Selection of rotavirus VP4 cell receptor binding domains for MA104 cells using a phage display library

Cell-surface d-glucuronyl C5-epimerase binds to porcine deltacoronavirus spike protein facilitating viral entry

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an emerging swine enteric coronavirus with zoonotic potential. The coronavirus spike (S) glycoprotein, especially the S1 subunit, mediates viral entry by binding to cellular receptors. However, the functional receptor of PDCoV remains poorly understood. In this study, we used the soluble PDCoV S1 protein as bait to capture the S1-binding cellular transmembrane proteins in combined immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analyses. A single guide RNA screen identified d-glucuronyl C5-epimerase (GLCE), a heparan sulfate-modifying enzyme, as a proviral host factor for PDCoV infection. GLCE knockout significantly inhibited the attachment and internalization stages of PDCoV infection. We also demonstrated the interaction between GLCE and PDCoV S with coimmunoprecipitation in both an overexpression system and PDCoV-infected cells. GLCE could be localized to the cell membrane, and an anti-GLCE antibody suppressed PDCoV infection. Although GLCE expression alone did not render nonpermissive cells susceptible to PDCoV infection, GLCE promoted the binding of PDCoV S to porcine amino peptidase N (pAPN), acting synergistically with pAPN to enhance PDCoV infection. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that GLCE is a novel cell-surface factor facilitating PDCoV entry and provide new insights into PDCoV infection.

IMPORTANCE

The identification of viral receptors is of great significance, potentially extending our understanding of viral infection and pathogenesis. Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an emerging enteropathogenic coronavirus with the potential for cross-species transmission. However, the receptors or coreceptors of PDCoV are still poorly understood. The present study confirms that d-glucuronyl C5-epimerase (GLCE) is a positive regulator of PDCoV infection, promoting viral attachment and internalization. The anti-GLCE antibody suppressed PDCoV infection. Mechanically, GLCE interacts with PDCoV S and promotes the binding of PDCoV S to porcine amino peptidase N (pAPN), acting synergistically with pAPN to enhance PDCoV infection. This work identifies GLCE as a novel cell-surface factor facilitating PDCoV entry and paves the way for further insights into the mechanisms of PDCoV infection.

Inhibiting rotavirus infection by membrane-impermeant thiol/disulfide exchange blockers and antibodies against protein disulfide isomerase

OBJECTIVES

Determining the effect of membrane-impermeant thiol/disulfide exchange inhibitors on rhesus rotavirus infectivity in MA104 cells and investigating protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) as a potential target for these inhibitors.

METHODS

Cells were treated with DTNB [5,5-dithio-bis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid)], bacitracin or anti-PDI antibodies and then infected with virus. Triple-layered particles (TLPs) were also pretreated with inhibitors before inoculation. The effects of these inhibitors on α-sarcin co-entry, virus binding to cells and PDI-TLP interaction were also examined. FACS analysis, cell-surface protein biotin-labeling, lipid-raft isolation and ELISA were performed to determine cell-surface PDI expression.

RESULTS

Infectivity became reduced by 50% when cells or TLPs were treated with 1 or 6 mM DTNB, respectively; infectivity became reduced by 50% by 20 mM bacitracin treatment of cells whereas TLPs were insensitive to bacitracin treatment; anti-PDI antibodies decreased viral infectivity by about 45%. The presence of DTNB (2.5 mM) or bacitracin (20 mM) was unable to prevent virus binding to cells and rotavirus-induced α-sarcin co-entry.

CONCLUSIONS

It was concluded that thiol/disulfide exchange was involved in rotavirus entry process and that cell-surface PDI was at least a potential target for DTNB and bacitracin-induced infectivity inhibition.

Insight into host cell carbohydrate-recognition by human and porcine rotavirus from crystal structures of the virion spike associated carbohydrate-binding domain (VP8*)

Rotavirus infection leads to the death of half a million children annually. The exact specifics of interaction between rotavirus particles and host cells enabling invasion and infection have remained elusive. Host cell oligosaccharides are critical components, and their involvement aids the virus in cell-recognition and attachment, as well as dictation of the remarkable host-specificity that rotaviruses demonstrate. Interaction between the rotavirus spike-protein carbohydrate-binding domain (VP8*) and cell surface oligosaccharides facilitate virus recognition of host cells and attachment. Rotaviruses are considered, controversially, to recognise vastly different carbohydrate structures and either with incorporation of terminal sialic acid or without, as assessed by their ability to infect cells that have been pre-treated with sialidases. Herein, the X-ray crystallographic structures of VP8* from the sialidase insensitive Wa and the sialidase sensitive CRW-8 rotavirus strains that cause debilitating gastroenteritis in human and pig are reported. Striking differences are apparent regarding recognition of the sialic acid derivative methyl alpha-D-N-acetylneuraminide, presenting the first experimental evidence of the inability of the human rotavirus strain to bind this monosaccharide, that correlates with Wa and CRW-8 recognising sialidase-resistant and sialidase-sensitive receptors, respectively. Identified are structural features that provide insight in attainment of substrate specificity exhibited by porcine strains as compared to rhesus rotavirus. Revealed in the CRW-8 VP8* structure is an additional bound ligand that intriguingly, is within a cleft located equivalent to the carbohydrate-binding region of galectins, and is suggestive of a new region for interaction with cell-surface carbohydrates. This novel result and detailed comparison of our representative sialidase-sensitive CRW-8 and insensitive Wa VP8* structures with those reported leads to our hypothesis that this groove is used for binding carbohydrates, and that for the human strains, as for other sialidase-insensitive strains could represent a major oligosaccharide-binding region.

Early Steps in Rotavirus Cell Entry

Rotaviruses, the leading cause of severe dehydrating diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide, are non-enveloped viruses formed by three concentric layers of protein that enclose a genome of double-stranded RNA. These viruses have a specific cell tropism in vivo, infecting primarily the mature enterocytes of the villi of the small intestine. It has been found that rotavirus cell entry is a complex multistep process, in which different domains of the rotavirus surface proteins interact sequentially with different cell surface molecules, which act as attachment and entry receptors. These recently described molecules include integrins (alpha2beta1, alphavbeta3, and alphaxbeta2) and a heat shock protein (hsc70), and have been found to be associated with cell membrane lipid microdomains. The requirement for several cell molecules, which might need to be present and organized in a precise fashion, could explain the cell and tissue tropism of these viruses. This review focuses on recent data describing the interactions between the virus and its receptors, the role of lipid microdomains in rotavirus infection, and the possible mechanism of rotavirus cell entry.

Rotavirus spike protein VP5* binds alpha2beta1 integrin on the cell surface and competes with virus for cell binding and infectivity

Rotaviruses recognize several cell-surface molecules, including the alpha2beta1 integrin, and the processes of rotavirus cell attachment and entry appear to be multifactorial. The VP5* subunit of the rotavirus spike protein VP4 contains the alpha2beta1 ligand sequence Asp-Gly-Glu at residues 308-310. Binding to alpha2beta1 and infectivity of monkey rotavirus strain RRV and human rotavirus strain Wa, but not porcine rotavirus strain CRW-8, are inhibited by peptides containing Asp-Gly-Glu. Asp308 and Gly309 are necessary for the binding of RRV VP5* (aa 248-474) to expressed I domain of the alpha2 integrin subunit. Here, the ability of RRV VP5* to bind cells and affect rotavirus-integrin interactions was determined. Interestingly, VP5* bound to cells at 4 and 37 degrees C, both via alpha2beta1 and independently of this integrin. Prior VP5* binding at 37 degrees C eliminated RRV binding to cellular alpha2beta1 and reduced RRV and Wa infectivity in MA104 cells by 38-46 %. VP5* binding did not affect the infectivity of CRW-8. VP5* binding at 4 degrees C did not affect permissive-cell infection by RRV, indicating an energy requirement for VP5* competition with virus for infectivity. Mutagenesis of VP5* Asp308 and Gly309 eliminated VP5* binding to alpha2beta1 and the VP5* inhibition of rotavirus cell binding and infection, but not alpha2beta1-independent cell binding by VP5*. These studies show for the first time that expressed VP5* binds cell-surface alpha2beta1 using Asp308 and Gly309 and inhibits the infection of homologous and heterologous rotaviruses that use alpha2beta1 as a receptor.

Identification of one peptide which inhibited infectivity of avian infectious bronchitis virus in vitro

Purified avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) was used to screen a random phage display peptide library. After the fourth panning, 10 positive phages were sequenced and characterized. The phages specifically inhibited IBV infectivity in HeLa cells and blocked IBV haemagglutination. One linear peptide "GSH HRH VHS PFV" from the positive phages with the highest neutralization titer was synthesized and this peptide inhibited IBV infection in HeLa as well. The results may contribute to development of antiviral therapeutics for IBV and studying the determinants for viral and cell interaction.

Targeted gene delivery to human airway epithelial cells with synthetic vectors incorporating novel targeting peptides selected by phage display

Human airway epithelial cell targeting peptides were identified by biopanning on 1HAEo-cells, a well characterised epithelial cell line. Bound phage were recovered after three rounds of binding, high stringency washing and elution, leading to the production of an enriched phage peptide population. DNA sequencing of 56 clones revealed 14 unique sequences. Subsequent binding analysis revealed that 13 of these peptides bound 1HAEo-cells with high affinity. Three peptides, SERSMNF, YGLPHKF and PSGAARA were represented at high frequency. Three clearly defined families of peptide were identified on the basis of sequence motifs including (R/K)SM, L(P/Q)HK and PSG(A/T)ARA. Two peptides, LPHKSMP and LQHKSMP contained two motifs. Further detailed sequence analysis by comparison of peptide sequences with the SWISSPROT protein database revealed that some of the peptides closely resembled the cell binding proteins of viral and bacterial pathogens including Herpes Simplex Virus, rotavirus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and rhinovirus, the latter two being respiratory pathogens, as well as peptide YGLPHKF having similarity to a protein of unknown function from the respiratory pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Peptides were incorporated into gene delivery formulations with the cationic lipid Lipofectin and plasmid DNA and shown to confer a high degree of transfection efficiency and specificity in 1HAEo-cells. Improved transfection efficiency and specificity was also observed in human endothelial cells, fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Therefore, on the basis of clone frequency after biopanning, cell binding affinity, peptide sequence conservation and pathogenic similarity, we have identified 3 novel peptide families and 5 specific peptides that have the potential for gene transfer to respiratory epithelium in vivo as well as providing useful in vitro transfection reagents for primary human cell types of scientific and commercial interest.

Multistep entry of rotavirus into cells: a Versaillesque dance

Rotavirus entry into a cell is a complex multistep process in which different domains of the rotavirus surface proteins interact with different cell surface molecules, which act as attachment and entry receptors. These recently described molecules include several integrins and a heat shock protein, which have been found to be associated with cell membrane lipid microdomains. The requirement during viral entry for several cell molecules, which might be required to be present and organized in a precise fashion, could explain the selective cell and tissue tropism of these viruses. This review focuses on recent data describing the virus-receptor interactions, the role of lipid microdomains in rotavirus infection and the mechanism of rotavirus cell entry.

Single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies against rotavirus NSP4 enterotoxin generated by phage display

The rotavirus non-structural NSP4 protein causes membrane destabilization as well as an increase in intracellular calcium levels in eukaryotic cells and induces diarrhea in young mice, acting as a viral enterotoxin. In this study the phage display technique was used to generate a panel of single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies specific for the NSP4 protein of the human rotavirus strain Wa from a human semi-synthetic scFv library. After several rounds of panning and selection on NSP4 adsorbed to polystyrene tubes, individual scFv were isolated and characterised by fingerprinting and by sequencing the VH and VL genes. The isolated scFv antibodies specifically recognize NSP4 in enzyme immunoassay and in Western blot. Four truncated forms of the NSP4 protein were constructed which allowed us to map the binding region of the selected scFv antibodies to the C-terminal portion of NSP4. The isolated scFv antibodies constitute valuable tools to analyse the mechanisms of NSP4 functions.

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Interaction of rotaviruses with Hsc70 during cell entry is mediated by VP5

Rotavirus infection seems to be a multistep process in which the viruses are required to interact with several cell surface molecules to enter the cell. The virus spike protein VP4, which is cleaved by trypsin into two subunits, VP5 and VP8, is involved in some of these interactions. We have previously shown that the neuraminidase-sensitive rotavirus strain RRV initially attaches to a sialic acid-containing cell molecule through the VP8 subunit of VP4 and subsequently interacts with integrin alpha2beta1 through VP5. After these initial contacts, the virus interacts with at least two additional proteins located at the cell surface, the integrin alphavbeta3 and the heat shock cognate protein Hsc70. In this work, we have shown that rotavirus RRV and its neuraminidase-resistant variant nar3 interact with Hsc70 through a VP5 domain located between amino acids 642 and 658 of the protein. This conclusion is based on the observation that a recombinant protein comprising the 300 carboxy-terminal amino acids of VP5 binds specifically to Hsc70 and a synthetic peptide containing amino acids 642 to 658 competes with the binding of the RRV and nar3 viruses to the heat shock protein. The VP5 peptide also competed with the binding to Hsc70 of the recombinant VP5 protein, and an antibody to Hsc70 reduced the binding of the recombinant protein to the surface of MA104 cells. The fact that the synthetic peptide blocks the infectivity of rotaviruses RRV and nar3 but not their binding to cells indicates that the interaction of VP5 with Hsc70 most probably occurs at a postattachment step during the virus entry process.