Cell attachment and mouse virulence of echovirus 9 correlate with an RGD motif in the capsid protein VP1.
The recently analyzed sequences of the nonpathogenic prototype strain Hill and the mouse-virulent strain Barty of the human echovirus 9 differ particularly in an insertion coding for an RGD motif at the C-terminus of the capsid protein VP1 in the genome of strain Barty. To investigate molecular determinants of virulence, we generated a panel of recombinant viruses derived from cDNA clones of strains Hill and Barty. In this communication, we show that the mouse-pathogenic character of strain Barty correlates with a 310-aa segment including the RGD motif. By mutating the RGD to an RGE tripeptide, the infectivity of the resulting echovirus 9 clones for GMK cells is lost. Furthermore, we could show that synthetic peptides containing the RGD sequence influence binding of mouse-virulent echovirus 9 strains to GMK cells, whereas binding of apathogenic strains is not affected. These results suggest that the RGD motif is a significant factor affecting pathogenicity of echovirus 9 strains.
Zimmermann
H
H
Institut für Virologie der Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany.
Eggers
H J
HJ
Nelsen-Salz
B
B
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D002460:Cell Line; D004459:Echovirus 9 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014774:Virulence; D014779:Virus Replication
D036022:Capsid Proteins; D009842:Oligopeptides; D012367:RNA, Viral; C047981:arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid