substitution, which may in turn indicate a lower energy requirement for fusion activation.

Fusion Activation through Attachment Protein Stalk Domains Indicates a Conserved Core Mechanism of Paramyxovirus Entry into Cells

“…We investigated whether the complete loss of F activation caused by introduction of the disulfide bond (S92C) could be compensated by a destabilizing F mutant. To test this, we used a previously characterized hyperfusogenic mutant of NDV F (L289A), which shows an overall reduced stability and as a result increased fusogenicity (64,65). Fusion mediated on cotransfection of mutant NDV HN-C123S/S92C or NDV HN-S92C with the NDV F-L289A hyperfusogenic mutant showed some degree of fusion in cells cotransfected with NDV F L289A (Fig.…”

Addition of N-Glycans in the Stalk of the Newcastle Disease Virus HN Protein Blocks Its Interaction with the F Protein and Prevents Fusion

“…The immunoprecipitation (IP) protocol was described previously (25). Briefly, at 22 h posttransfection, BHK cells were starved for 1 h at 37°C in medium lacking cysteine and methionine.…”

Localization of a Region in the Fusion Protein of Avian Metapneumovirus That Modulates Cell-Cell Fusion

“…For viruses in the Paramyxovirinae subfamily, it is firmly established that membrane fusion requires a specific interaction between two glycoproteins, the attachment protein (HN, H, or G) and the fusion (F) protein (1,9,14,15,23,39), and such fusion occurs at neutral pH (4,27). Specifically, it is thought that the binding of the attachment protein to cell surface receptors triggers major conformational changes in F, which in turn activates membrane fusion (1,27,29,30,39).…”

“…For viruses in the Paramyxovirinae subfamily, it is firmly established that membrane fusion requires a specific interaction between two glycoproteins, the attachment protein (HN, H, or G) and the fusion (F) protein (1,9,14,15,23,39), and such fusion occurs at neutral pH (4,27). Specifically, it is thought that the binding of the attachment protein to cell surface receptors triggers major conformational changes in F, which in turn activates membrane fusion (1,27,29,30,39).However, membrane fusion of pneumoviruses appears to be unique among the paramyxoviruses, in that fusion is accomplished by the F protein alone without help from the attachment glycoprotein (6,7,17,21,42,43). This suggests that the F proteins of pneumoviruses possess dual functions, receptor binding and fusion promotion.…”