Reduction of Cell Fusion by Deletion in the Hypervariable Region of the Spike Protein of Mouse Hepatitis Virus.

ABSTRACT: Deletions in the spike gene of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) produce several variants with diverse biological characteristics, highlighting the significance of the spike gene in viral pathogenesis. In this study, we characterized the JHM-X strain, which has a deletion in the hypervariable region (HVR) of the spike gene, compared with the cl-2 strain, which has a full spike gene. Cytopathic effects (CPEs) induced by the two strains revealed that the size of the CPE produced by cl-2 is much greater than that produced by JHM-X in delayed brain tumor (DBT) cells. Thus, this finding explains the greater fusion activity of cl-2 than JHM-X in cultured cells, and we speculate that the deletion region of the spike protein is involved in the fusion activity differences. In contrast with the fusion act

SUBMITTER: Tennakoon N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8876987 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature