Membrane Environment Can Enhance the Interaction of Glycan Binding Protein to Cell Surface Glycan Receptors

[Image: see text] The binding of lectins to glycan receptors on the host cell surface is a key step contributing to the virulence and species specificity of most viruses. This is exemplified by the viral protein hemagglutinin (HA) of the influenza A virus, whose binding specificity is modulated by the linkage pattern of terminal sialic acids on glycan receptors of host epithelial cells. Such specificity dictates whether transmission is confined to a particular animal species or jumps between species. Here, we show, using H5N1 avian influenza as a model, that the specific binding of recombinant HA to α2-3 linked sialic acids can be enhanced dramatically by interaction with the surface of the lipid membrane. This effect can be quantitatively accounted for by a two-stage process in which weak association of HA with the membrane surface precedes more specific and tighter binding to the glycan receptor. The weak protein–membrane interaction discovered here in the model system may play an important secondary role in the infection and pathogenesis of the influenza A virus.