Ebola virus glycoprotein needs an additional trigger, beyond proteolytic priming for membrane fusion.

Abstract

Ebolavirus belongs to the family filoviridae and causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans with 50-90% lethality. Detailed understanding of how the viruses attach to and enter new host cells is critical to development of medical interventions. The virus displays a trimeric glycoprotein (GP(1,2)) on its surface that is solely responsible for membrane attachment, virus internalization and fusion. GP(1,2) is expressed as a single peptide and is cleaved by furin in the host cells to yield two disulphide-linked fragments termed GP1 and GP2 that remain associated in a GP(1,2) trimeric, viral surface spike. After entry into host endosomes, GP(1,2) is enzymatically cleaved by endosomal cathepsins B and L, a necessary step in infection. However, the functional effects of the cleavage on the glycoprotein are unknown.
We demonstrate by antibody binding and Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (DXMS) of glycoproteins from two different ebolaviruses that although enzymatic priming of GP(1,2) is required for fusion, the priming itself does not initiate the required conformational changes in the ectodomain of GP(1,2). Further, ELISA binding data of primed GP(1,2) to conformational antibody KZ52 suggests that the low pH inside the endosomes also does not trigger dissociation of GP1 from GP2 to effect membrane fusion.
The results reveal that the ebolavirus GP(1,2) ectodomain remains in the prefusion conformation upon enzymatic cleavage in low pH and removal of the glycan cap. The results also suggest that an additional endosomal trigger is necessary to induce the conformational changes in GP(1,2) and effect fusion. Identification of this trigger will provide further mechanistic insights into ebolavirus infection.

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Ebola Virus Glycoprotein Needs an Additional Trigger,
beyond Proteolytic Priming for Membrane Fusion
Shridhar Bale1, Tong Liu2, Sheng Li2, Yuhao Wang2, Dafna Abelson1, Marnie Fusco1,
Virgil L. Woods Jr2, Erica Ollmann Saphire1,3*
. *
1Department of Immunology and Microbial Science, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America, 2Department of Medicine, University of
California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America, 3The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United
States of America
Abstract
Background: Ebolavirus belongs to the family filoviridae and causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans with 50–90%
lethality. Detailed understanding of how the viruses attach to and enter new host cells is critical to development of medical
interventions. The virus displays a trimeric glycoprotein (GP1,2) on its surface that is solely responsible for membrane
attachment, virus internalization and fusion. GP1,2is expressed as a single peptide and is cleaved by furin in the host cells to
yield two disulphide-linked fragments termed GP1 and GP2 that remain associated in a GP1,2trimeric, viral surface spike.
After entry into host endosomes, GP1,2is enzymatically cleaved by endosomal cathepsins B and L, a necessary step in
infection. However, the functional effects of the cleavage on the glycoprotein are unknown.
Principal Findings: We demonstrate by antibody binding and Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (DXMS)
of glycoproteins from two different ebolaviruses that although enzymatic priming of GP1,2is required for fusion, the priming
itself does not initiate the required conformational changes in the ectodomain of GP1,2. Further, ELISA binding data of
primed GP1,2to conformational antibody KZ52 suggests that the low pH inside the endosomes also does not trigger
dissociation of GP1 from GP2 to effect membrane fusion.
Significance: The results reveal that the ebolavirus GP1,2ectodomain remains in the prefusion conformation upon enzymatic
cleavage in low pH and removal of the glycan cap. The results also suggest that an additional endosomal trigger is
necessary to induce the conformational changes in GP1,2and effect fusion. Identification of this trigger will provide further
mechanistic insights into ebolavirus infection.
Citation: Bale S, Liu T, Li S, Wang Y, Abelson D, et al. (2011) Ebola Virus Glycoprotein Needs an Additional Trigger, beyond Proteolytic Priming for Membrane
Fusion. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 5(11): e1395. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001395
Editor: Thomas William Geisbert, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, United States of America
Received June 22, 2011; Accepted September 29, 2011; Published November 15, 2011
Copyright: ? 2011 Bale et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This work is supported by NIH grant AI081982, an investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund,
and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology (E.O.S.) and NIH grants AI081982, AI072106, AI068730, AI2008031, GM020501, GM066170, NS070899, GM093325,
and RR029388 (V.L.W.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: vwoods@ucsd.edu (VLW); erica@scripps.edu (EOS)
Introduction
Ebolaviruses cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and non-
human primates with 50–90% lethality. No specific vaccines or
treatments for ebolavirus infection have yet approved for human use
[1–5]. Among the five different members of the ebolavirus genus,
Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV) and Sudan ebolavirus (SEBOV) are the most
lethal and are the most commonly associated with outbreaks
among humans [6]. The virus displays a trimeric glycoprotein (a
class I fusion protein) on its surface, termed GP1,2, which is solely
responsible for attachment and internalization of the virus [7,8].
The glycoprotein is initially expressed as a single polypeptide that
is then cleaved by furin in the producer cell to yield two
disulphide-linked subunits termed GP1 and GP2 [9]. Of these,
GP1 attaches to target cells while GP2 drives the fusion of viral
and host cell membranes for the delivery of viral RNA into the
host cells. The GP1,2trimer is extended by heavily glycosylated
mucin-like and ‘‘glycan cap’’ regions that are attached to the top of
GP1 by a single polypeptide and reach upwards and outwards
toward the target cell. The extensive glycocalyx provided by these
domains and other glycans on GP1 and GP2 may shield the
complex from immune surveillance and/or play an additional role
in the natural host reservoir [10].
Numerous studies have revealed that the 450 kDa trimeric GP1,2
is further proteolytically cleaved, after entry into target cells, by the
endosomal cathepsins L and B [11–14]. This trimming operates on
the loop formed by residues 190–213 in GP1 and yields a ,39 kDa
fragment containing the N-terminal portion of GP1 (prior to the
cleavage site) and all of GP2. Cleavage is thought to expose the
receptor-binding region (RBR) on the remaining GP1 core and
enhance fusion of viral and cellular membranes [11,13,15].
Cathepsins L and B cleave at slightly different sites. Cathepsin L
cleaves at residue 201 [15,16] and is sufficient to remove the mucin-
like domain and glycan cap. Cathepsin B deletes additional residues
N-terminal to the site of cathepsin L cleavage, removing an
additional ,1 kDa of mass from GP1 [11,15].
Cleavage by the combination of cathepsins L and B can be
functionally mimicked by thermolysin [12,15]. Thermolysin
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cleaves GP around residue 190, leaving residues 33–190 of GP1
and all of GP2 [15] that together assemble a ,39 kDa GP1,2core.
Although it is known that these cleavage events are usually
required for infection, the structural manifestation of enzymatic
cleavage is as yet unclear.
Here we demonstrate by antibody binding and peptide amide
hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (DXMS) that
priming of the GP1,2ectodomain and endosomal pH themselves
are insufficient for triggering the conformational changes neces-
sary for fusion, and that an additional trigger must be required in
the infected cell.
Materials and Methods
Protein expression and purification
The design of a construct amenable to high-level expression of
Zaire ebolavirus GP1,2 (ZEBOV-GP1,2) and KZ52 is described
previously [17,18]. Briefly, ZEBOV-GP1,2has an N-terminal HA
tag and comprises residues 33–632 with the mucin and
transmembrane regions (residues 313–465 and 633–676) deleted,
and a T230V mutation that significantly improves expression
yields. The protein was transiently expressed in HEK293T cells
and purified using an anti-HA column followed by size exclusion
chromatography. ZEBOV-GP1,2 is cleaved by thermolysin
(75 mg/ml) overnight and the cleaved protein (ZEBOV-GP1,2CL)
is separated from released fragments by size exclusion chroma-
tography using a Superdex-200 10/300 GL column equilibrated
in PBS buffer. To obtain a complex between ZEBOV-GP1,2CL
and KZ52, the proteins were mixed in a ratio of 1:1.5 by weight
respectively and incubated on ice for 2 h. The complex was
separated from excess KZ52 by size exclusion chromatography
(Suppl. Figure S1A).
A construct for Sudan ebolavirus GP1,2(SEBOV-GP1,2; strain
Gulu) was cloned into the pDISPLAY vector and contains a N-
terminal HA tag for purification. The construct comprises
residues 33–637 with the mucin and transmembrane regions
(residues 314–472 and 638–676) deleted. SEBOV-GP1,2is more
sensitive to cathepsin and thermolysin cleavage and it is difficult
to obtain sufficient yields of cleaved, wild-type SEBOV-GP1,2for
DXMS studies. Hence, for production of homogeneous SEBOV-
GP1,2CL, a furin cleavage site was introduced with the mutation
205RKKR208into the 190–213 loop upon which cathepsins and
thermolysin act (gift of Paul Bates, University of Pennsylvania).
This protein is thus ‘‘born’’ cleaved twice by furin in the producer
cell: one furin-cleavage site separates GP1 from GP2, while the
second removes the glycan cap from GP1. This ‘‘born-cleaved’’
protein was transiently expressed in HEK293T cells supplement-
ed with a plasmid encoding excess furin (in a glycoprotein-to-
furin plasmid ratio of 4:1 by weight). The expressed protein was
purified using an anti-HA column. Further size exclusion
chromatography illustrates it is the same size as cleaved wild-
type GP1,2.
Effect of pH on KZ52 binding to GP1,2CL
Binding of KZ52 to ZEBOV-GP1,2CL under various pH
conditions was determined by ELISA. Briefly, aliquots of
ZEBOV-GP1,2CL were buffer exchanged to a range of pH
(pH 4.2, 4.6, 5.0, 5.4, 6.0, 6.6 and 7.0, each obtained from a
1 M stock solution pH screen (Hampton) using Millipore
Ultramax 10 K cutoff centrifugal concentrators [17]), and
incubated in 10 mM buffer and 150 mM NaCl at room
temperature for 2 h. The proteins were subsequently neutralized
in 100 mM Tris-HCl buffer pH 7.5 (note that any conformational
changes in GP2 leading to fusion are irreversible). The changes in
pH were monitored by litmus paper.
0.25 mg of the protein per well was adsorbed (,50 ml/well)
overnight at 4uC in a 96-well microtiter plate. The wells were
washed with PBS containing 0.05% Tween (PBS-Tween) and
blocked with 100 ml/well of 3% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in
PBS for 1 h at room temperature. The wells were washed (with
PBS-Tween) and incubated with 50 ml of the antibody between 0.1
and 1 mg/ml for 1 h, washed again, and incubated with HRP
conjugate (1:2000 dilution in 1% BSA and PBS). The wells were
washed thoroughly with PBS-Tween, and bound HRP was
detected by incubation with 50 ml/well of 1:1 solution of TMB
substrate (Pierce). The reaction was terminated by addition of
50 ml/well of 2 N H2SO4. The resulting solutions were analyzed
by a UV/Vis spectrophotometer microtiter plate reader at
450 nm.
DXMS methodology - Optimization of fragmentation
conditions
Prior to the exchange experiments, disulfide reduction and
protein denaturation conditions were identified that produced an
optimal pepsin fragmentation pattern under exchange-quench
conditions. It was found that incubation with quench buffer with
TCEP and denaturant, followed by dilution of denaturant prior to
exposure to pepsin gave the best peptide probe coverage map.
For ZEBOV, 1 ml of ZEBOV-GP1,2or ZEBOV-GP1,2CLstock
solution (at 5.3 mg/ml and 5.5 mg/ml respectively) was diluted
into 1 ml of non-deuterated buffer (8.3 mM Tris, pH 7.5, 150 mM
NaCl, in H2O) at 0uC. Next, 3 ml of 1 M TCEP, 6.4 M GuHCl,
pH 2.85 (quench buffer) was added and the sample was incubated
for 5 min on ice. Then 15 ml of 0.8% formic acid (FA), 16.6%
glycerol (quench diluent) was added to the denatured sample prior
to protease digestion.
For SEBOV, 1 ml of SEBOV-GP1,2stock solution (6.3 mg/ml)
was diluted with 7 ml of non-deuterated buffer (8.3 mM Tris,
150 mM NaCl, in H2O, pH 7.15) at 0uC and then quenched
with 12 ml of quench buffer containing 3.2 M GuHCl, 15 mM
TCEP, 0.8% formic acid, 16.6% glycerol (pH 2.4). For SEBOV-
GP1,2CLsample, 2 ml of protein (5.1 mg/ml) stock solution was
diluted into 3 ml of quench buffer (1 M TCEP, 6.4 M GuHCl,
pH 2.85) and the sample was incubated for 5 min on ice. Then
Author Summary
Ebolavirus causes often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans
and nonhuman primates. During infection, the virus is
internalized into the low pH endosomes prior to the
delivery of viral RNA to the infected cell. Cleavage by
endosomal cathepsins of the heavily glycosylated mucin-
like domain and glycan cap from the ebolavirus surface
glycoprotein GP1,2is an essential step in infection. The
effect of cleavage and the low pH of the endosomes on
the conformation of GP1,2 is as yet unknown. To
investigate the effect of priming, we cleaved the mucin-
like domain and glycan cap of Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV)
GP1,2with thermolysin and engineered a mutant of Sudan
ebolavirus (SEBOV) GP1,2 that is cleaved with furin. We
demonstrate by DXMS and antibody binding studies that
cleavage of the mucin domain and glycan cap and
incubation at low pH are insufficient to trigger the
conformational changes of GP1,2 that effect fusion.
Unraveling the trigger that leads to the conformational
change of GP1,2to its fusogenic form will enhance the
understanding of ebolavirus infection and pinpoint key
sites for therapeutic intervention.
Effect of Priming of Ebolavirus Glycoprotein
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15 ml of quench diluent (0.8% FA, 16.6% glycerol) was added.
The samples were then frozen on dry ice and stored at 280uC for
further analysis.
In order to demonstrate the ability of our methods to detect
differences in deuteration of these proteins, GP1 and GP2 of
SEBOV-GP1,2CL were separated from each other by adding
10 mM DTT and heating at 37uC for 30 min. The disulfide-
reduced sample was prepared and analyzed in a similar fashion as
SEBOV-GP1,2CLfor DXMS experiments (Figures S4A–S4C in
supplementary information).
All samples were subsequently thawed at 4uC and passed over
an AL-20-pepsin column (16 ml bed volume, 30 mg/ml porcine
pepsin (Sigma)), at a flow rate of 20 ml/min. The resulting peptides
were collected on a C18 trap (Michrom MAGIC C18AQ 0.262)
and separated using a C18 reversed phase column (Michrom
MAGIC C18AQ 0.2650 3 mm 200 A˚) running a linear gradient
of 0.046% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid, 6.4% (v/v) acetonitrile to
0.03% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid, 38.4% (v/v) acetonitrile over
30 min with column effluent directed into an LCQ mass
spectrometer (Thermo-Finnigan LCQ Classic). Data were ac-
quired in both data-dependent MS1:MS2 mode and MS1 profile
mode. SEQUEST software (Thermo Finnigan Inc.) was used to
identify the sequence of the peptide ions. DXMS Explorer (Sierra
Analytics Inc., Modesto, CA) was used for the analysis of the mass
spectra as described previously [19].
Deuterium exchange experiments
Functional deuteration of ZEBOV glycoproteins were per-
formed by diluting 1 ml of ZEBOV-GP1,2CLor ZEBOV-GP1,2
stock solution into 3 ml of D2O buffer (8.3 mM Tris, 150 mM
NaCl, in D2O, pDREAD7.2) at 0uC. At 10 sec and 1000 sec, 6 ml
of ice-cold quench buffer (6.4 M GuHCl, 1 M TCEP, pH 2.85)
was added, samples incubated on ice for 5 min, 10 ml quench
diluent (0.8% FA, 16.6% glycerol) was added, and samples frozen
on dry ice. The equilibrium-deuterated back-exchange control
samples were prepared by diluting 1 ml of ZEBOV-GP1,2CLor
ZEBOV-GP1,2into 3 ml of 1% formic acid in 99.9% D2O with
incubation overnight at room temperature, cooled to 0uC and
mixed with 6 ml quench buffer, incubated for 5 min, supplement-
ed with 10 ml quench diluent, and frozen and further processed as
above.
Functional deuteration of SEBOV-GP1,2was performed by first
diluting 2 ml of SEBOV-GP1,2with 2 ml of non-deuterated buffer
(8.3 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, in H2O, pH 7.15). At 0uC, 4 ml of
D2O buffer (8.3 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, in D2O, pDREAD7.2)
was added. At 10 sec and 1000 sec, 12 ml of ice-cold quench
buffer (3.2 M GuHCl, 15 mM TCEP, 0.8% formic acid, 16.6%
glycerol, pH 2.4) was added. For the SEBOV-GP1,2CLsample,
2 ml of SEBOV-GPCL(5.95 mg/ml) stock solution was diluted into
2 ml of D2O buffer (8.3 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, in D2O,
pDREAD7.2) at 0uC. At 10 sec and 1000 sec, 6 ml of ice-cold
quench buffer (6.4 M GuHCl, 1 M TCEP, pH 2.85) was added,
samples incubated on ice for 5 min, 15 ml quench diluent (0.8%
FA, 16.6% glycerol) was added.
The centroids of the isotopic envelopes of nondeuterated,
functionally deuterated, and fully deuterated peptides were
measured using DXMS Explorer and then converted to
corresponding deuteration levels with corrections for back-
exchange [20].
Figure preparation
All figures in the manuscript were generated using Pymol and
Adobe photoshop.
Results and Discussion
Structure and Neutralizing antibodies of ZEBOV and
SEBOV
The crystal structure of Zaire ebolavirus GP1,2(ZEBOV-GP1,2)
has been previously determined in its prefusion form, in complex
with an antibody termed KZ52 that was derived from a human
survivor of Zaire ebolavirus infection [17]. The structure reveals that
antibody KZ52 binds a conformational epitope on GP1,2where
the GP1 and GP2 subunits meet, and illustrates the specificity of
KZ52 for the prefusion state of ZEBOV-GP1,2. In addition, we
have also determined the crystal structure of the prefusion form of
Sudan ebolavirus GP1,2(SEBOV-GP1,2) bound to a novel neutral-
izing antibody termed 16F6 [21]. 16F6, like KZ52, recognizes a
conformational epitope on the prefusion form of SEBOV-GP1,2
that bridges the two subunits together. The loop of GP1,2upon
which both endosomal cathepsins and thermolysin act (residues
190–213) is mobile and disordered in both structures, and is
located at the outer (‘‘side’’) surface of the trimeric GP1,2.
In these prefusion GP1,2structures, each GP2 in the trimer
wraps around its corresponding GP1 in a metastable state. The
GP1s form a ‘‘clamp’’ on the metastable prefusion conformation of
GP2 and prevent it from springing irreversibly into its fusion-
active and more stable six-helix bundle conformation, which has
also been crystallized [22,23]. In order for fusion to occur, GP2
must unwrap from each GP1 in the prefusion complex and
rearrange to yield the six-helix bundle conformation of GP2 alone.
Priming GP1,2
To investigate the effects of enzymatic cleavage of GP1,2, we
digested ZEBOV-GP1,2 with thermolysin and purified the
resulting protein (ZEBOV-GP1,2CL) by size exclusion chromatog-
raphy. Note that the ZEBOV-GP1,2used for the studies has a
deletion of the mucin-like domain to enhance protein expression.
Thermolysin functionally mimics cleavage by endosomal cathep-
sins, but operates at physiological pH, while cathepsins require low
pH (,5.5) for cleavage. Use of thermolysin allows us to decouple
the effects of enzymatic cleavage from the effects of low pH. The
elution profile of thermolysin-cleaved ZEBOV-GP1,2CLsuggests
that ZEBOV-GP1,2remains trimeric after cleavage (Suppl. Figure
S1A).
SEBOV-GP1,2is quite sensitive to proteolysis and cleavage by
either cathepsins L/B or thermolysin results in significant
degradation, making it difficult to purify sufficient material for
DXMS studies. In order to analyze the effects of enzymatic
cleavage of SEBOV-GP1,2, we engineered a version of SEBOV-
GP1,2with an additional furin site at residues 206–210 in the loop
of GP1 that is operated on by cathepsins and thermolysin (the
wild-type furin-cleavage site that separates GP1 and GP2 also
remains in this construct). The furin-engineered SEBOV-GP1,2CL,
is stable, is released from the expression host already deleted of its
glycan cap and mucin-like domain and structurally mimics
enzymatically cleaved SEBOV-GP1,2(Suppl. Figure S1B). Like
ZEBOV-GP1,2CL, SEBOV-GP1,2CLalso exists as a trimer.
Analysis of conformational changes by DXMS
DXMS is able to measure the ability of deuterium in solvent
water to exchange with hydrogens that are covalently bound to
peptide amide nitrogen atoms in a protein [24]. To determine if
cleavage of GP1,2 results in conformational change, we ana-
lyzed uncleaved ZEBOV/SEBOV-GP1,2and cleaved ZEBOV/
SEBOV-GP1,2CLproteins by DXMS, obtaining 49%/68% and
68%/83% coverage, respectively. Peptide regions throughout the
glycoproteins were analyzed. Peptides covalently linked to glycans
Effect of Priming of Ebolavirus Glycoprotein
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of heterogeneous mass are not accessible for measurement with
currently employed DXMS methods, and therefore result in small
gaps in the sequence coverage. Note that enzymatic cleavage
removes nearly all N-linked glycans from GP1 and hence greater
sequence coverage is obtained for cleaved GP (68%/83%) than
uncleaved GP (49%/68%).
For ZEBOV-GP1,2the peptide fragmentation analysis confirms
that thermolysin cleaves after the aromatic residues in the
disordered loop190KKDFFSS196and deletes the glycan cap (as
observed by Dube et. al. [15]). The deuteration levels of ZEBOV-
GP1,2and SEBOV-GP1,2(measured over a time of 10–1000 sec)
are consistent with the respective crystal structures (PDB code
3CSY and 3S88) in that peptide fragments that are buried or that
have amide hydrogen atoms involved in hydrogen bonding show
low levels of deuteration.
Comparison of uncleaved GP1,2with cleaved GP1,2CL, for both
ZEBOV and SEBOV, reveals that no significant changes in
deuteration occur upon cleavage for any measured peptide
spanning the whole of GP1,2, observed over a 10–1000 sec time
scale (Figure 1 and S2A–S3C in supplementary information). The
deuteration pattern of the residues in the fusion loop (residues
520–540 of GP2) is also identical between the cleaved and
uncleaved proteins (Figure 2). The unwinding of the fusion loop is
a required early step in the springing of GP1,2CLto the post-fusion
form. Alteration in the deuteration pattern of the fusion loop could
indicate the beginning of unwinding of GP1,2CL, but is not
observed after enzymatic cleavage.
In ZEBOV, residues R64, F88, K95, K114, K115, and K140
are critical for binding and are thought to comprise a part of the
receptor-binding region [15,25]. Peptides containing the residues
R64, F88, K95, K114, and K115 are equally accessible by solvent
before and after cleavage and removal of the glycan cap (Figure 3),
indicating that no major conformational changes occur at these
sites upon cleavage. Note that peptides containing residue K140
Figure 1. Representative deuteration of peptide fragments of
ZEBOV-GP1,2. Plots of deuteration of peptides of ZEBOV-GP1,2(shown
in dark blue) and ZEBOV-GP1,2CL(shown in magenta) over a time period
of 10–1000 sec. Representative peptides are taken from residues
adjacent to the glycan cap of GP1 (Panel A: residues 82–94), the base
subdomain core region of GP1 (Panel B: residues 166–176), a partially
exposed region N-terminal of the trimeric interface of GP2 (Panel C:
residues 572–581) and the trimeric interface of GP2 (Panel D: residues
582–593). Deuteration plots of the detected peptides of entire cleaved
and uncleaved GP1,2are illustrated in Suppl. Figures S2A–S3C.
doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001395.g001
Figure 2. The fusion loop of ZEBOV-GP1,2. (A) Cartoon represen-
tation of the fusion loop of GP2 (shown in ball-and-stick representation
with carbon atoms colored orange). GP1 subunits of the 3-fold related
protomers are shown in different shades of blue. One of the GP2
subunits is shown in orange, and the other two are shown in grey. The
crystallographically disordered loop that is cleaved by cathepsin L/B is
shown as a dotted line. (B) Deuteration plots of the residues in the
fusion loop in ZEBOV-GP1,2(shown in dark blue) and ZEBOV-GP1,2CL
(shown in magenta).
doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001395.g002
Figure 3. Residues important for attachment. Ribbon represen-
tation of a model of the cleaved ZEBOV-GP1,2CLtrimer with residues
R64, F88, K95, K114, K115 and K140, which have been identified by
mutagenesis as important for attachment, shown in ball-and-stick with
carbon atoms colored yellow. GP1 subunits are shown in different
shades of blue and the GP2 subunits are shown in different shades of
grey. Peptides containing residues R64, F88, K95, K114 and K115 do not
undergo measurable conformational change upon priming of ZEBOV-
GP1,2.
doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001395.g003
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are not detected in DXMS of ZEBOV/SEBOV GP1,2or GP1,2CL,
and so it is not possible to compare deuteration levels of K140. Of
this set of residues, F88, K114, K115 and K140 are inward of the
glycan cap and solvent-accessible, and could potentially interact
with the receptor. Residues R64 (K64 in SEBOV) and K95 are
buried and probably have auxillary roles in receptor binding.
Alternately, a conformational change could occur upon receptor
binding that brings R64 and K95 into direct contact with the
receptor.
DXMS thus suggests that no residues in ZEBOV/SEBOV-
GP1,2CLdramatically change conformation when the mucin-like
domain and glycan cap are released. These results also suggest that
the glycan cap, itself, does not significantly occlude access by
solvent to this site. The glycan cap, however, could block steric
access by a protein molecule and receptor access would likely be
enhanced by enzymatic removal of the glycan cap.
The epitope of the human neutralizing antibody KZ52 bridges
GP1 and GP2 and KZ52 only binds when the subunits are
assembled in their prefusion conformation. Conformational
changes in GP2, such as those required for fusion, would likely
abrogate KZ52 binding. Hence, binding studies of KZ52 to
ZEBOV-GP1,2CLprovide additional insights into the structure of
ZEBOV- GP1,2CL. By both size exclusion chromatography and
ELISA, we find that KZ52 binds well to cleaved, trimeric
ZEBOV-GP1,2CL (See Figure 4 and Suppl. Figure S1A). An
equivalent, GP1/GP2-bridging, prefusion-specificantibody,termed
16F6 [21], that recognizes SEBOV-GP1,2 also forms a stable
complex with SEBOV-GP1,2CL. The binding of the prefusion-
specific conformational antibodies KZ52 and 16F6 indicates that
the GP1,2CLectodomain from both viruses remains in its pre-fusion
state upon thermolysin or furin cleavage of the 190–213 loop. In
addition, successful binding of KZ52 to cathepsin L-cleaved
ZEBOV-GP1,2CLwith a KDof 1.5 nM has been recently reported
by Hood et al. using surface plasmon resonance [16]. By contrast,
Shedlock et al. [26] find that KZ52 does not neutralize cathepsin
L-cleaved ZEBOV-GP1,2that has been pseudotyped onto a viral
surface (binding not directly measured in these studies). Hence, it
seems that some as-yet-undetermined differences exist between
ectodomain GP and viral-surface GP upon cathepsin L cleavage
that do not occur upon thermolysin cleavage.
Effect of pH on conformation of primed GP1,2
The endosomal compartments have an acidic pH ranging from
,5.9–6.0 in the early endosome to ,5.0–5.5 in the late endosome
and the role of this low pH in triggering irreversible conforma-
tional changes leading to fusion has been speculated. To
investigate the effect of pH on the conformation of ZEBOV-
GP1,2CL, we monitored binding of KZ52 to acid pH-treated
ZEBOV-GP1,2CLby ELISA (Figure 4). Bovine serum albumin
(BSA), and reduced and denatured GP1,2were used as negative
controls. Indeed, KZ52 binding is unaffected by incubation of
ZEBOV-GP1,2CLin endosomal pH, suggesting that pH alone does
not cause rearrangement of ZEBOV-GP1,2CLfrom the pre-fusion
state.
Conclusions
The DXMS and ELISA binding studies together suggest that
the priming of GP1,2 of ebolaviruses and the low pH in which
priming occurs, are themselves, insufficient for triggering the
Figure 4. Binding of KZ52 to ZEBOV-GP1,2CL incubated at
endosomal pH. Plot of KZ52 binding at 1.0, 0.33, and 0.11 mg/ml
(blue, light blue and grey, respectively) to ZEBOV-GP1,2CL in ELISA.
Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and denatured ZEBOV-GP1,2CL(Denat.)
were used as negative controls. Control ZEBOV-GP1,2CLwas maintained
at pH 7.5.
doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001395.g004
Figure 5. Changing structures of ZEBOV-GP1,2. Cartoon representations of GP1,2in its viral surface form (PDB: 3CSY), putative receptor-binding
form and post-fusion form (PDB: 2EBO). GP1s and GP2s are colored in different shades of blue and grey, respectively. The mucin-like domains were
deleted from ZEBOV-GP1,2for crystallization and have been modeled here as not-to-scale balloons. It is currently unclear if GP1 remains attached to
GP2 during the conformational changes that lead to fusion. The transmembrane regions at the bottom of GP1,2are not illustrated.
doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001395.g005
Effect of Priming of Ebolavirus Glycoprotein
www.plosntds.org5 November 2011 | Volume 5 | Issue 11 | e1395