Asymmetric fusion between synthetic di-n-dodecylphosphate vesicles and virus membranes

Coiled coil driven membrane fusion between cyclodextrin vesicles and liposomes

Controlled fusion events between natural membranes composed of phospholipids with synthetic unnatural membranes will yield valuable fundamental information on the mechanism of membrane fusion. Here, fusion between vastly different phospholipid liposomes and cyclodextrin amphiphile based vesicles (CDVs) controlled by a pair of coiled coil forming lipidated peptides was investigated. Fusion events were characterized using lipid and content mixing assays and the resulting hybrid assemblies were characterized with cryo-TEM imaging. The secondary/quaternary structure of the lipidated peptides at the membrane interface was studied using circular dichroism spectroscopy. This is the first example of targeted fusion between natural and non-natural bilayer membranes and the in situ formation of hybrid CDV-liposome structures is of interest as it yields fundamental information about the mechanism through which fusion proceeds.

Interaction of the influenza hemagglutinin fusion peptide with lipid bilayers: area expansion and permeation

Fusion is a crucial event in the infection of animal cells by enveloped viruses (e.g., HIV or influenza). Viral fusion is mediated by glycoproteins, spanning the viral envelope, which attach to a membrane surface and induce fusion of the viral envelope to the cellular membrane. Influenza fusion protein (hemagglutinin) contains an amino-terminal segment critical to fusion, referred to as the fusion peptide. We show here that the native fusion peptide (wt-20) of hemagglutinin destabilizes membranes formed of 99% 1 -stearoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (SOPC). The first step in destabilization is rapid insertion of the peptide into the membrane, in which membrane area increases by as much as 11% in just seconds. We visualized and quantified the area expansion by using optical video microscopy combined with micropipette aspiration. This rapid membrane area expansion is followed by the formation of membrane defects in the size range of 0.5 nm, and results in membrane rupture. Both the rate of area increase and maximum area increase are significantly higher at a pH near 5.0 compared to pH 7.0. These results suggest that enhanced membrane insertion of wt-20 and accompanying area expansion at pH 5.0 are responsible for the relatively greater lytic activity at this pH. We show that a deletion of the N-terminal glycine of wt-20 results in a lack of area expansion or membrane perturbation at pH 5.0.

Partial fusion activity of influenza virus toward liposomes and erythrocyte ghosts is distinct from viral inactivation

Final extents of fusion of influenza virus (A/PR/8/34 strain) with neutral and partially acidic liposomes were monitored with (i) a fluorescence resonance energy-transfer assay in which the liposomes were labeled and (ii) by the dequenching of octadecylrhodamine, initially incorporated in the viral membrane. The latter assay was also employed in the fusion of influenza virus and Sendai virus with erythrocyte ghosts. In all cases, a phenomenon of partial fusion activity of the virus was observed, which is distinct from low pH inactivation. The unfused influenza or Sendai virions, which were separated by sucrose gradient centrifugation from liposomes or erythrocyte ghosts exhibited again partial fusion activity toward freshly added liposomes or ghosts, respectively. The conclusion is that the fraction of initially bound and unfused virions does not consist of defective particles, but rather of particles bound to the target membranes via inactive sites on the virus (or on cellular membranes), or else, partial fusion activity is a manifestation of a certain probability of production of fusion inactive sites by irreversible association of viral glycoproteins or peptides in the target membrane.