title: Calcium-dependent conformational changes of membrane-bound Ebola fusion peptide drive vesicle fusion.
abstract: The fusogenic subdomain of the Ebola virus envelope glycoprotein is an internal sequence located ca. 20 residues downstream the N-terminus of the glycoprotein transmembrane subunit. Partitioning of the Ebola fusion peptide into membranes containing phosphatidylinositol in the absence of Ca2+ stabilizes an alpha-helical conformation, and gives rise to vesicle efflux but not vesicle fusion. In the presence of millimolar Ca2+ the membrane-bound peptide adopts an extended beta-structure, and induces inter-vesicle mixing of lipids. The peptide conformational polymorphism may be related to the flexibility of the virus-cell intermembrane fusogenic complex.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Biofísica (CSIC-UPV/EHU) y Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidad del País Vasco, Aptdo. 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suárez
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gómara
authors.forename: Félix M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Goñi
authors.forename: Ismael
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mingarro
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muga
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pérez-Payá
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Nieva
mesh_terms: D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000737:chemistry*; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry; D008561:Membrane Fusion / Q000502:physiology*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols / Q000737:chemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D008081:Liposomes; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins; D014867:Water; D002118:Calcium