The Hantaan virus glycoprotein precursor is cleaved at the conserved pentapeptide WAASA

The medium segment of the tripartite negative-stranded RNA genome of hantaviruses encodes for the predicted glycoprotein precursor GPC. We have demonstrated here the expression of the glycoprotein precursor of Hantaan virus following transfection of mammalian cells. The cleavage of the precursor into the glycoproteins G1 and G2 followed the rules for signal peptides and seemed to occur directly at the pentapeptide motif "WAASA." Our data indicate that the signal peptidase complex is responsible for the proteolytic processing of the precursor GPC of Hantaan virus. The comparison of this region of the glycoprotein precursor, including the absolutely conserved WAASA motif, suggests a similar cleavage event for all hantavirus glycoproteins. (C) 2001 Academic Press.