Evidence for Mixed Membrane Topology of the Newcastle Disease Virus Fusion Protein

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

American Society for Microbiology

RESUMO

The synthesis of the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) fusion (F) protein in a cell-free protein-synthesizing system containing membranes was characterized. The membrane-associated products were in at least two different topological forms with respect to the membranes. The properties of one form were consistent with the expected membrane insertion as a classical type 1 glycoprotein. This form of the protein was fully glycosylated, and sequences amino terminal to the transmembrane domain were protected from protease digestion by the membranes. The second form of membrane-associated F protein was partially glycosylated and partially protected from protease digestion by the membranes. Protease digestion resulted in a 23-kDa protease-protected polypeptide derived from F2 sequences and sequences from the amino-terminal end of the F1 domain. Furthermore, a 10-kDa polypeptide derived from the cytoplasmic domain (CT) was also protected from protease digestion by the membranes. Protease resistance of the 23- and 10-kDa polypeptides suggested that this second form of F protein inserted in membranes in a polytopic conformation with both the amino-terminal end and the carboxyl-terminal end translocated across membranes. To determine if this second form of the fusion protein could be found in cells expressing the F protein, two different approaches were taken. A polypeptide with the size of the partially translocated F protein was detected by Western analysis of proteins in total-cell extracts of NDV strain B1 (avirulent)-infected Cos-7 cells. Using antibodies raised against a peptide with sequences from the cytoplasmic domain, CT sequences were detected on surfaces of F protein-expressing Cos-7 cells by immunofluorescence and by flow cytometry. This antibody also inhibited the fusion of red blood cells to cells expressing F and HN proteins. These results suggest that NDV F protein made both in a cell-free system and in Cos-7 cells may exist in two topological forms with respect to membranes and that the second form of the protein may be involved in cell-cell fusion.

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