Cell Entry and Exit of Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus A: Receptors and Release Inhibitor
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Cell Entry and Exit of Porcine Endogenous Retrovirus A: Receptors and Release Inhibitor Giada Mattiuzzo Submitted to University College London For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2009 Wohl Virion Centre Windeyer Building University College London 1 Declaration I, Giada Mattiuzzo, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Abstract Following the discovery that porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) can infect human cells, the potential risk of a zoonotic infection by PERV has been a major obstacle in the xenotransplantation field. The aim of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of PERV biology, so as to help assess and reduce the risk of PERV zoonosis. PERV subgroup A can enter human cells through two human PERV-A receptors (huPAR-1 and -2). To determine critical regions in the receptor for PERV-A infection, chimeric receptors between huPAR-2 and the non functional murine PAR (muPAR) have been analysed. A single amino acid difference (amino acid 109) was found responsible for the inability of muPAR to mediate PERV-A binding and infection. These results were then applied to the evaluation of PERV infection of non-human primates (NHP). NHP could represent an ideal animal model for assessing the risk of zoonosis following long-term exposure to porcine material. However, PERV does not infect NHP cells with the same efficiency as it does human cells. The data presented in this thesis suggests that in some NHP species the poor infectivity is due to mutation of the same critical amino acid (a.a.109) described for muPAR. However, African green monkey cells express two functional receptors and other mechanisms are likely to be responsible for the low susceptibility to PERV-A infection. Secondly, I evaluated the effect of a release inhibitor as a possible strategy to reduce PERV dissemination from pig cells. Human tetherin can inhibit retrovirus production from cells. I showed that overexpression of human and newly cloned porcine tetherin in pig cells can reduce the release of PERV. My data suggests that tetherin-expressing transgenic pigs could represent a safer donor in xenotransplantation. 3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor Yasu Takeuchi for his guidance and patience during these four years of my PhD. He showed me novel, yet rigorous, ways to address scientific problems which I am convinced have made me a more rounded scientist. I’d like to thank Paul Kellam, my second supervisor, and members of his group. Additionally, thanks go to Mary Collins, Greg Towers, Benny Chain and the friendly people who work, or have worked, in their laboratories, too numerous to mention. During these years they provided helpful suggestions, protocols, cells and reagents. I felt privileged to work in the Wohl Virion Centre, whether headed by Robin Weiss (at the beginning) or Ari Fassati (at the end) has always been a stimulating environment to work in. Anna, Belinda, Claire, Doug, Kenneth, Khoon, Liz, Luciano, Nigel, Sham, Suzy, and Willie made the time spent in the lab a pleasant one. Special thanks go to Ed and Sean not only for the laughs we have in the lab, but also for the considered suggestions and critical reading of this thesis. These years in the Windeyer not only made me a better, more confident scientist, but also rewarded me with life-long friendships with Giovanna, Marieke, Rino, Sabrina, Torsten. Deep thanks to Massimo Pizzato. I would not be here if it was not for him. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my beloved boyfriend Ben for coping with me during the difficult times of this PhD, for his support, and for comments and suggestions during the research and writing of my thesis. 4 Table of Contents Declaration................................................................................................2 Abstract.....................................................................................................3 Acknowledgments.................... ...............................................................4 Table of Contents......................................................................................5 List of Figures............................................................................................9 List of Tables...........................................................................................11 Abbreviations...........................................................................................12 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 16 1.1 Xenotransplantation ........................................................................ 16 1.1.1 Genetically modified pigs ................................................................ 19 1.2 Zoonosis in xenotranplantation ...................................................... 21 1.2.1 Porcine exogenous viruses ............................................................. 22 1.2.2 Porcine Herpesviruses .................................................................... 25 1.3 Retroviruses ..................................................................................... 27 1.3.1 Structure ......................................................................................... 27 1.3.2 Genomic RNA ................................................................................. 30 1.3.3 Life cycle ......................................................................................... 31 1.3.4 Retroviral pathogenesis .................................................................. 37 1.3.5 Endogenous retroviruses ................................................................ 39 1.4 Porcine endogenous retrovirus ...................................................... 43 1.4.1 Replication-competent PERVs and host range ............................... 43 1.4.2 PERV recombination ....................................................................... 44 1.4.3 Diagnostic methods for PERV detection ......................................... 45 1.4.4 Strategies to reduce the risk of PERV transmission ....................... 46 1.5 γ-RETROVIRUS RECEPTORS ......................................................... 50 1.5.1 Receptor cloning ............................................................................. 51 1.5.2 Receptor topology ........................................................................... 53 1.5.3 Physiological function ..................................................................... 54 1.5.4 Identification of sites critical for infection and binding ..................... 56 1.5.5 Receptor-mediated barriers to infection .......................................... 58 1.6 Host restriction factors .................................................................... 60 1.6.1 Early post entry restriction factors: Fv1 and TRIM protein family .... 61 1.6.2 APOBEC proteins ........................................................................... 64 1.6.3 ZAP, a zinc finger antiviral protein .................................................. 66 5 1.6.4 Tetherin ........................................................................................... 66 1.7 Aims .................................................................................................. 69 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS ................................................................... 70 2.1 Materials ........................................................................................... 70 2.2 Molecular biology methods ............................................................. 70 2.2.1 Preparation and transformation of chemically competent bacterial cells 70 2.2.2 Plasmid DNA mini preparations ...................................................... 71 2.2.3 Enzymatic reactions ........................................................................ 71 2.2.4 Agarose gel electrophoresis ........................................................... 71 2.2.5 DNA purification from agarose gel .................................................. 72 2.2.6 Genomic DNA extraction ................................................................ 72 2.2.7 RNA extraction ................................................................................ 72 2.2.8 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ................................................... 72 2.2.9 Reverse transcriptase (RT) reaction ............................................... 74 2.2.10 Quantitative PCR ......................................................................... 74 2.2.11 PCR-based mutagenesis ............................................................. 76 2.2.12 Construction of HA-tagged chimeric receptors ............................ 76 2.2.13 Generation of soluble myc-tagged PERV-A14/220 SU Env ........ 77 2.2.14 Receptors cloning ........................................................................ 77 2.2.15 Cloning of porcine tetherin ........................................................... 78 2.3 Cell culture methods ........................................................................ 79 2.3.1 Cell transfection .............................................................................. 79 2.3.2 Pseudotyped virus production ......................................................... 79 2.3.3 EGFP(PERV) production ................................................................ 80 2.3.4 EGFP-pseudotyped virus titration ..................................................