Trafficking of Hepatitis C Virus Core Protein during Virus Particle Assembly

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein is directed to the surface of lipid droplets (LD), a step that is essential for infectious virus production. However, the process by which core is recruited from LD into nascent virus particles is not well understood. To investigate the kinetics of core trafficking, we developed methods to image functional core protein in live, virus-producing cells. During the peak of virus assembly, core formed polarized caps on large, immotile LDs, adjacent to putative sites of assembly. In addition, LD-independent, motile puncta of core were found to traffic along microtubules. Importantly, core was recruited from LDs into these puncta, and interaction between the viral NS2 and NS3-4A proteins was essential for this recruitment process. These data reveal new aspects of core trafficking and identify a novel role for viral nonstructural proteins in virus particle assembly

NS2 Protein of Hepatitis C Virus Interacts with Structural and Non-Structural Proteins towards Virus Assembly

Growing experimental evidence indicates that, in addition to the physical virion components, the non-structural proteins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) are intimately involved in orchestrating morphogenesis. Since it is dispensable for HCV RNA replication, the non-structural viral protein NS2 is suggested to play a central role in HCV particle assembly. However, despite genetic evidences, we have almost no understanding about NS2 protein-protein interactions and their role in the production of infectious particles. Here, we used co-immunoprecipitation and/or fluorescence resonance energy transfer with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy analyses to study the interactions between NS2 and the viroporin p7 and the HCV glycoprotein E2. In addition, we used alanine scanning insertion mutagenesis as well as other mutations in the context of an infectious virus to investigate the functional role of NS2 in HCV assembly. Finally, the subcellular localization of NS2 and several mutants was analyzed by confocal microscopy. Our data demonstrate molecular interactions between NS2 and p7 and E2. Furthermore, we show that, in the context of an infectious virus, NS2 accumulates over time in endoplasmic reticulum-derived dotted structures and colocalizes with both the envelope glycoproteins and components of the replication complex in close proximity to the HCV core protein and lipid droplets, a location that has been shown to be essential for virus assembly. We show that NS2 transmembrane region is crucial for both E2 interaction and subcellular localization. Moreover, specific mutations in core, envelope proteins, p7 and NS5A reported to abolish viral assembly changed the subcellular localization of NS2 protein. Together, these observations indicate that NS2 protein attracts the envelope proteins at the assembly site and it crosstalks with non-structural proteins for virus assembly

Hepatitis C virus replication and Golgi function in brefeldin a-resistant hepatoma-derived cells.

Recent reports indicate that the replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) depends on the GBF1-Arf1-COP-I pathway. We generated Huh-7-derived cell lines resistant to brefeldin A (BFA), which is an inhibitor of this pathway. The resistant cell lines could be sorted into two phenotypes regarding BFA-induced toxicity, inhibition of albumin secretion, and inhibition of HCV infection. Two cell lines were more than 100 times more resistant to BFA than the parental Huh-7 cells in these 3 assays. This resistant phenotype was correlated with the presence of a point mutation in the Sec7 domain of GBF1, which is known to impair the binding of BFA. Surprisingly, the morphology of the cis-Golgi of these cells remained sensitive to BFA at concentrations of the drug that allowed albumin secretion, indicating a dichotomy between the phenotypes of secretion and Golgi morphology. Cells of the second group were about 10 times more resistant than parental Huh-7 cells to the BFA-induced toxicity. The EC50 for albumin secretion was only 1.5-1.8 fold higher in these cells than in Huh-7 cells. However their level of secretion in the presence of inhibitory doses of BFA was 5 to 15 times higher. Despite this partially effective secretory pathway in the presence of BFA, the HCV infection was almost as sensitive to BFA as in Huh-7 cells. This suggests that the function of GBF1 in HCV replication does not simply reflect its role of regulator of the secretory pathway of the host cell. Thus, our results confirm the involvement of GBF1 in HCV replication, and suggest that GBF1 might fulfill another function, in addition to the regulation of the secretory pathway, during HCV replication

BFA sensitivity of the cis-Golgi of Huh-7, R1, R2 and MDCK cells.

<p>Cells were treated for 30 minutes with increasing concentrations of BFA, fixed and processed for the immunofluorescent detection of GM130. For each condition, approximately 100 cells were scored for their cis-Golgi morphology, as either intact or scattered. For each cell line, the percentages of cells with intact cis-Golgi morphology were plotted against BFA concentrations.</p

Mutation detected in GBF1 of R1 and R2 cells.

<p>(A) A fraction of the electrophoregrams corresponding to the sequence of GBF1 from the indicated cell lines is presented. The nucleotide and amino-acid sequences are indicated. The position of the mutation is indicated by an arrow. (B) Huh-7 cells were transfected with expression plasmids for GBF1-M832L, GBF1 inactive mutant E794K, or YFP. Transfected cells were submitted to a cell viability assay, as explained in the legend of <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0074491#pone-0074491-g001" target="_blank">figure 1</a>. Results were expressed as percentages of the values obtained with no BFA. Error bars represent the SEM of 3 independent experiments performed in triplicates. (C) Transfected cells were seeded in 12-well plates, and cultured in the presence of BFA for 24 h. The amounts of human serum albumin (HSA) in the conditioned culture media and in cell lysates were quantified with an ELISA assay and expressed as percentages of HSA secretion. Error bars represent the SEM of 3 independent experiments performed in duplicates.</p

Viability of BFA-resistant cells.

<p>Sub-confluent cells of the indicated cell lines were cultured in 96-well plates in the presence of the indicated concentrations of BFA or of 0.2% ethanol (BFA stock solvent) for 24 h. Viability was assessed using an MTS assay. The absorbance of the ethanol-treated sample is expressed as 100%. Results were expressed as percentages of the values obtained with no BFA. Error bars represent the SEM of 2 independent experiments performed in triplicates.</p

Mutations found in the coding sequence of GBF1 in Huh-7 cells.

a<p>Genbank NM_001199379.1.</p

Half maximal effective concentrations of BFA effects on the cis-Golgi morphology and HSA secretion.

<p>Half maximal effective concentrations of BFA effects on the cis-Golgi morphology and HSA secretion.</p

HCV infection in BFA-resistant cells.

<p>Cells of the indicated cell lines were infected for 2<i>Renilla</i> luciferase in the presence of the indicated concentrations of BFA. The virus was removed and the cells were left in the presence of BFA for another 6-h period. Cells were lysed in <i>Renilla</i> lysis buffer at 24 hpi, and the luciferase activity was quantified as a measure of HCV infection. Results were expressed as percentages of the values obtained with no BFA. Error bars represent the SD of 3 experiments performed in triplicates. +, values below 0.1%.</p

Serum albumin and apolipoprotein E secretion in BFA-resistant cells.

<p>(A) Albumin secretion. Cells of the indicated cell lines were seeded in 12-well plates, and cultured in the presence of BFA for 24 h. The amounts of human serum albumin (HSA) in the conditioned culture media and in cell lysates were quantified with an ELISA assay and expressed as percentages of HSA secretion. Error bars represent the SEM of 4 independent experiments performed in duplicates. (B) Basal HSA expression levels. HSA of the indicated cell lines were quantified from cell lysates (in the absence of BFA treatment) by ELISA and normalized to the total protein concentration. (C) Apolipoprotein E (apoE) secretion. Cells were cultured in 24-well plates, in the presence of the indicated concentrations of BFA for 8 h. The amounts of apoE in cell lysates and culture media and of tubulin in cell lysates were analyzed by immunoblotting. Error bars represent the SEM of 3 independent experiments.</p