Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1990 May;64(5):2337–2344. doi: 10.1128/jvi.64.5.2337-2344.1990

Mutational analysis of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 env gene product proteolytic cleavage site.

V Bosch 1, M Pawlita 1
PMCID: PMC249395  PMID: 2182911

Abstract

The structural requirements for proteolytic cleavage of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 env gene product, gp160, to gp120 and gp41 have been assessed by specific mutagenesis of the sequence Lys Ala Lys Arg Arg Val Val Glu Arg Glu Lys Arg located between amino acids 500 and 511, i.e., at the putative C terminus of gp120. The basic amino acids underlined have been mutated, individually and in combination, to neutral amino acids, and the cleavability of the mutated env gene products was examined after expression in CV-1 cells. The results show that the replacement of Arg-511 (cleavage presumably occurs C terminal to this amino acid) with Ser completely abolishes recognition and cleavage by the cellular protease(s), i.e., the remaining basic amino acids in the vicinity do not serve as alternative substrates. However, Arg-508 and Lys-510 are important features of the recognition site since, when they are individually changed to neutral amino acids, cleavage is severely impaired. The basic amino acids 500, 502, and 504 are, individually, not important for cleavage, since their individual replacement by neutral amino acids does not impair cleavage. However, when all four basic amino acids 500, 502, 503, and 504 are changed to neutral amino acids, cleavage is almost completely abolished. This shows that the sequence Arg Glu Lys Arg at the cleavage site is alone not sufficient for cleavage but that a contribution of other amino acids is required, whether the other amino acids provide a basic character or a certain structure in the vicinity of the cleavage site. When noncleavable or poorly cleavable mutant env genes are expressed from the infectious plasmid pNL4-3 in CD4+ human lymphoblastoid cells, noninfectious virus, incapable of spread throughout the culture, is produced.

Full text

PDF
2337

Images in this article

2339Image
on p.2339
2340Image
on p.2340
2341Image
on p.2341

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Adachi A., Gendelman H. E., Koenig S., Folks T., Willey R., Rabson A., Martin M. A. Production of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-associated retrovirus in human and nonhuman cells transfected with an infectious molecular clone. J Virol. 1986 Aug;59(2):284–291. doi: 10.1128/jvi.59.2.284-291.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bosch F. X., Garten W., Klenk H. D., Rott R. Proteolytic cleavage of influenza virus hemagglutinins: primary structure of the connecting peptide between HA1 and HA2 determines proteolytic cleavability and pathogenicity of Avian influenza viruses. Virology. 1981 Sep;113(2):725–735. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(81)90201-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bosch J. V., Schwarz R. T. Processing of gPr92env, the precursor to the glycoproteins of Rous sarcoma virus: use of inhibitors of oligosaccharide trimming and glycoprotein transport. Virology. 1984 Jan 15;132(1):95–109. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(84)90094-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bosch M. L., Earl P. L., Fargnoli K., Picciafuoco S., Giombini F., Wong-Staal F., Franchini G. Identification of the fusion peptide of primate immunodeficiency viruses. Science. 1989 May 12;244(4905):694–697. doi: 10.1126/science.2541505. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dalgleish A. G., Beverley P. C., Clapham P. R., Crawford D. H., Greaves M. F., Weiss R. A. The CD4 (T4) antigen is an essential component of the receptor for the AIDS retrovirus. Nature. 1984 Dec 20;312(5996):763–767. doi: 10.1038/312763a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Döffinger R., Pawlita M., Sczakiel G. Electrotransfection of human lymphoid and myeloid cell lines. Nucleic Acids Res. 1988 Dec 23;16(24):11840–11840. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.24.11840. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gallaher W. R. Detection of a fusion peptide sequence in the transmembrane protein of human immunodeficiency virus. Cell. 1987 Jul 31;50(3):327–328. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90485-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Garten W., Bosch F. X., Linder D., Rott R., Klenk H. D. Proteolytic activation of the influenza virus hemagglutinin: The structure of the cleavage site and the enzymes involved in cleavage. Virology. 1981 Dec;115(2):361–374. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(81)90117-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Glickman R. L., Syddall R. J., Iorio R. M., Sheehan J. P., Bratt M. A. Quantitative basic residue requirements in the cleavage-activation site of the fusion glycoprotein as a determinant of virulence for Newcastle disease virus. J Virol. 1988 Jan;62(1):354–356. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.1.354-356.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Gomez S., Boileau G., Zollinger L., Nault C., Rholam M., Cohen P. Site-specific mutagenesis identifies amino acid residues critical in prohormone processing. EMBO J. 1989 Oct;8(10):2911–2916. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb08440.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hahn B. H., Shaw G. M., Arya S. K., Popovic M., Gallo R. C., Wong-Staal F. Molecular cloning and characterization of the HTLV-III virus associated with AIDS. Nature. 1984 Nov 8;312(5990):166–169. doi: 10.1038/312166a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kawaoka Y., Webster R. G. Interplay between carbohydrate in the stalk and the length of the connecting peptide determines the cleavability of influenza virus hemagglutinin. J Virol. 1989 Aug;63(8):3296–3300. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.8.3296-3300.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kawaoka Y., Webster R. G. Sequence requirements for cleavage activation of influenza virus hemagglutinin expressed in mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Jan;85(2):324–328. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.2.324. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kieny M. P., Lathe R., Rivière Y., Dott K., Schmitt D., Girard M., Montagnier L., Lecocq J. Improved antigenicity of the HIV env protein by cleavage site removal. Protein Eng. 1988 Sep;2(3):219–225. doi: 10.1093/protein/2.3.219. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Klatzmann D., Champagne E., Chamaret S., Gruest J., Guetard D., Hercend T., Gluckman J. C., Montagnier L. T-lymphocyte T4 molecule behaves as the receptor for human retrovirus LAV. Nature. 1984 Dec 20;312(5996):767–768. doi: 10.1038/312767a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Klenk H. D., Rott R., Orlich M., Blödorn J. Activation of influenza A viruses by trypsin treatment. Virology. 1975 Dec;68(2):426–439. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(75)90284-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kowalski M., Potz J., Basiripour L., Dorfman T., Goh W. C., Terwilliger E., Dayton A., Rosen C., Haseltine W., Sodroski J. Functional regions of the envelope glycoprotein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Science. 1987 Sep 11;237(4820):1351–1355. doi: 10.1126/science.3629244. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lifson J. D., Feinberg M. B., Reyes G. R., Rabin L., Banapour B., Chakrabarti S., Moss B., Wong-Staal F., Steimer K. S., Engleman E. G. Induction of CD4-dependent cell fusion by the HTLV-III/LAV envelope glycoprotein. Nature. 1986 Oct 23;323(6090):725–728. doi: 10.1038/323725a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Maddon P. J., Dalgleish A. G., McDougal J. S., Clapham P. R., Weiss R. A., Axel R. The T4 gene encodes the AIDS virus receptor and is expressed in the immune system and the brain. Cell. 1986 Nov 7;47(3):333–348. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90590-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. McCune J. M., Rabin L. B., Feinberg M. B., Lieberman M., Kosek J. C., Reyes G. R., Weissman I. L. Endoproteolytic cleavage of gp160 is required for the activation of human immunodeficiency virus. Cell. 1988 Apr 8;53(1):55–67. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90487-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. McGeoch D. J., Dalrymple M. A., Davison A. J., Dolan A., Frame M. C., McNab D., Perry L. J., Scott J. E., Taylor P. The complete DNA sequence of the long unique region in the genome of herpes simplex virus type 1. J Gen Virol. 1988 Jul;69(Pt 7):1531–1574. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-69-7-1531. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Mulligan R. C., Berg P. Selection for animal cells that express the Escherichia coli gene coding for xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Apr;78(4):2072–2076. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.4.2072. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Paterson R. G., Shaughnessy M. A., Lamb R. A. Analysis of the relationship between cleavability of a paramyxovirus fusion protein and length of the connecting peptide. J Virol. 1989 Mar;63(3):1293–1301. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.3.1293-1301.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Perez L. G., Hunter E. Mutations within the proteolytic cleavage site of the Rous sarcoma virus glycoprotein that block processing to gp85 and gp37. J Virol. 1987 May;61(5):1609–1614. doi: 10.1128/jvi.61.5.1609-1614.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Ratner L., Haseltine W., Patarca R., Livak K. J., Starcich B., Josephs S. F., Doran E. R., Rafalski J. A., Whitehorn E. A., Baumeister K. Complete nucleotide sequence of the AIDS virus, HTLV-III. Nature. 1985 Jan 24;313(6000):277–284. doi: 10.1038/313277a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Rekosh D., Nygren A., Flodby P., Hammarskjöld M. L., Wigzell H. Coexpression of human immunodeficiency virus envelope proteins and tat from a single simian virus 40 late replacement vector. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Jan;85(2):334–338. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.2.334. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Rusche J. R., Lynn D. L., Robert-Guroff M., Langlois A. J., Lyerly H. K., Carson H., Krohn K., Ranki A., Gallo R. C., Bolognesi D. P. Humoral immune response to the entire human immunodeficiency virus envelope glycoprotein made in insect cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Oct;84(19):6924–6928. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.19.6924. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Schawaller M., Smith G. E., Skehel J. J., Wiley D. C. Studies with crosslinking reagents on the oligomeric structure of the env glycoprotein of HIV. Virology. 1989 Sep;172(1):367–369. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(89)90142-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Schneider J., Kaaden O., Copeland T. D., Oroszlan S., Hunsmann G. Shedding and interspecies type sero-reactivity of the envelope glycopolypeptide gp120 of the human immunodeficiency virus. J Gen Virol. 1986 Nov;67(Pt 11):2533–2538. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-67-11-2533. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Schneider U., Schwenk H. U., Bornkamm G. Characterization of EBV-genome negative "null" and "T" cell lines derived from children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and leukemic transformed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Int J Cancer. 1977 May 15;19(5):621–626. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910190505. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Toyoda T., Sakaguchi T., Imai K., Inocencio N. M., Gotoh B., Hamaguchi M., Nagai Y. Structural comparison of the cleavage-activation site of the fusion glycoprotein between virulent and avirulent strains of Newcastle disease virus. Virology. 1987 May;158(1):242–247. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(87)90261-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Veronese F. D., DeVico A. L., Copeland T. D., Oroszlan S., Gallo R. C., Sarngadharan M. G. Characterization of gp41 as the transmembrane protein coded by the HTLV-III/LAV envelope gene. Science. 1985 Sep 27;229(4720):1402–1405. doi: 10.1126/science.2994223. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Willey R. L., Bonifacino J. S., Potts B. J., Martin M. A., Klausner R. D. Biosynthesis, cleavage, and degradation of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 envelope glycoprotein gp160. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Dec;85(24):9580–9584. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.24.9580. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Zoller M. J., Smith M. Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis: a simple method using two oligonucleotide primers and a single-stranded DNA template. DNA. 1984 Dec;3(6):479–488. doi: 10.1089/dna.1.1984.3.479. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES