Influenza a viruses with mutations in the M1 helix six domain display a wide variety of morphological phenotypes

Several functions required for the replication of influenza A viruses have been attributed to the viral matrix protein (M1), and a number of studies have focused on a region of the M1 protein designated "helix six." This region contains an exposed positively charged stretch of amino acids, including the motif 101-RKLKR-105, which has been identified as a nuclear localization signal, but several studies suggest that this domain is also involved in functions such as binding to the ribonucleoprotein genome segments (RNPs), membrane association, interaction with the viral nuclear export protein, and virus assembly. In order to define M1 functions in more detail, a series of mutants containing alanine substitutions in the helix six region were generated in A/WSN/33 virus. These were analyzed for RNP-binding function, their capacity to incorporate into infectious viruses by using reverse genetics, the replication properties of rescued viruses, and the morphological phenotypes of the mutant virus particles. The most notable effect that was identified concerned single amino acid substitution mutants that caused significant alterations to the morphology of budded viruses. Whereas A/WSN/33 virus generally forms particles that are predominantly spherical, observations made by negative stain electron microscopy showed that several of the mutant virions, such as K95A, K98A, R101A, and K102A, display a wide range of shapes and sizes that varied in a temperature-dependent manner. The K102A mutant is particularly interesting in that it can form extended filamentous particles. These results support the proposition that the helix six domain is involved in the process of virus assembly.