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The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization

The envelope (E) protein is a small polypeptide that can form ion channels in coronaviruses. In SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that caused the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and its predecessor SARS-CoV-1, E protein is found in the endoplasmic reticulum–Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC),...

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Autores principales: Surya, Wahyu, Tavares-Neto, Ernesto, Sanchis, Andrea, Queralt-Martín, María, Alcaraz, Antonio, Torres, Jaume, Aguilella, Vicente M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10420310/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37569828
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241512454
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author Surya, Wahyu
Tavares-Neto, Ernesto
Sanchis, Andrea
Queralt-Martín, María
Alcaraz, Antonio
Torres, Jaume
Aguilella, Vicente M.
author_facet Surya, Wahyu
Tavares-Neto, Ernesto
Sanchis, Andrea
Queralt-Martín, María
Alcaraz, Antonio
Torres, Jaume
Aguilella, Vicente M.
author_sort Surya, Wahyu
collection PubMed
description The envelope (E) protein is a small polypeptide that can form ion channels in coronaviruses. In SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that caused the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and its predecessor SARS-CoV-1, E protein is found in the endoplasmic reticulum–Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC), where virion budding takes place. Several reports claim that E protein promotes the formation of “cation-selective channels”. However, whether this term represents specificity to certain ions (e.g., potassium or calcium) or the partial or total exclusion of anions is debatable. Herein, we discuss this claim based on the available data for SARS-CoV-1 and -2 E and on new experiments performed using the untagged full-length E protein from SARS-CoV-2 in planar lipid membranes of different types, including those that closely mimic the ERGIC membrane composition. We provide evidence that the selectivity of the E-induced channels is very mild and depends strongly on lipid environment. Thus, despite past and recent claims, we found no indication that the E protein forms cation-selective channels that prevent anion transport, and even less that E protein forms bona fide specific calcium channels. In fact, the E channel maintains its multi-ionic non-specific neutral character even in concentrated solutions of Ca(2+) ions. Also, in contrast to previous studies, we found no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 E channel activation requires a particular voltage, high calcium concentrations or low pH, in agreement with available data from SARS-CoV-1 E. In addition, sedimentation velocity experiments suggest that the E channel population is mostly pentameric, but very dynamic and probably heterogeneous, consistent with the broad distribution of conductance values typically found in electrophysiological experiments. The latter has been explained by the presence of proteolipidic channel structures.
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spelling pubmed-104203102023-08-12 The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization Surya, Wahyu Tavares-Neto, Ernesto Sanchis, Andrea Queralt-Martín, María Alcaraz, Antonio Torres, Jaume Aguilella, Vicente M. Int J Mol Sci Article The envelope (E) protein is a small polypeptide that can form ion channels in coronaviruses. In SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that caused the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and its predecessor SARS-CoV-1, E protein is found in the endoplasmic reticulum–Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC), where virion budding takes place. Several reports claim that E protein promotes the formation of “cation-selective channels”. However, whether this term represents specificity to certain ions (e.g., potassium or calcium) or the partial or total exclusion of anions is debatable. Herein, we discuss this claim based on the available data for SARS-CoV-1 and -2 E and on new experiments performed using the untagged full-length E protein from SARS-CoV-2 in planar lipid membranes of different types, including those that closely mimic the ERGIC membrane composition. We provide evidence that the selectivity of the E-induced channels is very mild and depends strongly on lipid environment. Thus, despite past and recent claims, we found no indication that the E protein forms cation-selective channels that prevent anion transport, and even less that E protein forms bona fide specific calcium channels. In fact, the E channel maintains its multi-ionic non-specific neutral character even in concentrated solutions of Ca(2+) ions. Also, in contrast to previous studies, we found no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 E channel activation requires a particular voltage, high calcium concentrations or low pH, in agreement with available data from SARS-CoV-1 E. In addition, sedimentation velocity experiments suggest that the E channel population is mostly pentameric, but very dynamic and probably heterogeneous, consistent with the broad distribution of conductance values typically found in electrophysiological experiments. The latter has been explained by the presence of proteolipidic channel structures. MDPI 2023-08-05 /pmc/articles/PMC10420310/ /pubmed/37569828 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241512454 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Surya, Wahyu
Tavares-Neto, Ernesto
Sanchis, Andrea
Queralt-Martín, María
Alcaraz, Antonio
Torres, Jaume
Aguilella, Vicente M.
The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization
title The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization
title_full The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization
title_fullStr The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization
title_full_unstemmed The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization
title_short The Complex Proteolipidic Behavior of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein Channel: Weak Selectivity and Heterogeneous Oligomerization
title_sort complex proteolipidic behavior of the sars-cov-2 envelope protein channel: weak selectivity and heterogeneous oligomerization
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10420310/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37569828
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms241512454
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