Title

Dissecting the Functional Domains of a Nonenveloped Virus Membrane Penetration Peptide

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2009

Publication Title

Journal of Virology

Department

Chemistry

Abstract

Recent studies have established that several nonenveloped viruses utilize virus-encoded lytic peptides for host membrane disruption. We investigated this mechanism with the “gamma” peptide of the insect virus Flock House virus (FHV). We demonstrate that the C terminus of gamma is essential for membrane disruption in vitro and the rescue of immature virus infectivity in vivo, and the amphipathic N terminus of gamma alone is not sufficient. We also show that deletion of the C-terminal domain disrupts icosahedral ordering of the amphipathic helices of gamma in the virus. Our results have broad implications for understanding membrane lysis during nonenveloped virus entry.

ISSN

0022-538X

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