Recombinant wild-type and edmonston strain measles viruses bearing heterologous H proteins: role of H protein in cell fusion and host cell specificity.
Wild-type measles virus (MV) isolated from B95a cells has a restricted host cell specificity and hardly replicates in Vero cells, whereas the laboratory strain Edmonston (Ed) replicates in a variety of cell types including Vero cells. To investigate the role of H protein in the differential MV host cell specificity and cell fusion activity, H proteins of wild-type MV (IC-B) and Ed were coexpressed with the F protein in Vero cells. Cell-cell fusion occurred in Vero cells when Ed H protein, but not IC-B H protein, was expressed. To analyze the role of H protein in the context of viral infection, a recombinant IC-B virus bearing Ed H protein (IC/Ed-H) and a recombinant Ed virus bearing IC-B H protein (Ed/IC-H) were generated from cloned cDNAs. IC/Ed-H replicated efficiently in Vero cells and induced small syncytia in Vero cells, indicating that Ed H protein conferred replication ability in Vero cells on IC/Ed-H. On the other hand, Ed/IC-H also replicated well in Vero cells and induced small syncytia, although parental Ed induced large syncytia in Vero cells. These results indicated that an MV protein(s) other than H protein was likely involved in determining cell fusion and host cell specificity of MV in the case of our recombinants. SLAM (CDw150), a recently identified cellular receptor for wild-type MV, was not expressed in Vero cells, and a monoclonal antibody against CD46, a cellular receptor for Ed, did not block replication or syncytium formation of Ed/IC-H in Vero cells. It is therefore suggested that Ed/IC-H entered Vero cells through another cellular receptor.
Takeuchi
Kaoru
K
Department of Virus Diseases and Vaccine Control, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashi-Murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan. ktake@nih.go.jp
Takeda
Makoto
M
Miyajima
Naoko
N
Kobune
Fumio
F
Tanabayashi
Kiyoshi
K
Tashiro
Masato
M
D000818:Animals; D002459:Cell Fusion; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008459:Measles virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity; D014709:Vero Cells; D014779:Virus Replication
D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; C032397:hemagglutinin protein G, measles virus