Viruses are infectious agents that must infect the cells of living organisms in order to reproduce. They have relatively simple genomes which encode few proteins but can compensate for their simplicity by hijacking components of their cellular hosts. Arenaviruses, a family of zoonotic viruses carried by rodents, encode only 4 proteins. One of these proteins, Z, is responsible for several functions during the virus life cycle including driving the formation and release of new virus particles at the plasma membrane of infected cells. Relatively little is known about how this viral protein is regulated or the complement of host proteins it engages in order to produce new virus particles or augment Z's other functions. To address this gap in knowledge, mass spectrometry was used to identify phosphorylation sites in the Old World arenavirus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) Z protein. Phosphorylation sites were identified at serine 41 (S41) and tyrosine 88 (Y88). Functional studies using recombinant (r)LCMV containing mutations at these phosphorylation sites revealed that both were important for the production of defective interfering (DI) particles. DI particles are replication-incompetent virus particles that interfere with the production of infectious virus and mitigate its cytopathic effect. While a mutation that mimics phosphorylation at S41 reduced LCMV's ability to produce both infectious and DI particles, this mutation had a much stronger impact on DI particles. Production of DI particles in Y88-mutant rLCMV was drastically reduced while the impact on infectious virus was minimal. Y88 lies within a type of viral late domain (PPXY) also found in matrix proteins of several disparate virus families where it has been shown to drive infectious virus release by recruiting the membrane scission machinery of the cellular endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT). Inhibition of the ESCRT pathway drastically reduced LCMV DI particle but not infectious virus release indicating that Z's PPXY late domain and the cellular ESCRT complex are required specifically for the production of DI particles. Mass spectrometry was also used to identify host protein partners of Z as well as the host proteins recruited into virus particles for the New World arenavirus, Junin (JUNV). ESCRT complex proteins were enriched in JUNV virus-like particles (VLPs) and bona fide virions. In contrast to LCMV, inhibition of the ESCRT complex resulted in significantly less infectious JUNV release. This indicates that the ultimate role of ESCRT engagement by the Old World arenavirus, LCMV, differs from that of New World, JUNV. This work represents the first demonstration that a viral protein motif and the host machinery it engages selectively drive DI particle production independently of infectious virus. It also suggests that host cell kinases can dynamically regulate the production of DI particles through phosphorylation of Z. Finally, the late domain-mutant rLCMV generated in these studies represents the first LCMV strain known to produce undetectable levels of DI particles which provides the opportunity to assess the impact that a loss of DI particles has on the ability of LCMV to establish or maintain a persistent infection.

L’identification d’antiviraux à large spectre est un des défis majeurs de la rechercheactuelle en virologie. Une des stratégies les plus prometteuses consiste à cibler une interactionvirus/hôte conservée. Ainsi, avec la technique d’AlphaScreen® et le modèle d’interactionprotéine VI de l’Adénovirus (AdV)/Nedd4-2, nous avons réalisé un criblage biochimique àhaut débit contre l’interaction virus/hôte [LP]PxY/Nedd4, commune à différentes familles devirus. Nous avons trouvé des candidats inhibiteurs issus d’une banque de composés approuvéspar les agences de santé. Nous les avons testés, caractérisés et validé leur effet antiviral surdeux familles de virus totalement différentes. Ainsi, les composés C9 (Sulconazole) et C4(Flunarizine) que nous avons identifiés diminuent la réplication de l’AdV, un virus à ADNenveloppé et du virus de Marburg, un virus à ARN, non enveloppé de la famille desFiloviridae. Ces résultats ont permis de valider l’interaction [LP]PxY/Nedd4 comme unecible idéale d’un antiviral à large spectre et de proposer un repositionnement de ces moléculesC9 et C4 comme antiviraux potentiels. Nous avons également synthétisé de nouvellesmolécules analogues du composé C9 et démontré qu’elles étaient tout aussi efficaces que lecomposé lui-même sur la réplication de l’AdV. Ces résultats nous ont permis de présenter laclasse des dérivés imidazolés comme structure de base pour l’élaboration de nouveauxantiviraux, potentiellement à large spectre. / Broad-spectrum antiviral identification is considered as one of the major aims of theactual virology research and one strategy consists in targeting virus/host interaction. Using theAlphaScreen® technology and the adenoviral model protein VI/Nedd4-2, we performed highthroughputbiochemical screening targeting the [LP]PxY/Nedd4 interaction, a commoninteraction of different virus families. We identified candidate inhibitors from a librarycompound approved by health agencies. We tested, characterized and validated the antiviraleffect of those compounds on two very different virus families. Indeed, compounds C9(Sulconazole) and C4 (Flunarizine) decrease replication of the adenovirus, a DNA nonenvelopedvirus and the replication of the Marburg virus, an RNA enveloped virus from theFilovirus family. Taken together, those results permit us to validate the [LP]PxY/Nedd4interaction as good target for a broad spectrum antiviral and to propose the “repositioning” ofcompounds C4 and C9 as antivirals. Moreover, we have synthesized new analogues from C9showing similar effect on AdV replication compared to the original molecule (C9). Inconclusion, our work on developing new broad-spectrum antivirals highlights the possibilityto use imidazole derivatives as a new class of antiviral compounds.