Arginine-glycine-aspartic acid motif is critical for human parechovirus 1 entry

The human parechovirus 1 RGD motif in VP1 was studied by mutagenesis. An RG D-to-RGE change gave only revertant viruses with a restored RGD, while dele tion of GD was lethal and nonrevertable. Mutations at the +1 and +2 positio ns had some effect on growth properties and a +1 M-to-P change was lethal. These studies indicate that the RGD motif plays a critical role in infectiv ity, presumably by interacting with integrins, and that downstream amino ac ids can have an influence on function.