Mobility-Based Quantification of Multivalent Virus-Receptor Interactions: New Insights Into Influenza A Virus Binding Mode.

Viruses, such as influenza A, typically bind to the plasma membrane of their host by engaging multiple membrane receptors in parallel, thereby forming so-called multivalent interactions that are created by the collective action of multiple weak ligand-receptor bonds. The overall interaction strength can be modulated by changing the number of engaged receptors. This feature is used by viruses to achieve a sufficiently firm attachment to the host's plasma membrane but also allows progeny viruses to leave the plasma membrane after completing the virus replication cycle. Design of strategies to prevent infection, for example, by disturbing these attachment and detachment processes upon application of antivirals, requires quantification of the underlying multivalent interaction in absence and presence of antivirals. This is still an unresolved problem, as there is currently no approach available that allows for determining the valency (i.e., of the number of receptors bound to a particular virus) on the level of single viruses under equilibrium conditions. Herein, we track the motion of single influenza A/X31 viruses (IAVs; interacting with the ganglioside GD1a incorporated in a supported lipid bilayer) using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy and show that IAV residence time distributions can be deconvoluted from valency effects by taking the IAV mobility into account. The so-derived off-rate distributions, expressed in dependence of an average, apparent valency, show the expected decrease in off-rate with increasing valency but also show an unexpected peak structure, which can be linked to a competition in the opposing functionalities of the two influenza A virus spike proteins, hemagglutinin (HA), and neuraminidase (NA). By application of the antiviral zanamivir that inhibits the activity of NA, we provide direct evidence, how the HA/NA balance modulates this virus-receptor interaction, allowing us to assess the inhibition concentration of zanamivir based on its effect on the multivalent interaction.