TY  - JOUR
A1  - Merten, Christoph A.
A1  - Stitz, Jörn
A1  - Braun, Gundula
A1  - Medvedovska, Julia
A1  - Cichutek, Klaus
A1  - Buchholz, Christian
T1  - Fusoselect : cell-cell fusion activity engineered by directed evolution of a retroviral glycoprotein
T2  - Nucleic acids research
N2  - Membrane fusion plays a key role in many biological processes including vesicle trafficking, synaptic transmission, fertilization or cell entry of enveloped viruses. As a common feature the fusion process is mediated by distinct membrane proteins. We describe here "Fusoselect", a universal procedure allowing the identification and engineering of molecular determinants for cell–cell fusion-activity by directed evolution. The system couples cell–cell fusion with the release of retroviral particles, but can principally be applied to membrane proteins of non-viral origin as well. As a model system, we chose a γ-retroviral envelope protein, which naturally becomes fusion-active through proteolytic processing by the viral protease. The selection process evolved variants that, in contrast to the parental protein, mediated cell–cell fusion in absence of the viral protease. Detailed analysis of the variants revealed molecular determinants for fusion competence in the cytoplasmic tail (CT) of retroviral Env proteins and demonstrated the power of Fusoselect.
Y1  - 2006
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/37293
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-372936
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1408311/
SN  - 1362-4962
SN  - 0305-1048
N1  - Copyright © The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
VL  - 34
IS  - (5): e41
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -