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Retroviruses and Cell Fusions: Overview

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Cell Fusions

Abstract

Retroviruses are a large and diverse group of enveloped animal viruses. A metastable envelope protein (ENV) on the surface of virus particles harbors a machinery for receptor-dependent fusion of biological membranes as needed for viral entry. The basic mechanism that drives fusion is widely conserved among different groups of retroviruses, whereas the precise signals that trigger the activation of this machinery vary. The exact same processes that drive viral entry may also mediate cell–cell fusion in a receptor-dependent manner. Such fusion events that may lead to the formation of giant multinucleated cells have been widely observed in cultured cells exposed to retroviruses. However, their possible contribution to the spread and pathogenesis of retroviral infections in man and animals is unclear. By way of their mode of replication via a DNA-intermediate that is stably integrated in the chromosomal DNA of the host cell, retroviruses may also establish germ-line infections that can be vertically transmitted from parents to offspring. Such remnants of retroviral infections of our ancestors constitute 8% of the human genome. Some of these human endogenous retroviruses of more than 25 million years of age have selectively maintained the coding capacity for functional envelope proteins, which provides strong evidence that these envelope genes have been co-opted to serve a beneficial function for their host. Currently, three of these old envelope genes have been found to encode proteins that can mediate cell–cell fusions and at least two of the envelope proteins have been implicated in the generation of a multi-nucleated layer of cells in the placenta.

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Abbreviations

AIDS:

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome

ALV:

Avian leukosis virus

ASCT:

Alanine, serine and cysteine selective transporters

DC-SIGN:

Dendritic cell-specific ICAM-3-grabbing nonintegrin

enJSRV:

Endogenous JSRV

ENV:

Envelope protein

ERV:

Endogenous retrovirus

FeLV:

Feline leukemia virus

GLUT1:

Glucose transporter 1

HA:

Hemagglutinin

HERV:

Human endogenous retrovirus

HIV-1:

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1

HTLV-1:

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1

HYAL2:

Hyaluronidase 2

ISU:

Immunosuppressive domain

JSRV:

Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus

LTR:

Long terminal repeat

mCAT-1:

Mouse cationic amino acid transporter

MFSD2:

Major facilitator superfamily domain containing 2

MMTV:

Mouse mammary tumor virus

MLV:

Murine leukemia viruse

MPMV:

Mason-Pfizer monkey virus

Mya:

Million years ago

NHR CHR:

Coiled-coil – N- and C-terminal heptad repeat

ORF:

Open reading frame

Pit:

Sodium-dependent phosphate symporter

PRR:

Proline-rich region

RBD:

Receptor-binding domain

RSV:

Rous sarcoma virus

SFV:

Simian foamy virus

SIV:

Simian immunodeficiency virus

Smit-1:

Sodium-dependent myo-inositol transporter 1

SNP:

Single nucleotide polymorphism

SP:

Signal peptide

SU:

Surface subunit

TM:

Transmembrane subunit

WDSV:

Walleye dermal sarcoma virus

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  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Aarhus University, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Anders L. Kjeldbjerg, Shervin Bahrami & Finn Skou Pedersen

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  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Division of Cell Biology, University of Copenhagen, Gronnegaardsvej 7, Frederiksberg C, 1870, Denmark

    Lars-Inge Larsson

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Kjeldbjerg, A.L., Bahrami, S., Pedersen, F.S. (2011). Retroviruses and Cell Fusions: Overview. In: Larsson, LI. (eds) Cell Fusions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9772-9_2

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