Membrane Fusion by Single Influenza Hemagglutinin Trimers

Influenza hemagglutinin, the receptor-binding and membrane fusion protein of the virus, is a prototypic model for studies of biological membrane fusion in general. To elucidate the minimum number of hemagglutinin trimers needed for fusion, the kinetics of fusion induced by reconstituted vesicles of hemagglutinin was studied by using single-vesicle image analysis. The surface density of hemagglutinin fusion-activity sites on the vesicles was varied, while keeping the surface density of receptor-binding activity sites constant, by co-reconstitution of the fusogenic form of hemagglutinin, HA1,2, and the non-fusogenic form, HA0, at various HA1,2:(HA1,2 + HA0) ratios. The rate of fusion between the hemagglutinin vesicles containing a fluorescent lipid probe, octadecylrhodamine B, and red blood cell ghost membranes was estimated from the time distribution of fusion events of single vesicles observed by fluorescence microscopy. The best fit of a log-log plot of fusion rate versus the surface density of HA1,2 exhibited a slope of 0.85, strongly supporting the hypothesis that single hemagglutinin trimers are sufficient for fusion. When only HA1,2 (without HA0) was reconstituted on vesicles, the dependence of fusion rate on the surface density of HA1,2 was distinct from that for the HA1,2-HA0 co-reconstitution. The latter result suggested interference with fusion activity by hemagglutinin-receptor binding, without having to assume a fusion mechanism involving multiple hemagglutinin trimers.

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