Extracellular simian virus 40 transmits a signal that promotes virus enclosure within caveolae.

It was reported earlier that entry of simian virus 40 (SV40) into cells is promoted by a signal transmitted by the virus from the cell surface and that SV40 enters cells through caveolae. It is shown here that bound SV40 begins to partition into a caveolae-enriched Triton X-100-insoluble membrane fraction at 30 min postadsorption. Maximal levels of SV40 were seen in that fraction at 1 h. The sterol-binding agent nystatin, which selectively disrupts the cholesterol-enriched caveolae-containing membrane microdomain, selectively blocked the SV40-induced signal. This implies that the SV40 signal is transmitted from that membrane microdomain. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein, which was earlier shown to block the SV40-induced signal and infectious entry, did not block the partitioning of SV40 into the detergent-insoluble membrane fraction. This shows that the signal is not required for the translocation of SV40 to the detergent-insoluble membrane and is consistent with the finding that the signal is likely transmitted from that membrane microdomain. However, electron microscopy of the Triton X-100-insoluble membrane fraction showed that genistein caused SV40 particles to accumulate at the annuli or mouths of the caveolae. In contrast, most SV40 particles were found enclosed within caveolae in parallel samples from untreated control cells. Together, these results imply that SV40 initially binds to flat detergent-soluble membrane. The virus then translocates to a caveolae-containing detergent-insoluble membrane microdomain. From the flat portion of that membrane microdomain the virus induces a signal which promotes its entry into caveolae.