Morphogenesis of dengue-1 virus in cultures of a human leukemic leukocyte line (J-111)

A novel coding-region RNA element modulates infectious dengue virus particle production in both mammalian and mosquito cells and regulates viral replication in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Dengue virus (DENV) is an enveloped flavivirus with a positive-sense RNA genome transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, causing the most important arthropod-borne viral disease affecting humans. Relatively few cis-acting RNA regulatory elements have been described in the DENV coding-region. Here, by introducing silent mutations into a DENV-2 infectious clone, we identify the conserved capsid-coding region 1 (CCR1), an RNA sequence element that regulates viral replication in mammalian cells and to a greater extent in Ae. albopictus mosquito cells. These defects were confirmed in vivo, resulting in decreased replication in Ae. aegypti mosquito bodies and dissemination to the salivary glands. Furthermore, CCR1 does not regulate translation, RNA synthesis or virion retention but likely modulates assembly, as mutations resulted in the release of non-infectious viral particles from both cell types. Understanding the role of CCR1 could help characterize the poorly-defined stage of assembly in the DENV life cycle and uncover novel anti-viral targets.

Do viruses subvert cholesterol homeostasis to induce host cubic membranes?

Biological membranes with cubic morphology are a hallmark of stressed or diseased cellular conditions; both protein–protein interactions and lipid alterations appear to contribute to their biogenesis, yet their specific cellular functions are unknown. The occurrence of cubic membranes strikingly correlates with viral infections; notably, virus entry, proliferation, and release are processes closely linked to cellular cholesterol metabolism, and dys-regulation of cholesterol synthesis at the level of HMG-CoA reductase also induces cubic membrane formation, in the absence of viral infection. We propose that virus-induced cubic membranes could result from viral interference of cellular cholesterol homeostasis, generating a protective membrane environment to facilitate virus assembly and proliferation. Preventing cubic membrane formation might thus disrupt the ‘virus factory’ and offer new avenues to combat viral infections.

Flavivirus West Nile (Sarafend) egress at the plasma membrane

West Nile (Sarafend) virus was distinctly observed to bud from the plasma membrane rather than mature intracellularly. This has been observed with transmission electron microscopy. Using conventional scanning electron microscopy, budding at the plasma membrane especially at the filopodia was clearly illustrated. Immunogold labelling against the virus envelope protein was also performed to confirm this mode of exit. The gold particles were observed to be located at the sites where virus budding was seen under the field emission scanning electron microscope.

Maturation process of Japanese encephalitis virus in cultured mosquito cells in vitro and mouse brain cells in vivo

The maturation process of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus in C6/36 cells in vitro and in mouse brain cells in vivo was studied by electron microscopy. In the C6/36 cell infection, 500 to 2250 virions per cell were released into the medium during the period of study; yet, no virus budding process was observed at the host cell membranes. JE virions at various maturation stages appeared within the cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) of infected cells at 24 hours p.i.; and, although C6/36 cells did not show a well-developed Golgi apparatus, the virions appeared to be carried to the cell surface within host-cell secretory vesicles for extracellular release as early as 24 hours p.i. The occurrence of a secretory-type intracellular transport of maturing JE virus particles was well recognizable in brain cells of infected mice, in which JE virus particles were found almost exclusively in the cisternae of RER, in the Golgi apparatus, and in various vesicles, including coated vesicles, in the vicinity of the Golgi apparatus. Our previous study of dengue-2 virus morphogenesis and our present study of JE virus morphogenesis differed substantially at various stages of maturation. Possible mechanisms which explain these differences were discussed.

An electron and immunoelectron microscopic study of dengue-2 virus infection of cultured mosquito cells: maturation events

The maturation process of dengue-2 virus in C6/36 mosquito cells was studied by electron microscopy at 12, 16, 24, 48, and 78 hours postinoculation (p.i.) and by immunoelectron microscopy at 48 and 78 hours p.i. Maturing virions appeared within cytoplasmic vacuoles and on the surface of infected cells from 24 hours p.i. onward in close topographical relationship to the dense particles that occurred concurrently in the cytoplasm. The dense particles measured 25 to 35 nm in diameter; the mature virions measured 50 to 55 nm in diameter, with a dense core measuring 30 to 35 nm in diameter covered by a 10 nm-thick membrane envelope. The morphological observations indicated that the dense particles were dengue nucleocapsids assembled in the cytoplasm and that they apparently budded into the vacuolar lumens and the extracellular space at the vacuolar and plasma membranes, acquiring membrane envelopes and becoming mature virions in the process. The virions that budded into the vacuolar lumens were released extracellularly by exocytosis. In the samples tested with dengue-2 polyclonal antibodies, intense immunostaining occurred at the sites of virus budding on the cell surface; host cell membrane and cytoplasm adjacent to the budding virions stained less intensely. In the samples tested with a dengue-2 monoclonal antibody specific for the envelope glycoprotein, budding virions stained rather exclusively, with no staining occurring in adjacent host membrane or cytoplasm.

Electron microscopic observations on Aedes albopictus cells infected with dengue viruses

In dengue virus infected Aedes albopictus cells, electron-dense particles, larger than single ribosomes, were arranged on the cytoplasmic sides of rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) membranes. Mature virions 40--45 nm in diameter as well as vesiculotubular structures 50--120 nm in diameter appeared in enlarged cisternae of RER filled with fine granular substance. Many of the mature virions and somewhat degenerated vesiculotubular structures remained to be enclosed in membranous structures presumably derived from RER, even after degeneration of infected cells. The findings suggest that development of dengue viruses in cultured A. albopictus cells takes place in close relationship with the activated membranes of RER. Other morphological changes observed in dengue infected A. albopictus cells were 1. electron-dense "double-track structures" in areas of virion morphogenesis, 2. fine crystalline structures in type-2 dengue infected cells, and 3. aggregates of nucleoid structures, in cells persistently infected with type 2 dengue virus. The implication and nature of these structures in relation to virion morphogenesis remain to be investigated.

Ultrastructural studies on dengue virus infection of human lymphoblasts

Ultrastructural studies of dengue-2 virus-infected lymphoblastoid Raji cells showed that the virus induced an increase in the size of the rough endoplasmic reticula (RER) and that the replication of the virus was confined to the cisternae of these RER. The proliferating RER formed cytoplasmic inclusions that could be seen by light microscopy. This observation could be used as evidence of a cytopathogenic effect of dengue virus on infected Rajii cells in routine cultures. Accumulation of virions in the infected cells was minimal in comparison with other cell systems, however. Sporadic clusters of mature virions were often seen on the plasma membrane. These extracellular virions were distributed adjacent to the virus-bearing RER and were presumably released virions. Vertical transmission of the virus was evident in mitotic lymphoblasts. The replication pattern of dengue virus in lymphoblastoid cells suggests that efforts should be made to determine whether blast-transformed lymphocytes, numerous in secondary dengue infections, support dengue virus replication in vivo.