Hantavirus Gn and Gc glycoproteins self-assemble into virus-like particles.

Rodrigo Acuña (1) , Nicolás Cifuentes-Muñoz (1) , Chantal L Márquez (1) , Manuela Bulling (1) , Jonas Klingström (2, 3) , Roberta Mancini (4) , Pierre-Yves Lozach (5) , Nicole D Tischler (1, 6)

1 Molecular Virology Laboratory
2 Center for Infectious Medicine, Department of Medicine
3 Department of Preparedness
4 Institute of Biochemistry
5 INRS-IAF - Institut Armand Frappier
6 Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas

How hantaviruses assemble and exit infected cells remains largely unknown. Here, we show that the expression of Andes (ANDV) and Puumala (PUUV) hantavirus Gn and Gc envelope glycoproteins lead to their self-assembly into virus-like particles (VLPs) which were released to cell supernatants. The viral nucleoprotein was not required for particle formation. Further, a Gc endodomain deletion mutant did not abrogate VLP formation. The VLPs were pleomorphic, exposed protrusions and reacted with patient sera.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Virology

Rodrigo Acuña, Nicolás Cifuentes-Muñoz, Chantal L Márquez, Manuela Bulling, Jonas Klingström, et al.. Hantavirus Gn and Gc glycoproteins self-assemble into virus-like particles.. Journal of Virology, 2014, 88 (4), pp.2344-8. ⟨10.1128/JVI.03118-13⟩. ⟨pasteur-01134374⟩