The distal short consensus repeats 1 and 2 of the membrane cofactor protein CD46 and their distance from the cell membrane determine productive entry of species B adenovirus serotype 35.

The human regulator of complement activation membrane cofactor protein (CD46) has recently been identified as an attachment receptor for most species B adenoviruses (Ads), including Ad type 3 (Ad3), Ad11, and Ad35, as well as species D Ad37. To characterize the interaction between Ad35 and CD46, hybrid receptors composed of different CD46 short consensus repeat (SCR) domains fused to immunoglobulin-like domains of CD4 and a set of 36 CD46 mutants containing semiconservative changes of single amino acids within SCR domains I and II were tested in binding and in Ad35-mediated luciferase transduction assays. In addition, anti-CD46 antibodies and soluble polypeptides constituting various CD46 domains were used in binding inhibition studies. Our data indicate that (i) CD46 SCR I or SCR II alone confers low but significant Ad35 binding; (ii) the presence of SCR I and II is required for optimal binding and transgene expression; (iii) transduction efficiencies equivalent to that of full-length CD46 are obtained if SCR I and II are at an appropriate distance from the cell membrane; (iv) ablation of the N-glycan attached to SCR I has no influence on receptor function, whereas ablation of the SCR II N-glycan results in about a two- to threefold reduction of binding and transgene expression; (v) most putative Ad35 binding residues are located on the same solvent-exposed face of the SCR I or SCR II domain, which are twisted by about 90 degrees ; and (vi) the putative Ad35 binding sites partly overlap with the measles virus binding surface.