The Ebola virus VP40 matrix layer undergoes endosomal disassembly essential for membrane fusion.

Ebola viruses (EBOVs) assemble into filamentous virions, whose shape and stability are determined by the matrix viral protein 40 (VP40). Virus entry into host cells occurs via membrane fusion in late endosomes; however, the mechanism of how the remarkably long virions undergo uncoating, including virion disassembly and nucleocapsid release into the cytosol, remains unknown. Here, we investigate the structural architecture of EBOVs entering host cells and discover that the VP40 matrix disassembles prior to membrane fusion. We reveal that VP40 disassembly is caused by the weakening of VP40-lipid interactions driven by low endosomal pH that equilibrates passively across the viral envelope without a dedicated ion channel. We further show that viral membrane fusion depends on VP40 matrix integrity, and its disassembly reduces the energy barrier for fusion stalk formation. Thus, pH-driven structural remodeling of the VP40 matrix acts as a molecular switch coupling viral matrix uncoating to membrane fusion during EBOV entry.

Glucosylceramide in bunyavirus particles is essential for virus binding to host cells.

Hexosylceramides (HexCer) are implicated in the infection process of various pathogens. However, the molecular and cellular functions of HexCer in infectious cycles are poorly understood. Investigating the enveloped virus Uukuniemi (UUKV), a bunyavirus of the Phenuiviridae family, we performed a lipidomic analysis with mass spectrometry and determined the lipidome of both infected cells and derived virions. We found that UUKV alters the processing of HexCer to glycosphingolipids (GSL) in infected cells. The infection resulted in the overexpression of glucosylceramide (GlcCer) synthase (UGCG) and the specific accumulation of GlcCer and its subsequent incorporation into viral progeny. UUKV and several pathogenic bunyaviruses relied on GlcCer in the viral envelope for binding to various host cell types. Overall, our results indicate that GlcCer is a structural determinant of virions crucial for bunyavirus infectivity. This study also highlights the importance of glycolipids on virions in facilitating interactions with host cell receptors and infectious entry of enveloped viruses.

Structures of an unusual 3-hydroxyacyl dehydratase (FabZ) from a ladderane-producing organism with an unexpected substrate preference.

The genomes of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria contain a gene cluster comprising genes of unusual fatty acid biosynthesis enzymes that were suggested to be involved in the synthesis of the unique "ladderane" lipids produced by these organisms. This cluster encodes an acyl carrier protein (denoted as "amxACP") and a variant of FabZ, an ACP-3-hydroxyacyl dehydratase. In this study, we characterize this enzyme, which we call anammox-specific FabZ ("amxFabZ"), to investigate the unresolved biosynthetic pathway of ladderane lipids. We find that amxFabZ displays distinct sequence differences to "canonical" FabZ, such as a bulky, apolar residue on the inside of the substrate-binding tunnel, where the canonical enzyme has a glycine. Additionally, substrate screens suggest that amxFabZ efficiently converts substrates with acyl chain lengths of up to eight carbons, whereas longer substrates are converted much more slowly under the conditions used. We also present crystal structures of amxFabZs, mutational studies and the structure of a complex between amxFabZ and amxACP, which show that the structures alone cannot explain the apparent differences from canonical FabZ. Moreover, we find that while amxFabZ does dehydrate substrates bound to amxACP, it does not convert substrates bound to canonical ACP of the same anammox organism. We discuss the possible functional relevance of these observations in the light of proposals for the mechanism for ladderane biosynthesis.

The Art of Viral Membrane Fusion and Penetration.

As obligate pathogens, viruses have developed diverse mechanisms to deliver their genome across host cell membranes to sites of virus replication. While enveloped viruses utilize viral fusion proteins to accomplish fusion of their envelope with the cellular membrane, non-enveloped viruses rely on machinery that causes local membrane ruptures and creates an opening through which the capsid or viral genome is released. Both membrane fusion and membrane penetration take place at the plasma membrane or in intracellular compartments, often involving the engagement of the cellular machinery and antagonism of host restriction factors. Enveloped and non-enveloped viruses have evolved intricate mechanisms to enable virus uncoating and modulation of membrane fusion in a spatiotemporally controlled manner. This chapter summarizes and discusses the current state of understanding of the mechanisms of viral membrane fusion and penetration. The focus is on the role of lipids, viral scaffold uncoating, viral membrane fusion inhibitors, and host restriction factors as physicochemical modulators. In addition, recent advances in visualizing and detecting viral membrane fusion and penetration using cryo-electron microscopy methods are presented.

Structure and dynamics of the quaternary hunchback mRNA translation repression complex.

A key regulatory process during Drosophila development is the localized suppression of the hunchback mRNA translation at the posterior, which gives rise to a hunchback gradient governing the formation of the anterior-posterior body axis. This suppression is achieved by a concerted action of Brain Tumour (Brat), Pumilio (Pum) and Nanos. Each protein is necessary for proper Drosophila development. The RNA contacts have been elucidated for the proteins individually in several atomic-resolution structures. However, the interplay of all three proteins during RNA suppression remains a long-standing open question. Here, we characterize the quaternary complex of the RNA-binding domains of Brat, Pum and Nanos with hunchback mRNA by combining NMR spectroscopy, SANS/SAXS, XL/MS with MD simulations and ITC assays. The quaternary hunchback mRNA suppression complex comprising the RNA binding domains is flexible with unoccupied nucleotides functioning as a flexible linker between the Brat and Pum-Nanos moieties of the complex. Moreover, the presence of the Pum-HD/Nanos-ZnF complex has no effect on the equilibrium RNA binding affinity of the Brat RNA binding domain. This is in accordance with previous studies, which showed that Brat can suppress mRNA independently and is distributed uniformly throughout the embryo.

Dual-axis Volta phase plate cryo-electron tomography of Ebola virus-like particles reveals actin-VP40 interactions.

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is a pivotal imaging technique for studying the structure of pleomorphic enveloped viruses and their interactions with the host at native conditions. Owing to the limited tilting range of samples with a slab geometry, electron tomograms suffer from so-called missing wedge information in Fourier space. In dual-axis cryo-ET, two tomograms reconstructed from orthogonally oriented tilt series are combined into a tomogram with improved resolution as the missing wedge information is reduced to a pyramid. Volta phase plate (VPP) allows to perform in-focus cryo-ET with high contrast transfer at low-resolution frequencies and thus its application may improve the quality of dual-axis tomograms. Here, we compare dual-axis cryo-ET with and without VPP on Ebola virus-like particles to visualize and segment viral and host cell proteins within the membrane-enveloped filamentous particles. Dual-axis VPP cryo-ET reduces the missing wedge information and ray artifacts arising from the weighted back-projection during tomogram reconstruction, thereby minimizing ambiguity in the analysis of crowded environments and facilitating 3D segmentation. We show that dual-axis VPP tomograms provide a comprehensive description of macromolecular organizations such as nucleocapsid assembly states, the distribution of glycoproteins on the viral envelope and asymmetric arrangements of the VP40 layer in non-filamentous regions of virus-like particles. Our data reveal actin filaments within virus-like particles in close proximity to the viral VP40 scaffold, suggesting a direct interaction between VP40 and actin filaments. Dual-axis VPP cryo-ET provides more complete 3D information at high contrast and allows for better interpretation of macromolecule interactions and pleomorphic organizations.

Cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy workflow for cryo-focused ion beam milled adherent cells.

In situ cryo-electron tomography of cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) milled cells enables the study of cellular organelles in unperturbed conditions and close to the molecular resolution. However, due to the crowdedness of the cellular environment, the identification of individual macromolecular complexes either on organelles or inside the cytosol in cryo-electron tomograms is challenging. Cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy (cryo-CLEM) employs a fluorescently labeled feature of interest imaged by cryo-light microscopy that is correlated to cryo-electron microscopy maps of cryo-FIB milled lamellae using correlation markers discernable by both imaging methods. Here, we provide a protocol for a post-correlation on-lamella cryo-CLEM approach for localization of fluorescently labeled organelles of interest in cryo-lamellae after cryo-FIB milling and tomography of adherent plunge frozen cells.

Post-correlation on-lamella cryo-CLEM reveals the membrane architecture of lamellar bodies.

Lamellar bodies (LBs) are surfactant-rich organelles in alveolar cells. LBs disassemble into a lipid-protein network that reduces surface tension and facilitates gas exchange in the alveolar cavity. Current knowledge of LB architecture is predominantly based on electron microscopy studies using disruptive sample preparation methods. We established and validated a post-correlation on-lamella cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy approach for cryo-FIB milled cells to structurally characterize and validate the identity of LBs in their unperturbed state. Using deconvolution and 3D image registration, we were able to identify fluorescently labeled membrane structures analyzed by cryo-electron tomography. In situ cryo-electron tomography of A549 cells as well as primary Human Small Airway Epithelial Cells revealed that LBs are composed of membrane sheets frequently attached to the limiting membrane through "T"-junctions. We report a so far undescribed outer membrane dome protein complex (OMDP) on the limiting membrane of LBs. Our data suggest that LB biogenesis is driven by parallel membrane sheet import and by the curvature of the limiting membrane to maximize lipid storage capacity.

SARS-CoV-2 structure and replication characterized by in situ cryo-electron tomography.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the COVID19 pandemic, is a highly pathogenic ß-coronavirus. As other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is enveloped, replicates in the cytoplasm and assembles at intracellular membranes. Here, we structurally characterize the viral replication compartment and report critical insights into the budding mechanism of the virus, and the structure of extracellular virions close to their native state by in situ cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging. We directly visualize RNA filaments inside the double membrane vesicles, compartments associated with viral replication. The RNA filaments show a diameter consistent with double-stranded RNA and frequent branching likely representing RNA secondary structures. We report that assembled S trimers in lumenal cisternae do not alone induce membrane bending but laterally reorganize on the envelope during virion assembly. The viral ribonucleoprotein complexes (vRNPs) are accumulated at the curved membrane characteristic for budding sites suggesting that vRNP recruitment is enhanced by membrane curvature. Subtomogram averaging shows that vRNPs are distinct cylindrical assemblies. We propose that the genome is packaged around multiple separate vRNP complexes, thereby allowing incorporation of the unusually large coronavirus genome into the virion while maintaining high steric flexibility between the vRNPs.

SARS-CoV-2 RNA Extraction Using Magnetic Beads for Rapid Large-Scale Testing by RT-qPCR and RT-LAMP.

Rapid large-scale testing is essential for controlling the ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The standard diagnostic pipeline for testing SARS-CoV-2 presence in patients with an ongoing infection is predominantly based on pharyngeal swabs, from which the viral RNA is extracted using commercial kits, followed by reverse transcription and quantitative PCR detection. As a result of the large demand for testing, commercial RNA extraction kits may be limited and, alternatively, non-commercial protocols are needed. Here, we provide a magnetic bead RNA extraction protocol that is predominantly based on in-house made reagents and is performed in 96-well plates supporting large-scale testing. Magnetic bead RNA extraction was benchmarked against the commercial QIAcube extraction platform. Comparable viral RNA detection sensitivity and specificity were obtained by fluorescent and colorimetric reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) using a primer set targeting the N gene, as well as RT-qPCR using a primer set targeting the E gene, showing that the RNA extraction protocol presented here can be combined with a variety of detection methods at high throughput. Importantly, the presented diagnostic workflow can be quickly set up in a laboratory without access to an automated pipetting robot.