SIV infection of natural host species such as sooty mangabeys results in high viral replication without clinical signs of simian AIDS. Studying such infections is useful for identifying immunologic parameters that lead to AIDS in HIV-infected patients. Here we have demonstrated that acute, SIV-induced CD4(+) T cell depletion in sooty mangabeys does not result in immune dysfunction and progression to simian AIDS and that a population of CD3(+)CD4(-)CD8(-) T cells (double-negative T cells) partially compensates for CD4(+) T cell function in these animals. Passaging plasma from an SIV-infected sooty mangabey with very few CD4(+) T cells to SIV-negative animals resulted in rapid loss of CD4(+) T cells. Nonetheless, all sooty mangabeys generated SIV-specific antibody and T cell responses and maintained normal levels of plasma lipopolysaccharide. Moreover, all CD4-low sooty mangabeys elicited a de novo immune response following influenza vaccination. Such preserved immune responses as well as the low levels of immune activation observed in these animals were associated with the presence of double-negative T cells capable of producing Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokines. These studies indicate that SIV-infected sooty mangabeys do not appear to rely entirely on CD4(+) T cells to maintain immunity and identify double-negative T cells as a potential subset of cells capable of performing CD4(+) T cell-like helper functions upon SIV-induced CD4(+) T cell depletion in this species.

Rotavirus nonstructural protein 4 (NSP4) is known to function as an intracellular receptor at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) critical to viral morphogenesis and is the first characterized viral enterotoxin.Exogenously added NSP4 induces diarrhea in rodent pups and stimulates secretory chloride currents across intestinal segments as measured in Ussing chambers. Circular dichroism studies further reveal that intact NSP4 and the enterotoxic peptide (NSP4 114-135 ) that is located within the extended, C-terminal amphipathic helix preferentially interact with caveola-like model membranes. We now show colocalization of NSP4 and caveolin-1 in NSP4-transfected and rotavirus-infected mammalian cells in reticular structures surrounding the nucleus (likely ER), in the cytosol, and at the cell periphery by laser scanning confocal microscopy. A direct interaction between NSP4 residues 112 to 140 and caveolin-1 was determined by the Pro-Quest yeast twohybrid system with full-length NSP4 and seven overlapping deletion mutants as bait, caveolin-1 as prey, and vice versa. Coimmunoprecipitation of NSP4-caveolin-1 complexes from rotavirus-infected mammalian cells demonstrated that the interaction occurs during viral infection. Finally, binding of caveolin-1 from mammalian cell lysates to Sepharose-bound, NSP4-specific synthetic peptides confirmed the yeast two-hybrid data and further delineated the binding domain to amino acids 114 to 135. We propose that the association of NSP4 and caveolin-1 contributes to NSP4 intracellular trafficking from the ER to the cell surface and speculate that exogenously added NSP4 stimulates signaling molecules located in caveola microdomains.Rotaviruses (RV) cause severe, life-threatening gastroenteritis in children and animals worldwide and in immunocompromised and elderly adults (46). The RV genome is composed of 11 segments of double-stranded RNA that encodes five nonstructural and six structural proteins (17). Nonstructural protein 4 (NSP4), encoded by RV gene 10, initially was identified as an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmembrane glycoprotein essential to RV morphogenesis by serving as an intracellular receptor to double-layered particles (DLPs) (5,44,67,66). NSP4 residues 161 to 175 bind the outer coat protein (VP6) of the DLPs, which facilitates translocation into the ER and the addition of two viral proteins, VP7 and VP4, and a transient ER membrane (40,66,67); NSP4 is sufficient for the budding of DLPs into the ER lumen (33). The ER transient viral envelope is eventually removed by an unknown mechanism prior to virus release (40,44). Because the NSP4 sequence lacks classical ER retention signals and does not appear to be retrieved by retrograde transport and the two N-linked, high-mannose glycosylation sites remain sensitive to endoglycosidase H (endo H) digestion, the current tenet is that NSP4 does not enter or traffic through the Golgi (5, 16).In addition to facilitating RV maturation at the ER, NSP4 functions as the first described viral enterotoxin that induces diarrhea in neonatal...

Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus (PBCV-1) is a large double-stranded DNA virus that infects chlorellalike green algae. The virus encodes a homolog of eukaryotic ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) that was previously demonstrated to be capable of decarboxylating L-ornithine. However, the active site of this enzyme contains a key amino acid substitution (Glu for Asp) of a residue that interacts with the ␦-amino group of ornithine analogs in the x-ray structures of ODC. To determine whether this active-site change affects substrate specificity, kinetic analysis of the PBCV-1 decarboxylase (PBCV-1 DC) on three basic amino acids was undertaken. The k cat /K m for L-arginine is 550-fold higher than for either L-ornithine or L-lysine, which were decarboxylated with similar efficiency. In addition, ␣-difluoromethylarginine was a more potent inhibitor of the enzyme than ␣-difluoromethylornithine. Mass spectrometric analysis demonstrated that inactivation was consistent with the formation of a covalent adduct at Cys 347 . These data demonstrate that PBCV-1 DC should be reclassified as an arginine decarboxylase. The eukaryotic ODCs, as well as PBCV-1 DC, are only distantly related to the bacterial and plant arginine decarboxylases from their common ␤/␣-fold class; thus, the finding that PBCV-1 DC prefers L-arginine to L-ornithine was unexpected based on evolutionary analysis. Mutational analysis was carried out to determine whether the Asp-toGlu substitution at position 296 (position 332 in Trypanosoma brucei ODC) conferred the change in substrate specificity. This residue was found to be an important determinant of substrate binding for both Larginine and L-ornithine, but it is not sufficient to encode the change in substrate preference.

SIV-infected natural hosts do not progress to clinical AIDS yet display high viral replication and an acute immunologic response similar to pathogenic SIV/HIV infections. During chronic SIV infection, natural hosts suppress their immune activation, whereas pathogenic hosts display a highly activated immune state. Here, we review natural host SIV infections with an emphasis on specific immune cells and their contribution to the transition from the acute-to-chronic phases of infection.