Hepatitis C Virus Envelope Glycoprotein E1 Forms Trimers at the Surface of the Virion

In hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected cells, the envelope glycoproteins E1 and E2 assemble as a heterodimer. To investigate potential changes in the oligomerization of virion-associated envelope proteins, we performed SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions but without thermal denaturation. This revealed the presence of SDS-resistant trimers of E1 in the context of cell-cultured HCV (HCVcc) as well as in the context of HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp). The formation of E1 trimers was found to depend on the coexpression of E2. To further understand the origin of E1 trimer formation, we coexpressed in bacteria the transmembrane (TM) domains of E1 (TME1) and E2 (TME2) fused to reporter proteins and analyzed the fusion proteins by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. As expected for strongly interacting TM domains, TME1–TME2 heterodimers resistant to SDS were observed. These analyses also revealed homodimers and homotrimers of TME1, indicating that such complexes are stable species. The N-terminal segment of TME1 exhibits a highly conserved GxxxG sequence, a motif that is well documented to be involved in intramembrane protein-protein interactions. Single or double mutations of the glycine residues (Gly354 and Gly358) in this motif markedly decreased or abrogated the formation of TME1 homotrimers in bacteria, as well as homotrimers of E1 in both HCVpp and HCVcc systems. A concomitant loss of infectivity was observed, indicating that the trimeric form of E1 is essential for virus infectivity. Taken together, these results indicate that E1E2 heterodimers form trimers on HCV particles, and they support the hypothesis that E1 could be a fusion protein.