Identification of temperature-sensitive mutations in the phosphoprotein of respiratory syncytial virus that are likely involved in its interaction with the nucleoprotein.

The phosphoprotein (P) of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an essential component of the viral RNA polymerase, along with the large polymerase (L), nucleocapsid (N), and M2-1 proteins. By screening a randomly mutagenized P gene cDNA library, two independent mutations, one with a substitution of glycine at position 172 by serine (G172S) and the other with a substitution of glutamic acid at position 176 by glycine (E176G), were identified to result in the loss of N-P interaction at 37 degrees C in the yeast two-hybrid assay. Both P mutants exhibited greatly reduced activity in supporting the replication and transcription of an RSV minigenome replicon at 37 and 39 degrees C. The G172S and E176G mutations were introduced individually into the RSV A2 (rA2) antigenomic cDNA, and recombinant viruses, rA2-P172 and rA2-P176, were obtained. Both viruses replicate as well as wild-type A2 virus in both Vero and HEp-2 cells at 33 degrees C, but each mutant virus exhibited temperature-sensitive replication in both cell lines. rA2-P176 is more temperature sensitive than rA2-P172. Coimmunoprecipitation of the N protein with each P mutant from virus-infected cells demonstrates that N-P interaction is impaired at 37 degrees C. In addition, the levels of replication of rA2-P172 and rA2-P176 in the lungs of mice and cotton rats were reduced. As is the case with the in vitro assays, rA2-P176 is more restricted in replication in the lower respiratory tract of mice and cotton rats than rA2-P172. During in vitro passage at 37 degrees C, the E176G mutation in rA2-P176 was rapidly changed from glycine to predominantly aspartic acid; mutations to cysteine or serine were also detected. All of the revertants lost the temperature-sensitive phenotype. To analyze the importance of the amino acids in the region from positions 161 to 180 for the P protein function, additional mutations were introduced and their functions were analyzed in vitro. A double mutant containing both G172S and E176G changes in the P gene, substitution of the three charged residues at positions 174 to 176 by alanine, and a deletion of residues from positions 161 to 180 completely abolished the P protein function in the minigenome assay. Thus, the amino acids at positions 172 and 176 and the adjacent charged residues play critical roles in the function of the P protein.