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The morphogenesis of viruses belonging to the genus Enterovirus in the family Picornaviridae is still poorly understood despite decades-long investigations. However, we recently provided evidence that 2CATPase gives specificity to poliovirus encapsidation through an interaction with capsid protein VP3. The polypeptide 2CATPase is a highly conserved non-structural protein of enteroviruses with important roles in RNA replication, encapsidation and uncoating. We have identified a site (K279/R280) near the C terminus of the polypeptide that is required for morphogenesis. The aim of the current project was to search for additional functional sites near the C terminus of the 2CATPase polypeptide, with particular interest in those that are required for encapsidation. We selected for analysis a cysteine-rich site of the polypeptide and constructed four mutants in which cysteines or a histidine was changed to an alanine. The RNA transcripts were transfected into HeLa cells yielding two lethal, one temperature-sensitive and one quasi-infectious mutants. All four mutants exhibited normal protein translation in vitro and three of them possessed severe RNA replication defects. The quasi-infectious mutant (C286A) yielded variants with a pseudo-reversion at the original site (A286D), but some also contained one additional mutation: A138V or M293V. The temperature-sensitive mutant (C272A/H273A) exhibited an encapsidation and possibly also an uncoating defect at 37 °C. Variants of this mutant revealed suppressor mutations at three different sites in the 2CATPase polypeptide: A138V, M293V and K295R. We concluded that the cysteine-rich site near the C terminus of 2CATPase is involved in encapsidation, possibly through an interaction with an upstream segment located between boxes A and B of the nucleotide-binding domain.
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