title: Tetherin inhibits prototypic foamy virus release.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tetherin (also known as BST-2, CD317, and HM1.24) is an interferon- induced protein that blocks the release of a variety of enveloped viruses, such as retroviruses, filoviruses and herpesviruses. However, the relationship between tetherin and foamy viruses has not been clearly demonstrated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, we found that tetherin of human, simian, bovine or canine origin inhibits the production of infectious prototypic foamy virus (PFV). The inhibition of PFV by human tetherin is counteracted by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Vpu. Furthermore, we generated human tetherin transmembrane domain deletion mutant (delTM), glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor deletion mutant (delGPI), and dimerization and glycosylation deficient mutants. Compared with wild type tetherin, the delTM and delGPI mutants only moderately inhibited PFV production. In contrast, the dimerization and glycosylation deficient mutants inhibit PFV production as efficiently as the wild type tetherin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results demonstrate that tetherin inhibits the release and infectivity of PFV, and this inhibition is antagonized by HIV-1 Vpu. Both the transmembrane domain and the GPI anchor of tetherin are important for the inhibition of PFV, whereas the dimerization and the glycosylation of tetherin are dispensable.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology (Ministry of Education) and Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics (Tianjin), College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Fengwen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Ruikang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yunqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism*; D002417:Cattle; D004285:Dogs; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology; D000882:Haplorhini; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D054298:Human Immunodeficiency Virus Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016092:Spumavirus / Q000502:physiology*; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D057074:Virus Release; D000074010:Bone Marrow Stromal Antigen 2; D000086082:Viroporin Proteins
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins; D054298:Human Immunodeficiency Virus Proteins; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; C094572:BST2 protein, human; D000074010:Bone Marrow Stromal Antigen 2; C514859:vpu protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D000086082:Viroporin Proteins