Figure 3.

Positive genetic test for viroporin activity. Impact of viral protein expression on the growth of K⁺-uptake-deficient bacteria [43]. The relative growth enhancements in comparison to bacteria that harbor an empty vector (MBP on its own) are indicated by the gray arrows. Generic TM indicates a chimera in which MBP is fused at its carboxy terminus to the transmembrane domain of glycophorin A containing two monomerizing mutations [48,49]. M2 + Rim is a sample in which rimantadine, a specific blocker of the influenza M2 channel [10], was added at a concentration of 50 μM. Note that rimantadine did not affect other proteins (data not shown). The results are an average of three independent experiments, with standard deviations depicted as error bars.