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Conformational change of influenza virus hemagglutinin is sensitive to ionic concentration

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Abstract

The homotrimeric spike glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) of influenza virus undergoes a low pH-mediated conformational change which mediates the fusion of the viral envelope with the target membrane. Previous approaches predict that the interplay of electrostatic interactions between and within HA subunits, HA 1 and HA2, are essential for the metastability of the HA ectodomain. Here, we show that suspension media of low ionic concentration promote fusion of fluorescent labelled influenza virus X31 with erythrocyte ghosts and with ganglioside containing liposomes. By measuring the low pH mediated inactivation of the fusion competence of HA and the Proteinase K sensitivity of low pH incubated HA we show that the conformational change is promoted by low ionic concentration. We surmise that electrostatic attraction within the HA ectodomain is weakened by lowering the ionic concentration facilitating the conformational change at low pH.

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Abbreviations

HA:

Hemagglutinin

PBS:

Phosphate buffered saline

R18:

Octadecylrhodamine B chloride

FDQ:

Fluorescence dequenching

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Acknowledgment

We are indebted to Bärbel Hillebrecht for technical assistance. This work was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to AH (HE 1928/4–4).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biology, Molecular Biophysics, Humboldt University, Invalidenstr. 42, Berlin, 10115, Germany

    Thomas Korte, P. Sivaramakrishna Rachakonda & Andreas Herrmann

  2. Research Center for Electron Microscopy, Free University Berlin, Fabeckstr. 36a, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Kai Ludwig

  3. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Qiang Huang

Authors
  1. Thomas Korte
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  2. Kai Ludwig
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  3. Qiang Huang
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  4. P. Sivaramakrishna Rachakonda
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  5. Andreas Herrmann
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Dedicated to Prof. K. Arnold on the occasion of his 65th birthday.

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Korte, T., Ludwig, K., Huang, Q. et al. Conformational change of influenza virus hemagglutinin is sensitive to ionic concentration. Eur Biophys J 36, 327–335 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-006-0116-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-006-0116-0

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