|
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Center for Molecular Immunology, CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
3 Center for Molecular Virology, CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
Correspondence
Wenjun Liu
liuwj{at}im.ac.cn
Xin Ye
yex{at}im.ac.cn
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
A supplementary figure showing anti-M1 antibody detection in human and mouse sera is available with the online version of this paper.
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Several host proteins have been found to associate with M1, including the globular domain of the histone octamer (Garcia-Robles et al., 2005
), heat-shock protein 70 (Watanabe et al., 2006
) cytoskeletal elements (Avalos et al., 1997
), the cellular receptor of activated C kinase 1 (Reinhardt & Wolff, 2000
) and caspase 8 (Zhirnov et al., 2002
). These interactions imply a broad range of roles of biological significance, such as vRNP export and viral morphogenesis. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), downstream of the Ras-activated factor Raf/MEK/ERK pathway, phosphorylates M1. When cells infected with influenza virus are treated with a MEK-specific inhibitor, NP and vRNP complexes accumulate in the nucleus (Pleschka et al., 2001
). A recent report indicated that cyclophilin A interacts with M1 and impairs early virus replication (Liu et al., 2009
). The interactions between M1 and host proteins are critical for viral propagation, but it is unknown whether M1 protein has any effects on host immune responses.
A number of studies have focused on the mechanism of influenza virus neutralization by serum. It had been found that human serum can neutralize strain A/WSN/33 virus efficiently through specific antibodies and the C1q–C4-mediated complement pathway (Beebe et al., 1983
). In a study carried out with mouse serum, researchers found that C1q but not C3 was needed for virus neutralization and that a heat-resistant factor also contributed to virus neutralization (Mozdzanowska et al., 2006
). A recent study indicated that natural IgM could restore virus neutralization activity to antibody-deficient serum and that the mechanism of virus neutralization by natural IgM was associated with virion aggregation, which was dependent on C1q–C4 of the complement pathway, but not on C5-mediated viral lysis (Jayasekera et al., 2007
). Taken together, these data indicate the involvement of complement, or at least C1q, in influenza virus neutralization by serum.
To understand the function of M1 in more detail, we took the approach of yeast two-hybrid screening to identify host proteins that interact with M1. In the present study, the complement component C1qA was identified as an M1-binding protein. Further analysis showed that M1 interacted with the globular region of C1qA. The globular region of C1qA is the binding domain for the antigen–antibody complex. Our data suggest that the M1 protein can efficiently suppress the classical pathway and protect virus from being neutralized. We found that mice administrated with M1(1–170) had enhanced influenza virus propagation in lung and shortened survival rate when compared with mice treated with M1(171–252). Taken together, our results indicate that influenza virus M1 protein has an important role in protecting the virus from the host innate immune system via its interaction with complement C1qA.
| METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Construction of plasmids.
Full-length and truncated forms of M1 were subcloned into pET30a (Novagen). Full-length C1qA and truncated forms were subcloned into pGEX-6P-1(Pharmacia). Full-length M1, C1qA and truncated C1qA were subcloned into pENTR vector (Invitrogen) and transferred into pDEST-Myc or pDEST-FLAG expression vector (Invitrogen) using an LR Clonase enzyme mix kit (Invitrogen) following the manufacturer's instructions.
Yeast two-hybrid system.
A Matchmaker Two-hybrid System 3 (Clontech) was used to screen host proteins that interacted with M1. In brief, the bait construct pGBKT7-M1 and a human kidney cDNA library in pACT2 (prey) were co-transformed into yeast strain AH109. Transformants were selected for growth on medium lacking His, Leu and Trp (His–/Leu–/Trp–). The colonies were then transferred to Ade–/His–/Leu–/Trp– plates containing X-Gal. Blue colonies were selected and cultured in Ade–/His–/Leu–/Trp– broth and lysed for plasmid extraction. The plasmids were amplified and the target insertions were verified by sequencing. To confirm interaction between M1 and host proteins, the two yeast expression plasmids were co-transformed into yeast strain SFY-526 and β-galactosidase assays were performed according to manufacture's instruction.
Protein purification, and GST and His pull-down assays.
GST fusion and His-tagged proteins were purified with Sepharose 4B–glutathione (Pharmacia) and Ni-NTA (Qiagen), respectively. For the GST pull-down assay, 5 µg GST or GST–C1q fusion protein bound to Sepharose 4B–glutathione was incubated with purified recombinant M1 or FLAG–M1 293T cell lysate at 4 °C for 4 h. The beads were washed five times with PBS with 0.1 % Triton X-100, and bound protein was eluted by boiling in SDS loading buffer and subjected to Western blot analysis. For the His pull-down assay, 5 µg Ni-NTA-bound His-tagged full-length and truncated M1 proteins were incubated with 1 µg recombinant GST–C1qA in His pull-down buffer (200 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 10 mM Na2HPO4, 2 mM KH2PO4, 1 mM MgCl2, 0.1 % Triton X-100, 20 mM immidazole, 1 mg BSA ml–1) at 4 °C for 2 h. After incubation, the beads were centrifuged and washed with pull-down buffer. Bound proteins were eluted with 50 µl pull-down buffer supplemented with 200 mM imidazole and analysed by Western blot analysis with rabbit polyclonal anti-C1qA antibody.
Co-immunoprecipitation.
293T cells were transfected with FLAG-tagged and Myc-tagged plasmid. At 36 h post-transfection, cells were washed with cold PBS and lysed in lysis buffer [1 % Triton X-100, 150 mM NaCl, 20 mM HEPES (pH 7.5), 10 % glycerol, 1 mM EDTA] with protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche). The lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG beads at 4 °C for 4 h. The beads were washed five times with lysis buffer. Bound proteins were eluted by boiling with SDS loading buffer for 10 min and subjected to Western blot analysis with anti-Myc monoclonal antibody.
ELISA assays.
ELISA was performed using Maxisorb plates (Nunc) coated with proteins diluted in coating buffer [100 mM Na2CO3/NaHCO3 (pH 9.6)] at 4 °C overnight followed by blocking with 10 % FBS in PBS for 2 h at 37 °C. All subsequent steps were performed in PBS containing 0.05 % Tween 20 unless otherwise indicated, and each step was followed by three washes with PBS/0.05 % Tween 20. The enzymic activity of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was measured by the addition of 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (Sigma) and H2O2. A405 was measured using a microplate absorbance reader (Tecan Sunrise).
To assess the effect of M1 on C1q and IgG binding, plates were coated with 5 µg purifed GST–C1qA(23–245) ml–1. Heat-aggregated IgG (100 µl, 2 µg ml–1; Zhongshan Goldenbridge Biotechnology) was added in the presence of M1 at various concentrations. IgG bound to C1qA was detected with HRP-conjugated goat anti-human IgG antibody. A405 (blank) was the absorbance obtained when no IgG was added, whilst A405 (100 %) was the absorbance obtained when IgG was added in the absence of M1. The percentage inhibition was calculated using the formula 1–[A405 (measurement)–A405 (blank)]/[(A405 (100 %)–A405 (blank)].
To detect anti-M1 antibody in serum, plates were coated with 5 µg M1(1–170) ml–1. The indicated amount of serum was added and bound antibody was detected with HRP-conjugated goat anti-mouse antibody.
Virus neutralization assays.
Human serum was obtained from a healthy volunteer and stored at –80 °C. Influenza virus A/WSN/33 (50 µl, 106 p.f.u. ml–1) was mixed with 10 µl human serum or heat-inactivated serum in the presence of 20 µM M1 or BSA at 37 °C for 30 min. The samples were analysed immediately by plaque assay.
Plaque assay.
MDCK cell monolayers in 35 mm dishes were washed with PBS and serial dilutions of virus were adsorbed to the cells for 2 h. Unadsorbed virus was removed by washing with serum-free DMEM, and the cell monolayers were then overlaid with DMEM supplemented with 3 % low-melting-point agarose and 2 µg TPCK-treated trypsin (Sigma) ml–1. After 3 days of incubation, visible plaques were counted and virus titres were calculated. All data were expressed as the mean of triplicate samples.
Haemolytic assay.
To determine the haemolytic activity of the classical component activity, sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) were sensitized using rabbit anti-SRBC polyclonal antibody. Antibody-sensitized SRBCs (10 µl) were then incubated with 10 µl human serum in the presence of the indicated concentration of M1(1–170) or BSA at a final volume of 1 ml PBS at 37 °C for 30 min and then centrifuged at 2000 g for 1 min. The A450 of the supernatant was measured against a reagent blank in which SRBCs were incubated with PBS. The percentage haemolysis was calculated by normalizing against the absorbance of a mixture of red blood cells and distilled water, which showed complete haemolysis.
Mice and virus infection.
Four-week-old specific-pathogen-free BALB/c mice were used in these studies. Experiments were performed in accordance with institutional guidelines. M1 administration and mice infection were performed according to a modification of a standard procedure (Jayasekera et al., 2007
). Briefly, mice were anaesthetized with ether and then administration with 200 µl M1(1–170) or M1(171–252) (1 µg µl–1) via the tail vein. The mice were then immediately infected intranasally with 25 µl influenza virus (2x105 p.f.u. ml–1). At 3 days post-infection, three mice from both groups were sacrificed and virus titres in the lungs were determined by plaque assay. Mice were examined daily for survival.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Previous studies have focused mainly on the mechanism of virus neutralization by complement. Human serum was found to neutralize influenza virus efficiently by an antibody-dependent mechanism, and complement components (C1, C3 and C4) were also indispensable for neutralization, although membrane attack pathways were not needed for the process (Beebe et al., 1983
). A recent study demonstrated that, in mice, natural antibody rather than specific antibody mediated neutralization of influenza virus. It had been confirmed that C1, C3 and C4 are required in the process (Jayasekera et al., 2007
). It should be noted that all of these previous studies are consistent with C1 being indispensable in the neutralization of influenza virus by complement. The present study also confirmed that the virion could be neutralized by complement (Fig. 6
). Taken together, these results indicated that the influenza virion can be neutralized efficiently by complement and that neutralization is dependent on complement C1. Influenza virus may develop some strategies to block this complement C1-dependent neutralization. A recent study reported that human astrovirus coat protein inhibits complement activation via C1 (Bonaparte et al., 2008
), which provides a good example of virus targeting complement by binding with C1.
The present study demonstrated that M1 may play a similar role in counteracting complement via C1. Firstly, M1 is highly abundant in influenza virus-infected cells and it is plausible that, at the late phase of virus infection, some host cells are so heavily destroyed that any matrix protein that is not assembled into virus particles is released and counteracts the complement system to protect new virus particles before they can attach to other cells. Secondly, anti-M1 antibodies were detected in human serum and the serum of virus-infected mice (see Supplementary Fig. S1, available in JGV Online), indicating that M1 was present in body fluids of the host following influenza virus infection, probably due to the non-specific release of M1 as a result of cell necrosis. These results indicate that M1 can bind to the C1qA globular region to efficiently reduce the interaction between C1qA and IgG and inhibit classical complement activity-dependent haemolysis. These results suggest that M1 is a potential complement pathway inhibitor by disrupting C1q-dependent classical complement activity. C1q is a key component of the classical complement pathway and acts as a recognition molecule that interacts with antibody–antigen complexes to activate the complement cascade. Some studies have shown that specifically designed peptides that bind C1q can inhibit the complement pathway (Roos et al., 2001
). According to the present results, the M1 protein may act as a virus-designed complement inhibitor that is abundantly expressed during virus infection and released during infected cell necrosis to protect newly assembled virus particles from being neutralized by complement.
The present study indicates that influenza A virus M1 protein blocks the complement pathway through its interaction with C1qA. This finding may help to elucidate the connection between the innate immune system and influenza virus, and explain how influenza virus counteracts the innate immune system.
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|---|
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Ali, A., Avalos, R. T., Ponimaskin, E. & Nayak, D. P. (2000). Influenza virus assembly: effect of influenza virus glycoproteins on the membrane association of M1 protein. J Virol 74, 8709–8719.
Arzt, S., Baudin, F., Barge, A., Timmins, P., Burmeister, W. P. & Ruigrok, R. W. (2001). Combined results from solution studies on intact influenza virus M1 protein and from a new crystal form of its N-terminal domain show that M1 is an elongated monomer. Virology 279, 439–446.[CrossRef][Medline]
Avalos, R. T., Yu, Z. & Nayak, D. P. (1997). Association of influenza virus NP and M1 proteins with cellular cytoskeletal elements in influenza virus-infected cells. J Virol 71, 2947–2958.
Barman, S., Ali, A., Hui, E. K., Adhikary, L. & Nayak, D. P. (2001). Transport of viral proteins to the apical membranes and interaction of matrix protein with glycoproteins in the assembly of influenza viruses. Virus Res 77, 61–69.[CrossRef][Medline]
Baudin, F., Petit, I., Weissenhorn, W. & Ruigrok, R. W. (2001). In vitro dissection of the membrane and RNP binding activities of influenza virus M1 protein. Virology 281, 102–108.[CrossRef][Medline]
Beebe, D. P., Schreiber, R. D. & Cooper, N. R. (1983). Neutralization of influenza virus by normal human sera: mechanisms involving antibody and complement. J Immunol 130, 1317–1322.[Abstract]
Bonaparte, R. S., Hair, P. S., Banthia, D., Marshall, D. M., Cunnion, K. M. & Krishna, N. K. (2008). Human astrovirus coat protein inhibits serum complement activation via C1, the first component of the classical pathway. J Virol 82, 817–827.
Bourmakina, S. V. & García-Sastre, A. (2005). The morphology and composition of influenza A virus particles are not affected by low levels of M1 and M2 proteins in infected cells. J Virol 79, 7926–7932.
Braciale, T. J. (1977). Immunologic recognition of influenza virus-infected cells. II. Expression of influenza A matrix protein on the infected cell surface and its role in recognition by cross-reactive cytotoxic T cells. J Exp Med 146, 673–689.
Bui, M., Whittaker, G. & Helenius, A. (1996). Effect of M1 protein and low pH on nuclear transport of influenza virus ribonucleoproteins. J Virol 70, 8391–8401.
Burleigh, L. M., Calder, L. J., Skehel, J. J. & Steinhauer, D. A. (2005). Influenza A viruses with mutations in the M1 helix six domain display a wide variety of morphological phenotypes. J Virol 79, 1262–1270.
Elster, C., Larsen, K., Gagnon, J., Ruigrok, R. W. & Baudin, F. (1997). Influenza virus M1 protein binds to RNA through its nuclear localization signal. J Gen Virol 78, 1589–1596.[Abstract]
Favoreel, H. W., Van de Walle, G. R., Nauwynck, H. J. & Pensaert, M. B. (2003). Virus complement evasion strategies. J Gen Virol 84, 1–15.
Frank, I. & Friedman, H. M. (1989). A novel function of the herpes simplex virus type 1 Fc receptor: participation in bipolar bridging of antiviral immunoglobulin G. J Virol 63, 4479–4488.
Friedman, H. M., Cohen, G. H., Eisenberg, R. J., Seidel, C. A. & Cines, D. B. (1984). Glycoprotein C of herpes simplex virus 1 acts as a receptor for the C3b complement component on infected cells. Nature 309, 633–635.[CrossRef][Medline]
Garcia-Robles, I., Akarsu, H., Muller, C. W., Ruigrok, R. W. & Baudin, F. (2005). Interaction of influenza virus proteins with nucleosomes. Virology 332, 329–336.[CrossRef][Medline]
Harris, A., Forouhar, F., Qiu, S., Sha, B. & Luo, M. (2001). The crystal structure of the influenza matrix protein M1 at neutral pH: M1–M1 protein interfaces can rotate in the oligomeric structures of M1. Virology 289, 34–44.[CrossRef][Medline]
Howard, J., Justus, D. E., Totmenin, A. V., Shchelkunov, S. & Kotwal, G. J. (1998). Molecular mimicry of the inflammation modulatory proteins (IMPs) of poxviruses: evasion of the inflammatory response to preserve viral habitat. J Leukoc Biol 64, 68–71.[Abstract]
Huang, X., Liu, T., Muller, J., Levandowski, R. A. & Ye, Z. (2001). Effect of influenza virus matrix protein and viral RNA on ribonucleoprotein formation and nuclear export. Virology 287, 405–416.[CrossRef][Medline]
Hung, S. L., Srinivasan, S., Friedman, H. M., Eisenberg, R. J. & Cohen, G. H. (1992). Structural basis of C3b binding by glycoprotein C of herpes simplex virus. J Virol 66, 4013–4027.
Hung, S. L., Peng, C., Kostavasili, I., Friedman, H. M., Lambris, J. D., Eisenberg, R. J. & Cohen, G. H. (1994). The interaction of glycoprotein C of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 with the alternative complement pathway. Virology 203, 299–312.[CrossRef][Medline]
Jayasekera, J. P., Moseman, E. A. & Carroll, M. C. (2007). Natural antibody and complement mediate neutralization of influenza virus in the absence of prior immunity. J Virol 81, 3487–3494.
Kaul, M. & Loos, M. (1995). Collagen-like complement component C1q is a membrane protein of human monocyte-derived macrophages that mediates endocytosis. J Immunol 155, 5795–5802.[Abstract]
Kishore, U. & Reid, K. B. (2000). C1q: structure, function, and receptors. Immunopharmacology 49, 159–170.[CrossRef][Medline]
Koestler, T. P., Rieman, D., Muirhead, K., Greig, R. G. & Poste, G. (1984). Identification and characterization of a monoclonal antibody to an antigen expressed on activated macrophages. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 81, 4505–4509.
Kotwal, G. J., Miller, C. G. & Justus, D. E. (1998). The inflammation modulatory protein (IMP) of cowpox virus drastically diminishes the tissue damage by down-regulating cellular infiltration resulting from complement activation. Mol Cell Biochem 185, 39–46.[CrossRef][Medline]
Liu, X., Sun, L., Yu, M., Wang, Z., Xu, C., Xue, Q., Zhang, K., Ye, X., Kitamura, Y. & Liu, W. (2009). Cyclophilin A interacts with influenza A virus M1 protein and impairs the early stage of the viral replication. Cell Microbiol 11, 730–741.[CrossRef]
Mozdzanowska, K., Feng, J., Eid, M., Zharikova, D. & Gerhard, W. (2006). Enhancement of neutralizing activity of influenza virus-specific antibodies by serum components. Virology 352, 418–426.[CrossRef][Medline]
Nagata, K., Kawaguchi, A. & Naito, T. (2008). Host factors for replication and transcription of the influenza virus genome. Rev Med Virol 18, 247–260.[CrossRef][Medline]
Nayak, D. P., Hui, E. K. & Barman, S. (2004). Assembly and budding of influenza virus. Virus Res 106, 147–165.[CrossRef][Medline]
Neumann, G., Watanabe, T., Ito, H., Watanabe, S., Goto, H., Gao, P., Hughes, M., Perez, D. R., Donis, R. & other authors (1999). Generation of influenza A viruses entirely from cloned cDNAs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 96, 9345–9350.
Neumann, G., Brownlee, G. G., Fodor, E. & Kawaoka, Y. (2004). Orthomyxovirus replication, transcription, and polyadenylation. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 283, 121–143.[Medline]
Pleschka, S., Wolff, T., Ehrhardt, C., Hobom, G., Planz, O., Rapp, U. R. & Ludwig, S. (2001). Influenza virus propagation is impaired by inhibition of the Raf/MEK/ERK signalling cascade. Nat Cell Biol 3, 301–305.[CrossRef][Medline]
Reinhardt, J. & Wolff, T. (2000). The influenza A virus M1 protein interacts with the cellular receptor of activated C kinase (RACK) 1 and can be phosphorylated by protein kinase C. Vet Microbiol 74, 87–100.[CrossRef][Medline]
Reiss, C. S. & Schulman, J. L. (1980). Influenza type A virus M protein expression on infected cells is responsible for cross-reactive recognition by cytotoxic thymus-derived lymphocytes. Infect Immun 29, 719–723.
Roos, A., Nauta, A. J., Broers, D., Faber-Krol, M. C., Trouw, L. A., Drijfhout, J. W. & Daha, M. R. (2001). Specific inhibition of the classical complement pathway by C1q-binding peptides. J Immunol 167, 7052–7059.
Rother, R. P., Rollins, S. A., Fodor, W. L., Albrecht, J. C., Setter, E., Fleckenstein, B. & Squinto, S. P. (1994). Inhibition of complement-mediated cytolysis by the terminal complement inhibitor of herpesvirus saimiri. J Virol 68, 730–737.
Sha, B. & Luo, M. (1997). Structure of a bifunctional membrane–RNA binding protein, influenza virus matrix protein M1. Nat Struct Biol 4, 239–244.[CrossRef][Medline]
Wakefield, L. & Brownlee, G. G. (1989). RNA-binding properties of influenza A virus matrix protein M1. Nucleic Acids Res 17, 8569–8580.
Watanabe, K., Handa, H., Mizumoto, K. & Nagata, K. (1996). Mechanism for inhibition of influenza virus RNA polymerase activity by matrix protein. J Virol 70, 241–247.
Watanabe, K., Fuse, T., Asano, I., Tsukahara, F., Maru, Y., Nagata, K., Kitazato, K. & Kobayashi, N. (2006). Identification of Hsc70 as an influenza virus matrix protein (M1) binding factor involved in the virus life cycle. FEBS Lett 580, 5785–5790.[CrossRef][Medline]
Ye, Z., Liu, T., Offringa, D. P., McInnis, J. & Levandowski, R. A. (1999). Association of influenza virus matrix protein with ribonucleoproteins. J Virol 73, 7467–7473.
Zhirnov, O. P., Ksenofontov, A. L., Kuzmina, S. G. & Klenk, H. D. (2002). Interaction of influenza A virus M1 matrix protein with caspases. Biochemistry (Mosc) 67, 534–539.[CrossRef][Medline]
Received 11 June 2009;
accepted 30 July 2009.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL | MICROBIOLOGY | J GEN VIROL |
| J MED MICROBIOL | ALL SGM JOURNALS | |