Discrete viral E2 lysine residues and scavenger receptor MARCO are required for clearance of circulating alphaviruses
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, United States
- Colorado State University, United States
Abstract
The magnitude and duration of vertebrate viremia is a critical determinant of arbovirus transmission, geographic spread, and disease severity. We find that multiple alphaviruses, including chikungunya (CHIKV), Ross River (RRV), and o'nyong 'nyong (ONNV) viruses, are cleared from the circulation of mice by liver Kupffer cells, impeding viral dissemination. Clearance from the circulation was independent of natural antibodies or complement factor C3, and instead relied on scavenger receptor SR-A6 (MARCO). Remarkably, lysine to arginine substitutions at distinct residues within the E2 glycoproteins of CHIKV and ONNV (E2 K200R) as well as RRV (E2 K251R) allowed for escape from clearance and enhanced viremia and dissemination. Mutational analysis revealed that viral clearance from the circulation is strictly dependent on the presence of lysine at these positions. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized innate immune pathway that controls alphavirus viremia and dissemination in vertebrate hosts, ultimately influencing disease severity and likely transmission efficiency.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01 AI123348)
- Thomas E Morrison
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (F32 AI140567)
- Kathryn S Carpentier
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (T32 AI007405)
- Kathryn S Carpentier
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- John W Schoggins, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States
Ethics
Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocols (#00026) of the University of Colorado School of Medicine (Assurance Number A3269-01). Experimental animals were humanely euthanized at defined endpoints by exposure to isoflurane vapors followed by thoracotomy.
Version history
- Received: June 7, 2019
- Accepted: October 4, 2019
- Accepted Manuscript published: October 9, 2019 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: November 8, 2019 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2019, Carpentier et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Discrete viral E2 lysine residues and scavenger receptor MARCO are required for clearance of circulating alphaviruses
eLife 8:e49163.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49163
