Showing papers by "Paul Digard published in 2004"

Lipid raft-dependent targeting of the influenza A virus nucleoprotein to the apical plasma membrane.

Abstract: Influenza virus acquires a lipid raft-containing envelope by budding from the apical surface of epithelial cells. Polarised budding involves specific sorting of the viral membrane proteins, but little is known about trafficking of the internal virion components. We show that during the later stages of virus infection, influenza nucleoprotein (NP) and polymerase (the protein components of genomic ribonucleoproteins) localised to apical but not lateral or basolateral membranes, even in cell types where haemagglutinin was found on all external membranes. Other cytosolic components of the virion either distributed throughout the cytoplasm (NEP/NS2) or did not localise solely to the apical plasma membrane in all cell types (M1). NP localised specifically to the apical surface even when expressed alone, indicating intrinsic targeting. A similar proportion of NP associated with membrane fractions in flotation assays from virus-infected and plasmid-transfected cells. Detergent-resistant flotation at 4 °C suggested that these membranes were lipid raft microdomains. Confirming this, cholesterol depletion rendered NP detergent-soluble and furthermore, resulted in its partial redistribution throughout the cell. We conclude that NP is independently targeted to the apical plasma membrane through a mechanism involving lipid rafts and propose that this helps determine the polarity of influenza virus budding.

Increased amounts of the influenza virus nucleoprotein do not promote higher levels of viral genome replication.

Abstract: Influenza virus genome replication requires the virus-encoded nucleoprotein (NP), partly because it is necessary to encapsidate the viral genomic RNA (vRNA) and antigenomic cRNA segments into ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). However, there is also evidence that NP actively regulates viral RNA synthesis and there is a long-standing hypothesis that increased concentrations of NP in the cell are responsible for a switch from genome transcription to replication. Here, this hypothesis is tested in a recombinant setting and in the context of virus infection. In a plasmid-based system for reconstituting active viral RNPs in cells, titration of increasing amounts of NP did not promote higher levels of genome replication relative to transcription, but in fact caused the opposite effect. An approximately fourfold reduction in the ratio of genomic and antigenomic RNAs to mRNA was seen across an 80-fold range of NP plasmid concentrations. When cells were transfected with the same amounts of NP plasmid to establish a concentration gradient of NP prior to virus superinfection, no change in the ratio of cRNA to mRNA was seen for segments 5 and 7, or for the ratio of segment 5 vRNA to mRNA. A slight reduction in the ratio of segment 7 vRNA to mRNA was seen. These findings do not support the simple hypothesis that increased intracellular concentrations of NP promote influenza virus genome replication.