Jd. Chappell et al., MUTATIONS IN TYPE-3 REOVIRUS THAT DETERMINE BINDING TO SIALIC-ACID ARE CONTAINED IN THE FIBROUS TAIL DOMAIN OF VIRAL ATTACHMENT PROTEIN SIGMA-1, Journal of virology, 71(3), 1997, pp. 1834-1841
The reovirus attachment protein, sigma 1, determines numerous aspects
of reovirus-induced disease, including viral virulence, pathways of sp
read, and tropism for certain types of cells in the central nervous sy
stem. The sigma 1 protein projects from the virion surface and consist
s of two distinct morphologic domains, a virion-distal globular domain
known as the head and an elongated fibrous domain, termed the tail, w
hich is anchored into the virion capsid. To better understand structur
e-function relationships of sigma 1 protein, we conducted experiments
to identify sequences in al important for viral binding to sialic acid
, a component of the receptor for type 3 reovirus. Three serotype 3 re
ovirus strains incapable of binding sialylated receptors were adapted
to growth in murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells, in which sialic acid
is essential for reovirus infectivity. MEL-adapted (MA) mutant viruses
isolated by serial passage in MEL cells acquired the capacity to bind
sialic acid containing receptors and demonstrated a dependence on sia
lic acid for infection of MEL cells. Analysis of reassortant viruses i
solated from crosses of an MA mutant virus and a reovirus strain that
does not bind sialic acid indicated that the sigma 1 protein is solely
responsible for efficient growth of MA mutant viruses in MEL cells. T
he deduced al amino acid sequences of the MA mutant viruses revealed t
hat each strain contains a substitution within a short region of seque
nce in the al tail predicted to form beta-sheet. These studies identif
y specific sequences that determine the capacity of reovirus to bind s
ialylated receptors and suggest a location for a sialic acid-binding d
omain. Furthermore, the results support a model in which type 3 sigma
1 protein contains discrete receptor binding domains, one in the head
and another in the tail that binds sialic acid.