Absence of accessory genes in a divergent simian T-lymphotropic virus type 1 isolated from a bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata)

Philippe V Afonso; Zahra Fagrouch; Martin Deijs; Henk Niphuis; Willy Bogers; Antoine Gessain; Lia van der Hoek; Ernst J Verschoor

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007521

Absence of accessory genes in a divergent simian T-lymphotropic virus type 1 isolated from a bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata)

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019 Jul 8;13(7):e0007521. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007521. eCollection 2019 Jul.

Authors

Philippe V Afonso¹, Zahra Fagrouch², Martin Deijs³, Henk Niphuis², Willy Bogers², Antoine Gessain¹, Lia van der Hoek³, Ernst J Verschoor²

Affiliations

¹ Unité EPVO, Institut Pasteur, UMR 3569 CNRS, Paris, France.
² Department of Virology, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, the Netherlands.
³ Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam UMC, University Of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Background: Primate T-lymphotropic viruses type 1 (PTLV-1) are complex retroviruses infecting both human (HTLV-1) and simian (STLV-1) hosts. They share common epidemiological, clinical and molecular features. In addition to the canonical gag, pol, env retroviral genes, PTLV-1 purportedly encodes regulatory (i.e. Tax, Rex, and HBZ) and accessory proteins (i.e. P12/8, P13, P30). The latter have been found essential for viral persistence in vivo.

Methodology/principal findings: We have isolated a STLV-1 virus from a bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata-Mra18C9), a monkey from India. The complete sequence was obtained and phylogenetic analyses were performed. The Mra18C9 strain is highly divergent from the known PTLV-1 strains. Intriguingly, the Mra18C9 lacks the 3 accessory open reading frames. In order to determine if the absence of accessory proteins is specific to this particular strain, a comprehensive analysis of the complete PTLV-1 genomes available in Genbank was performed and found that the lack of one or many accessory ORF is common among PTLV-1.

Conclusion: This study raises many questions regarding the actual nature, role and importance of accessory proteins in the PTLV-1 biology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Deltaretrovirus Infections / veterinary*
Deltaretrovirus Infections / virology
India
Macaca radiata / virology*
Open Reading Frames*
Phylogeny
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Simian T-lymphotropic virus 1 / genetics*
Simian T-lymphotropic virus 1 / isolation & purification
Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins / genetics*

Substances

Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins

Grants and funding

This study received funding from the “Investissement d’Avenir” as part of a “Laboratoire d’Excellence” (LabEx) French research program: Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ANR10-LBX-62 IBEID). It was also funded by an internal BPRC institutional grant. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.