12. RNA virus replication structures Flashcards
(41 cards)
What viruses tend to make replication structures?
+ sense RNA viruses
Why don’t some viruses make replication structures?
- DNA viruses replicate in the nucleus so don’t need to change cellular architecture.
- We don’t really know why - sense RNA viruses don’t.
Does cell morphology change when they are infected with a virus?
- Yes infected cells look very different to uninfected cells.
- Often there are massive rearrangements around membranes like the mitochondria.
- These rearrangements are to aid the virus replication.
Why is studying virus replication structures tricky?
- Because viruses replicate in close association with membranes.
- It is hard to isolate viral proteins from membranes without disrupting the structure of the protein.
What are virus replication factories?
- Specialised intracellular compartments that viruses use to replicate their genome and assemble new infectious particles.
- They are large scaffolds to which virus and host factors/proteins are recruited.
- They involve cell membranes and cytoskeleton.
- Inter-organelle contacts occur that are not present in uninfected cells.
- Host metabolic and signalling pathways are manipulated to form these.
- This best characterised replication complexes are those in the cytoplasm.
What is the general process of RNA virus replication?
- The virus enters the cell.
- The virus uncoats somewhere in the cell. This process is transient and poorly understood.
- Once the viral genome is translated to produce the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.
- The virus associates with a membrane for replication.
- This causes curves in the membrane to form a replication vesicle.
- This vesicle contains viral RNA and host and viral proteins.
- The RNA is then released from the vesicle and then packaged into the virus particle.
What are the advantages of viral replication factories?
- Enhanced replication efficiency
- Protection from host defences
- Spatial co-ordination of virus replication, translation and assembly
Advantages of viral replication factories: Enhanced replication efficiency
- This concentrates replication substrates in one place.
- They contain everything that is needed for replication in a compartment.
- It ensure the correct topology.
Advantages of viral replication factories: Protection from host defences
- It prevents the activation of host cell defence mechanisms that can be triggered by dsRNA or intermediates of RNA-virus replication.
- They hide dsRNA to prevent triggering of type 1 interferon response.
Advantages of viral replication factories: spatial co-ordination of virus replication, translation and assembly
- Ribosomes and RNA binding proteins are excluded from the replication complex.
- There needs to be this separation between RNA replication and packaging.
- The replication organelle regulates the amount of RNA made and released.
How are virus factories visualised?
- Using transmission electron microscopy
- Using Cryo EM/ET
What are the main viral replication structures?
- Spherules - a membrane enclosed vesicle, most common.
- Cubic membranes
- Lattice structures which hold the viral replication proteins in high concentration
What is cryo-EM and what is it used for?
- It is used to look at protein structures in combination with alpha fold.
- It is used to look at symmetrical viruses/structures.
- The virus is rapidly frozen then imaged in different planes
- A larger image is built up from all the images.
What is cryo-ET and what is it used for?
- It is used to look at non-symmetrical viruses/structures.
- You freeze and rotate the particle to get images of each slice of the virus.
- You can then build up the structure.
What is focus iron beam milling?
- You take a whole cell and use the iron beams to shave away a tiny layer
- As you do this you image the layer.
- This is used to image through the whole cell at atomic level.
- You then build up a 3D image of the cell.
- You can use this to see all stages of the viral lifecycle.
What can you see about viral replication factories using focus iron beam milling?
- You can reconstruct the replication factories in 3D.
- You can see double membrane vesicle in the ER which associates with the viral particle.
- Both coronaviruses and flaviviruses use these.
What is flock house virus?
- A model RNA virus that only encodes 4 proteins.
- It infects insects.
- Protein A is multifunctional and is responsible for replication.
- Capsid protein.
- B1 protein
- B2 protein which is important in viral defence against host immunity.
What did cyro-ET show about flock house virus replication factories?
- Cyro-ET was used to image the replication factory.
- Flock house virus forms replication structures in the mitochondrial membrane.
How did cyro-ET show how RNA leaves the flock-house virus replication factory?
- It showed the formation of protein A into a crown structure.
- This acted as a channel that the RNA can enter and exit from once replicated.
- Protein A is also the polymerase
How does protein A form the replication vesicle for flock house virus?
- Protein A has a target signal that interact with the mitochondrial membrane and localise it there.
- Protein A then also interacts with the viral RNA.
- This triggers a change in conformation of the protein to start to shape the membrane.
- Protein A then pulls the RNA to the membrane and distorts the membrane to form the replication vesicle.
- Host factors are recruited.
- Protein A changes conformation depending on if its bound to RNA or itself.
- Once the RNA is replicated ssRNA can be released through the crown of protein A and then packaged.
What replication structures to coronaviruses use?
- They replicate in double membrane vesicles at the ER.
- The RNA also exist through a pore at the crown of the vesicle.
What makes up the coronavirus replication structure pore?
- It is made of a number of coronavirus proteins.
- NS3, NS4 and others proteins make up the pore.
- It is a multimeric structure.
- Many other RNA viruses also have this structure.
How is siRNA screening used to identify host factors associated with viral replication factories?
- Libraries of siRNAs against each protein in a cell and down regulate these proteins.
- Then infect the cells with the virus.
- Use an assay were each cells has a different protein knocked down.
- A knock down of a single protein can effect viral replication and you can observe this.
- You then use this information to work out which host proteins are important for viral replication.
What types of proteins are involved in virus replication complexes?
- RNA binding proteins for RNA recruitment and +/- strand RNA synthesis.
- Cellular chaperones and trafficking proteins for complex assembly, polyprotein folding and polymerase conformation.
- Protein targeting for replication protein targeting and anchoring proteins to membranes.
- Membrane remodelling and lipid synthesis for fatty acid synthesis and PI4P enrichment in membranes used for replication (altering membranes)
- Membrane-shaping proteins