A set of proposals to rationalize and extend the taxonomy of the family Parvoviridae is currently under review by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Viruses in this family infect a wide range of hosts, as reflected by the longstanding division into two subfamilies: the Parvovirinae, which contains viruses that infect vertebrate hosts, and the Densovirinae, encompassing viruses that infect arthropod hosts. Using a modified definition for classification into the family that no longer demands isolation as long as the biological context is strong, but does require a near-complete DNA sequence, 134 new viruses and virus variants were identified. The proposals introduce new species and genera into both subfamilies, resolve one misclassified species, and improve taxonomic clarity by employing a series of systematic changes. These include identifying a precise level of sequence similarity required for viruses to belong to the same genus and decreasing the level of sequence similarity required for viruses to belong to the same species. These steps will facilitate recognition of the major phylogenetic branches within genera and eliminate the confusion caused by the near-identity of species and viruses. Changes to taxon nomenclature will establish numbered, non-Latinized binomial names for species, indicating genus affiliation and host range rather than recapitulating virus names. Also, affixes will be included in the names of genera to clarify subfamily affiliation and reduce the ambiguity that results from the vernacular use of “parvovirus” and “densovirus” to denote multiple taxon levels.

Recombinant adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) vectors are in use in several Phase I/II clinical trials, but relatively large vector doses are needed to achieve therapeutic benefits. Large vector doses also trigger an immune response as a significant fraction of the vectors fails to traffic efficiently to the nucleus and is targeted for degradation by the host cell proteasome machinery. We have reported that epidermal growth factor receptor protein tyrosine kinase (EGFR-PTK) signaling negatively affects transduction by AAV2 vectors by impairing nuclear transport of the vectors. We have also observed that EGFR-PTK can phosphorylate AAV2 capsids at tyrosine residues. Tyrosine-phosphorylated AAV2 vectors enter cells efficiently but fail to transduce effectively, in part because of ubiquitination of AAV capsids followed by proteasome-mediated degradation. We reasoned that mutations of the surface-exposed tyrosine residues might allow the vectors to evade phosphorylation and subsequent ubiquitination and, thus, prevent proteasome-mediated degradation. Here, we document that site-directed mutagenesis of surface-exposed tyrosine residues leads to production of vectors that transduce HeLa cells ≈10-fold more efficiently in vitro and murine hepatocytes nearly 30-fold more efficiently in vivo at a log lower vector dose. Therapeutic levels of human Factor IX (F.IX) are also produced at an ≈10-fold reduced vector dose. The increased transduction efficiency of tyrosine-mutant vectors is due to lack of capsid ubiquitination and improved intracellular trafficking to the nucleus. These studies have led to the development of AAV vectors that are capable of high-efficiency transduction at lower doses, which has important implications in their use in human gene therapy.

Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) has proven to be a valuable vector for gene therapy. Characterization of the functional domains of the AAV capsid proteins can facilitate our understanding of viral tissue tropism, immunoreactivity, viral entry, and DNA packaging, all of which are important issues for generating improved vectors. To obtain a comprehensive genetic map of the AAV capsid gene, we have constructed 93 mutants at 59 different positions in the AAV capsid gene by site-directed mutagenesis. Several types of mutants were studied, including epitope tag or ligand insertion mutants, alanine scanning mutants, and epitope substitution mutants. Analysis of these mutants revealed eight separate phenotypes. Infectious titers of the mutants revealed four classes. Class 1 mutants were viable, class 2 mutants were partially defective, class 3 mutants were temperature sensitive, and class 4 mutants were noninfectious. Further analysis revealed some of the defects in the class 2, 3, and 4 mutants. Among the class 4 mutants, a subset completely abolished capsid formation. These mutants were located predominantly, but not exclusively, in what are likely to be ␤-barrel structures in the capsid protein VP3. Two of these mutants were insertions at the N and C termini of VP3, suggesting that both ends of VP3 play a role that is important for capsid assembly or stability. Several class 2 and 3 mutants produced capsids that were unstable during purification of viral particles. One mutant, R432A, made only empty capsids, presumably due to a defect in packaging viral DNA. Additionally, five mutants were defective in heparan binding, a step that is believed to be essential for viral entry. These were distributed into two amino acid clusters in what is likely to be a cell surface loop in the capsid protein VP3. The first cluster spanned amino acids 509 to 522; the second was between amino acids 561 and 591. In addition to the heparan binding clusters, hemagglutinin epitope tag insertions identified several other regions that were on the surface of the capsid. These included insertions at amino acids 1, 34, 138, 266, 447, 591, and 664. Positions 1 and 138 were the N termini of VP1 and VP2, respectively; position 34 was exclusively in VP1; the remaining surface positions were located in putative loop regions of VP3. The remaining mutants, most of them partially defective, were presumably defective in steps of viral entry that were not tested in the preliminary screening, including intracellular trafficking, viral uncoating, or coreceptor binding. Finally, in vitro experiments showed that insertion of the serpin receptor ligand in the N-terminal regions of VP1 or VP2 can change the tropism of AAV. Our results provide information on AAV capsid functional domains and are useful for future design of AAV vectors for targeting of specific tissues.

The adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) uses heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) as its primary cellular receptor. In order to identify amino acids within the capsid of AAV2 that contribute to HSPG association, we used biochemical information about heparin and heparin sulfate, AAV serotype protein sequence alignments, and data from previous capsid studies to select residues for mutagenesis. Charged-to-alanine substitution mutagenesis was performed on individual residues and combinations of basic residues for the production and purification of recombinant viruses that contained a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene cassette. Intact capsids were assayed for their ability to bind to heparin-agarose in vitro, and virions that packaged DNA were assayed for their ability to transduce normally permissive cell lines. We found that mutation of arginine residues at position 585 or 588 eliminated binding to heparin-agarose. Mutation of residues R484, R487, and K532 showed partial binding to heparin-agarose. We observed a general correlation between heparin-agarose binding and infectivity as measured by GFP transduction; however, a subset of mutants that partially bound heparin-agarose (R484A and K532A) were completely noninfectious, suggesting that they had additional blocks to infectivity that were unrelated to heparin binding. Conservative mutation of positions R585 and R588 to lysine slightly reduced heparin-agarose binding and had comparable effects on infectivity. Substitution of AAV2 residues 585 through 590 into a location predicted to be structurally equivalent in AAV5 generated a hybrid virus that bound to heparin-agarose efficiently and was able to package DNA but was noninfectious. Taken together, our results suggest that residues R585 and R588 are primarily responsible for heparin sulfate binding and that mutation of these residues has little effect on other aspects of the viral life cycle. Interactive computer graphics examination of the AAV2 VP3 atomic coordinates revealed that residues which contribute to heparin binding formed a cluster of five basic amino acids that presented toward the icosahedral threefold axis from the surrounding spike protrusion. Three other kinds of mutants were identified. Mutants R459A, H509A, and H526A/K527A bound heparin at levels comparable to that of wild-type virus but were defective for transduction. Another mutant, H358A, was defective for capsid assembly. Finally, an R459A mutant produced significantly lower levels of full capsids, suggesting a packaging defect.The adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) is a small, nonenveloped parvovirus that has received considerable attention as a gene therapy vector (reviewed in reference 31). The capsid has a diameter of approximately 24 nm and is formed by an icosahedral lattice with Tϭ1 symmetry (60 structurally equivalent subunits) (25, 53). In purified virions, three structural proteins, namely, VP1, VP2, and VP3, with molecular masses of 87, 73, and 62 kDa, respectively, are present in a molar ratio of 1:1:18 (5). mRNAs e...

Members of the family Parvoviridae are small, resilient, non-enveloped viruses with linear, single-stranded DNA genomes of 4–6 kb. Viruses in two subfamilies, the Parvovirinae and Densovirinae , are distinguished primarily by their respective ability to infect vertebrates (including humans) versus invertebrates. Being genetically limited, most parvoviruses require actively dividing host cells and are host and/or tissue specific. Some cause diseases, which range from subclinical to lethal. A few require co-infection with helper viruses from other families. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the Parvoviridae , which is available at www.ictv.global/report/parvoviridae .

Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are being developed as gene therapy vectors, and their efficacy could be improved by a detailed understanding of their viral capsid structures. AAV serotype 8 (AAV8) shows a significantly greater liver transduction efficiency than those of other serotypes, which has resulted in efforts to develop this virus as a gene therapy vector for hemophilia A and familial hypercholesterolemia. Pseudotyping studies show that the differential tissue tropism and transduction efficiencies exhibited by the AAVs result from differences in their capsid viral protein (VP) amino acids. Towards identifying the structural features underpinning these disparities, we report the crystal structure of the AAV8 viral capsid determined to 2.6-Å resolution. The overall topology of its common overlapping VP is similar to that previously reported for the crystal structures of AAV2 and AAV4, with an eight-stranded ␤-barrel and long loops between the ␤-strands. The most significant structural differences between AAV8 and AAV2 (the best-characterized serotype) are located on the capsid surface at protrusions surrounding the two-, three-, and fivefold axes at residues reported to control transduction efficiency and antibody recognition for AAV2. In addition, a comparison of the AAV8 and AAV2 capsid surface amino acids showed a reduced distribution of basic charge for AAV8 at the mapped AAV2 heparin sulfate receptor binding region, consistent with an observed non-heparin-binding phenotype for AAV8. Thus, this AAV8 structure provides an additional platform for mutagenesis efforts to characterize AAV capsid regions responsible for differential cellular tropism, transduction, and antigenicity for these promising gene therapy vectors.

The adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) can package and deliver foreign DNA into cells for corrective gene delivery applications. The AAV serotypes have distinct cell binding, transduction, and antigenic characteristics that have been shown to be dictated by the capsid viral protein (VP) sequence. To understand the contribution of capsid structure to these properties, we have determined the crystal structure of AAV serotype 4 (AAV4), one of the most diverse serotypes with respect to capsid protein sequence and antigenic reactivity. Structural comparison of AAV4 to AAV2 shows conservation of the core ␤ strands (␤B to ␤I) and helical (␣A) secondary structure elements, which also exist in all other known parvovirus structures. However, surface loop variations (I to IX), some containing compensating structural insertions and deletions in adjacent regions, result in local topological differences on the capsid surface. These include AAV4 having a deeper twofold depression, wider and rounder protrusions surrounding the threefold axes, and a different topology at the top of the fivefold channel from that of AAV2. Also, the previously observed "valleys" between the threefold protrusions, containing AAV2's heparin binding residues, are narrower in AAV4. The observed differences in loop topologies at subunit interfaces are consistent with the inability of AAV2 and AAV4 VPs to combine for mosaic capsid formation in efforts to engineer novel tropisms. Significantly, all of the surface loop variations are associated with amino acids reported to affect receptor recognition, transduction, and anticapsid antibody reactivity for AAV2. This observation suggests that these capsid regions may also play similar roles in the other AAV serotypes.Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), which are members of the Dependovirus genus of the Parvoviridae, are helper-dependent parvoviruses isolated from a number of different species, including humans (50). Despite a requirement for coinfection with a helper virus, such as adenovirus or herpesvirus, for productive replication, AAV capsids are similar to those of the autonomous parvoviruses, with Tϭ1 icosahedral symmetry and an overall diameter of ϳ260 Å that encapsulates a singlestranded-DNA (ssDNA) genome of ϳ5,000 bases (9,40,53,62,70). The capsid consists of three overlapping viral proteins (VPs), namely, VP1 (90 kDa), VP2 (72 kDa), and VP3 (60 kDa), at a ratio of 1:1:10, that are generated by alternative splicing and translational initiation during productive infection. VP3 constitutes 90% of the capsid, but all three proteins contain a common C-terminal domain of about 530 amino acids.Recombinant gene transfer vectors based on AAV serotype 2 (AAV2) have proven effective in animal models for the correction of genetic diseases of the eye, brain, muscle, liver, and lung (e.g., see references 18-20, 26, and 58), with human clinical trials now under way for the correction of several diseases. However, numerous studies, including those that use "pseudotyped" capsids, in which AAV vectors are generated usin...

The presence of the glycine-rich sequence in the fivefold channels of MVMi provides a possible mechanism to explain how the unique N-terminal region of VP1 becomes externalized in infectious parvovirions. Residues that determine tropism may form an attachment recognition site for a secondary host-cell factor that modulates tissue specificity. The ordering of nucleotides in a similar region of the interior surface in the CPV and MVMi capsids suggests the existence of a genomic DNA-recognition site within the parvoviral capsid.