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Mutations in hepatitis C virus p7 reduce both the egress and infectivity of assembled particles via impaired proton channel function

Bentham, Matthew J.; Foster, Toshana L.; McCormick, Christopher; Griffin, Stephen

Authors

Matthew J. Bentham

Christopher McCormick

Stephen Griffin



Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) p7 protein is critical for the efficient production of infectious virions in culture. p7 undergoes genotype-specific protein–protein interactions as well as displaying channel-forming activity, making it unclear whether the phenotypes of deleterious p7 mutations result from the disruption of one or both of these functions. Here, we showed that proton channel activity alone, provided in trans by either influenza virus M2 or genotype 1b HCV p7, was both necessary and sufficient to restore infectious particle production to genotype 2a HCV (JFH-1 isolate) carrying deleterious p7 alanine substitutions within the p7 dibasic loop (R33A, R35A), and the N-terminal trans-membrane region (N15 : C16 : H17/AAA). Both mutations markedly reduced mature p7 abundance, with those in the dibasic loop also significantly reducing levels of mature E2 and NS2. Interestingly, whilst M2 and genotype 1b p7 restored the same level of intracellular infectivity as JFH-1 p7, supplementing with the isogenic protein led to a further increase in secreted infectivity, suggesting a late-acting role for genotype-specific p7 protein interactions. Finally, cells infected by viruses carrying p7 mutations contained non-infectious core-containing particles with densities equivalent to WT HCV, indicating a requirement for p7 proton channel activity in conferring an infectious phenotype to virions.

Citation

Bentham, M. J., Foster, T. L., McCormick, C., & Griffin, S. (2013). Mutations in hepatitis C virus p7 reduce both the egress and infectivity of assembled particles via impaired proton channel function. Journal of General Virology, 94, 2236-2248. https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.054338-0

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 24, 2013
Online Publication Date Oct 1, 2013
Publication Date Oct 1, 2013
Deposit Date Mar 21, 2019
Journal Journal of General Virology
Print ISSN 0022-1317
Electronic ISSN 1465-2099
Publisher Microbiology Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 94
Pages 2236-2248
DOI https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.054338-0
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1673756
Publisher URL https://jgv.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.054338-0