The prefusion structure of herpes simplex virus glycoprotein B

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc1726

Authors: B. Vollmer (Wellcome Centre Human Genetics, University of Oxford; Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Experimentelle Virologie) , V. Prazak (Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford) , D. Vasishtan (Wellcome Centre Human Genetics, University of Oxford) , E. E. Jefferys (University of Oxford) , A. Hernandez-Duran (Birkbeck, University of London) , M. Vallbracht (Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health) , B. G. Klupp (Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health) , T. C. Mettenleiter (Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health) , M. Backovic (Institut Pasteur) , F. A. Rey (Institut Pasteur) , M. Topf (Birkbeck, University of London) , K. Grunewald (Wellcome Centre Human Genetics, University of Oxford; Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Experimentelle Virologie; Universität Hamburg)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Science Advances , VOL 6

State: Published (Approved)
Published: September 2020

Abstract: Cell entry of enveloped viruses requires specialized viral proteins that mediate fusion with the host membrane by substantial structural rearrangements from a metastable pre- to a stable postfusion conformation. This metastability renders the herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) fusion glycoprotein B (gB) highly unstable such that it readily converts into the postfusion form, thereby precluding structural elucidation of the pharmacologically relevant prefusion conformation. By identification of conserved sequence signatures and molecular dynamics simulations, we devised a mutation that stabilized this form. Functionally locking gB allowed the structural determination of its membrane-embedded prefusion conformation at sub-nanometer resolution and enabled the unambiguous fit of all ectodomains. The resulting pseudo-atomic model reveals a notable conservation of conformational domain rearrangements during fusion between HSV-1 gB and the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein G, despite their very distant phylogeny. In combination with our comparative sequence-structure analysis, these findings suggest common fusogenic domain rearrangements in all class III viral fusion proteins.

Diamond Keywords: Herpes; Viruses

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials, Medicine

Diamond Offline Facilities: Electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC)
Instruments: Krios I-Titan Krios I at Diamond

Added On: 07/10/2020 13:40

Documents:
eabc1726.full.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Vaccines Pathogens Infectious Diseases Health & Wellbeing Structural biology Drug Discovery Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Microscopy Electron Microscopy (EM) Cryo Electron Microscopy (Cryo EM)