Aggregation of AcMNPV LEF-10 and Its Impact on Viral Late Gene Expression

PLoS One. 2016 May 6;11(5):e0154835. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154835. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

The Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) late expression factor gene lef-10 has been identified to be required for viral late gene expression by transient expression assay. Our previous work has shown that the gene product LEF-10 can form very stable high-molecular-weight complexes, but the structure and function of the protein remain unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that LEF-10 was essential for the replication of AcMNPV, and its truncated fragment containing amino acid residues 1 to 48 were sufficient to support the virus survival. Our data also suggested that the LEF-10 could spontaneously aggregate to form punctate spots in virus infected Sf9 cells at low frequency, and the aggregation of the protein could be induced by LEF-10 over-expression. When the protein aggregated to form punctate spots, soluble LEF-10 proteins were depleted and this could result in the down-regulation of viral late gene expression.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Viral*
  • Genes, Viral*
  • Insect Proteins / chemistry
  • Insect Proteins / genetics*
  • Nucleopolyhedroviruses / genetics*
  • Nucleopolyhedroviruses / physiology
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Sf9 Cells
  • Virus Replication / genetics

Substances

  • Insect Proteins

Grants and funding

This research was supported by Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Program No. 2011JM3002), a NWAFU Start-up grant, and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.