Analysis of parainfluenza virus-5 hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein mutants that are blocked in internalization and degradation

The PIV-5 hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein is a multifunctional protein with sialic acid binding, neuraminidase and fusion promotion activity. HN is internalized by clathrin-mediated endocytosis and degraded. HN lacks internalization signals in its cytoplasmic tail but a single glutamic acid present at residue 37 at the putative transmembrane/ectodomain boundary is critical. We rescued rPIV-5 with mutations E37D or E37K, which have been shown to impair or abolish HN internalization, respectively. These viruses exhibited growth properties similar to wild-type (wt) virus but are impaired for fitness in tissue culture. Biochemical analysis of HN activities showed differences between HN E37D and HN E37K in fusion promotion and incorporation of HN and F into virions. Furthermore, oligomeric analyses indicate that HN E37 mutants perturb the tetrameric organization of HN, probably by destabilizing the dimer-of-dimers interface.