Influenza Hemifusion Phenotype Depends on Membrane Context: Differences in Cell-Cell and Virus-Cell Fusion.

ABSTRACT: Influenza viral entry into the host cell cytoplasm is accomplished by a process of membrane fusion mediated by the viral hemagglutinin protein. Hemagglutinin acts in a pH-triggered fashion, inserting a short fusion peptide into the host membrane followed by refolding of a coiled-coil structure to draw the viral envelope and host membranes together. Mutations to this fusion peptide provide an important window into viral fusion mechanisms and protein-membrane interactions. Here, we show that a well-described fusion peptide mutant, G1S, has a phenotype that depends strongly on the viral membrane context. The G1S mutant is well known to cause a "hemifusion" phenotype based on experiments in transfected cells, where cells expressing G1S hemagglutinin can undergo lipid mixing in a pH-triggered f

SUBMITTER: Zawada KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5831491 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature