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Bulankina AV, Richter RM, Welsch C. Regulatory Role of Phospholipids in Hepatitis C Virus Replication and Protein Function. Pathogens 2022; 11:102. [PMID: 35056049 PMCID: PMC8779051 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens11010102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Positive-strand RNA viruses such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) hijack key factors of lipid metabolism of infected cells and extensively modify intracellular membranes to support the viral lifecycle. While lipid metabolism plays key roles in viral particle assembly and maturation, viral RNA synthesis is closely linked to the remodeling of intracellular membranes. The formation of viral replication factories requires a number of interactions between virus proteins and host factors including lipids. The structure-function relationship of those proteins is influenced by their lipid environments and lipids that selectively modulate protein function. Here, we review our current understanding on the roles of phospholipids in HCV replication and of lipid-protein interactions in the structure-function relationship of the NS5A protein. NS5A is a key factor in membrane remodeling in HCV-infected cells and is known to recruit phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase III alpha to generate phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate at the sites of replication. The dynamic interplay between lipids and viral proteins within intracellular membranes is likely key towards understanding basic mechanisms in the pathobiology of virus diseases, the mode of action of specific antiviral agents and related drug resistance mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna V. Bulankina
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany; (A.V.B.); (R.M.R.)
- Research Group “Molecular Evolution & Adaptation”, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Rebecca M. Richter
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany; (A.V.B.); (R.M.R.)
- Research Group “Molecular Evolution & Adaptation”, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Christoph Welsch
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany; (A.V.B.); (R.M.R.)
- Research Group “Molecular Evolution & Adaptation”, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany
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Dultz G, Srikakulam SK, Konetschnik M, Shimakami T, Doncheva NT, Dietz J, Sarrazin C, Biondi RM, Zeuzem S, Tampé R, Kalinina OV, Welsch C. Epistatic interactions promote persistence of NS3-Q80K in HCV infection by compensating for protein folding instability. J Biol Chem 2021; 297:101031. [PMID: 34339738 PMCID: PMC8405986 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.101031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Revised: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The Q80K polymorphism in the NS3-4A protease of the hepatitis C virus is associated with treatment failure of direct-acting antiviral agents. This polymorphism is highly prevalent in genotype 1a infections and stably transmitted between hosts. Here, we investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms of evolutionarily conserved coevolving amino acids in NS3-Q80K and revealed potential implications of epistatic interactions in immune escape and variants persistence. Using purified protein, we characterized the impact of epistatic amino acid substitutions on the physicochemical properties and peptide cleavage kinetics of the NS3-Q80K protease. We found that Q80K destabilized the protease protein fold (p < 0.0001). Although NS3-Q80K showed reduced peptide substrate turnover (p < 0.0002), replicative fitness in an H77S.3 cell culture model of infection was not significantly inferior to the WT virus. Epistatic substitutions at residues 91 and 174 in NS3-Q80K stabilized the protein fold (p < 0.0001) and leveraged the WT protease stability. However, changes in protease stability inversely correlated with enzymatic activity. In infectious cell culture, these secondary substitutions were not associated with a gain of replicative fitness in NS3-Q80K variants. Using molecular dynamics, we observed that the total number of residue contacts in NS3-Q80K mutants correlated with protein folding stability. Changes in the number of contacts reflected the compensatory effect on protein folding instability by epistatic substitutions. In summary, epistatic substitutions in NS3-Q80K contribute to viral fitness by mechanisms not directly related to RNA replication. By compensating for protein-folding instability, epistatic interactions likely protect NS3-Q80K variants from immune cell recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georg Dultz
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Sanjay K Srikakulam
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Saarland University Campus, Saarbrücken, Germany; Graduate School of Computer Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany; Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Natural Product Research, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Michael Konetschnik
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Tetsuro Shimakami
- Department of Gastroenterology, Kanazawa University Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Nadezhda T Doncheva
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Julia Dietz
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Christoph Sarrazin
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Ricardo M Biondi
- Molecular Targeting, Instituto de Investigación en Biomedicina de Buenos Aires (IBioBA) - CONICET - Partner Institute of the Max Planck Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Stefan Zeuzem
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; University Center for Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Robert Tampé
- Institute of Biochemistry, Biocenter, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Olga V Kalinina
- Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Saarland University Campus, Saarbrücken, Germany; Medical Faculty, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany; Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland Informatics Campus, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Christoph Welsch
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; University Center for Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
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Dultz G, Shimakami T, Schneider M, Murai K, Yamane D, Marion A, Zeitler TM, Stross C, Grimm C, Richter RM, Bäumer K, Yi M, Biondi RM, Zeuzem S, Tampé R, Antes I, Lange CM, Welsch C. Extended interaction networks with HCV protease NS3-4A substrates explain the lack of adaptive capability against protease inhibitors. J Biol Chem 2020; 295:13862-13874. [PMID: 32747444 PMCID: PMC7535904 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra120.013898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Revised: 07/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Inhibitors against the NS3-4A protease of hepatitis C virus (HCV) have proven to be useful drugs in the treatment of HCV infection. Although variants have been identified with mutations that confer resistance to these inhibitors, the mutations do not restore replicative fitness and no secondary mutations that rescue fitness have been found. To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the lack of fitness compensation, we screened known resistance mutations in infectious HCV cell culture with different genomic backgrounds. We observed that the Q41R mutation of NS3-4A efficiently rescues the replicative fitness in cell culture for virus variants containing mutations at NS3-Asp168 To understand how the Q41R mutation rescues activity, we performed protease activity assays complemented by molecular dynamics simulations, which showed that protease-peptide interactions far outside the targeted peptide cleavage sites mediate substrate recognition by NS3-4A and support protease cleavage kinetics. These interactions shed new light on the mechanisms by which NS3-4A cleaves its substrates, viral polyproteins and a prime cellular antiviral adaptor protein, the mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein MAVS. Peptide binding is mediated by an extended hydrogen-bond network in NS3-4A that was effectively optimized for protease-MAVS binding in Asp168 variants with rescued replicative fitness from NS3-Q41R. In the protease harboring NS3-Q41R, the N-terminal cleavage products of MAVS retained high affinity to the active site, rendering the protease susceptible for potential product inhibition. Our findings reveal delicately balanced protease-peptide interactions in viral replication and immune escape that likely restrict the protease adaptive capability and narrow the virus evolutionary space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georg Dultz
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Tetsuro Shimakami
- Department of Gastroenterology, Kanazawa University Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Markus Schneider
- Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Department of Life Sciences, Technical University Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
| | - Kazuhisa Murai
- Department of Gastroenterology, Kanazawa University Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Daisuke Yamane
- Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Antoine Marion
- Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Department of Life Sciences, Technical University Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
| | - Tobias M Zeitler
- Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Department of Life Sciences, Technical University Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
| | - Claudia Stross
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Christian Grimm
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Rebecca M Richter
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Katrin Bäumer
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - MinKyung Yi
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, Texas, USA
| | - Ricardo M Biondi
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany; Biomedicine Research Institute of Buenos Aires - CONICET - Partner Institute of the Max Planck Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Stefan Zeuzem
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany; University Center for Infectious Diseases, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Robert Tampé
- Institute of Biochemistry, Biocenter and Cluster of Excellence-Macromolecular Complexes, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Iris Antes
- Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at the Department of Life Sciences, Technical University Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
| | - Christian M Lange
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Christoph Welsch
- Department of Internal Medicine 1, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany; University Center for Infectious Diseases, Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
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