Fusion of alphaviruses with liposomes is a non‐leaky process

FEBS Letters

Wilschut, Jan¹  Lin, Ke-Chun²  Li, Gang²  Corver, Jeroen¹  Schoen, Pieter¹  Bittman, Robert³  Smit, Jolanda M¹ 

[1] Department of Medical Microbiology, Molecular Virology Section, University of Groningen and Academic Hospital, Ant. Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands;Department of Biophysics, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100083, PR China;Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367, USA

关键词: Alphavirus;    Hemifusion;    Membrane fusion;    Semliki Forest virus;    Sindbis virus;    Virus fusion;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(02)02823-5

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

It has been reported that low-pH-induced fusion of influenza virus with liposomes results in rapid and extensive release of both low- and high-molecular-weight substances from the liposomes [Günther-Ausborn et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270 (1995) 29279–29285; Shangguan et al., Biochemistry 35 (1996) 4956–4965]. Here, we demonstrate retention of encapsulated water-soluble compounds during fusion of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) or Sindbis virus with liposomes at low pH. Under conditions allowing complete fusion of the liposomes, a limited fluorescence dequenching of liposome-encapsulated calcein was observed, particularly for SFV. Also, radioactively labeled inulin or sucrose were largely retained. Freezing and thawing of the viruses in the absence of sucrose resulted in an enhanced leakiness of fusion. These results support the notion that the alphavirus fusion event per se is non-leaky and may well involve a discrete hemifusion intermediate.

【 授权许可】

Unknown