Transport mechanisms of SARS-CoV-E viroporin in calcium solutions: Lipid-dependent Anomalous Mole Fraction Effect and regulation of pore conductance

The envelope protein E of the SARS-CoV coronavirus is an archetype of viroporin. It is a small hydrophobic protein displaying ion channel activity that has proven highly relevant in virus-host interaction and virulence. Ion transport through E channel was shown to alter Ca(2+) homeostasis in the cell and trigger inflammation processes. Here, we study transport properties of the E viroporin in mixed solutions of potassium and calcium chloride that contain a fixed total concentration (mole fraction experiments). The channel is reconstituted in planar membranes of different lipid compositions, including a lipid mixture that mimics the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) membrane where the virus localizes within the cell. We find that the E ion conductance changes non-monotonically with the total ionic concentration displaying an Anomalous Mole Fraction Effect (AMFE) only when charged lipids are present in the membrane. We also observe that E channel insertion in ERGIC-mimic membranes – including lipid with intrinsic negative curvature – enhances ion permeation at physiological concentrations of pure CaCl(2) or KCl solutions, with a preferential transport of Ca(2+) in mixed KCl-CaCl(2) solutions. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that the presence of calcium modulates the transport properties of the E channel by interacting preferentially with charged lipids through different mechanisms including direct Coulombic interactions and possibly inducing changes in membrane morphology.