Envelope targeting: hemagglutinin attachment specificity rather than fusion protein cleavage-activation restricts Tupaia paramyxovirus tropism.

ABSTRACT: To engineer a targeting envelope for gene and oncolytic vector delivery, we characterized and modified the envelope proteins of Tupaia paramyxovirus (TPMV), a relative of the morbilli- and henipaviruses that neither infects humans nor has cross-reactive relatives that infect humans. We completed the TPMV genomic sequence and noted that the predicted fusion (F) protein cleavage-activation site is not preceded by a canonical furin cleavage sequence. Coexpression of the TPMV F and hemagglutinin (H) proteins induced fusion of Tupaia baby fibroblasts but not of human cells, a finding consistent with the restricted TPMV host range. To identify the factors restricting fusion of non-Tupaia cells, we initially analyzed F protein cleavage. Even without an oligo- or monobasic protease cleavage sequen

SUBMITTER: Springfeld C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1182650 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature