Syncytium formation is induced in the murine neuroblastoma cell cultures which produce pathogenic type G proteins of the rabies virus

• Published in: Virology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 189; no. 1; pp. 203 - 216
• Main Authors: Morimoto, Kinjiro, Ni, Ya-Jin, Kawai, Akihiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.07.1992; Elsevier; Published by Elsevier Inc
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Butyrates - pharmacology; Butyric Acid; Cell Fusion - drug effects; Cell Fusion - physiology; Cell Membrane - metabolism; Culture Techniques - methods; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Vectors; Giant Cells - metabolism; Giant Cells - pathology; GTP-Binding Proteins - genetics; GTP-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Mice; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; Neuroblastoma - microbiology; rabies virus; Rabies virus - genetics; Rabies virus - metabolism; Replicative cycle, interference, host-virus relations, pathogenicity, miscellaneous strains; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Transfection; Tumor Cells, Cultured - drug effects; Viral Fusion Proteins - metabolism; Virology; Rodentia; Site directed mutagenesis; Neuroblastoma; Rabies virus; Virus; Syncytium; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Cell line; Structure activity relation; Mouse; Rhabdoviridae; Lyssavirus; Cytopathology; G protein
• ISSN: 0042-6822; 1096-0341
• DOI: 10.1016/0042-6822(92)90696-M

We investigated comparatively the interactions of host cells with two types of rabies virus G protein, an avirulent type G (Gln) and a virulent type G (Arg) protein, having glutamine and arginine at position 333, respectively. For this purpose, we established four types of cell lines (referred to as G(Gln)-NA, G(Arg)-NA, G(Gln)-BHK, and G(Arg)-BHK cells, respectively) by transfecting either the G(Gln)-cDNA or G(Arg)-cDNA into two kinds of cells, murine neuroblastoma C1300 (clone NA) and nonneuronal BHK-21. Both G(Gln)-NA and G(Arg)-NA cells produced G proteins when they were treated with 5 m M sodium butyrate, but only G(Arg)-NA cells formed syncytia at the neutral pH, which was suppressed by anti-G antiserum. The sodium butyrate-treated G(Arg)-NA cells fused also with sodium butyrate-treated NA cells under coculture conditions, but neither with untreated NA cells nor with BHK-21 cells. On the other hand, both G(Gln)-BHK and G(Arg)-BHK cells constitutively produced G proteins, but no syncytium was produced at the neutral pH. G(Arg)-BHK cells, however, formed syncytia with the sodium butyrate-treated NA cells when they were cocultured. These results suggest that only G(Arg) has a potential ability to produce syncytia of NA cells regardless of cell types by which G(Arg) protein was produced and also suggest that a certain cellular factor(s) is required for the syncytium formation, the factor(s) which is lacking in BHK-21 and untreated NA cells but is produced by the sodium butyrate-treated NA cells.