Characterization and application of monoclonal antibodies to bovine viral diarrhea virus nonstructural protein 5A

Analysis for codon usage bias in membrane anchor of nonstructural protein 5A from BVDV

The nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) of the bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a monotopic membrane protein. This protein can anchor to the cell membrane by an in-plane amphipathic ⍺-helix, which participates in the viral replication complex. In this study, the effects of synonymous codon usage pattern of NS5A and the overall transfer RNA (tRNA) abundance in cells on the formation of the in-plane membrane anchor of NS5A were analyzed, based on NS5A coding sequences of different BVDV genotypes. BVDV NS5A coding sequences represent the most potential for BVDV genotyping. Moreover, the nucleotide usage of BVDV NS5A dominates the genotype-specific pattern of synonymous codon usage. There is an obvious relationship between synonymous codon usage bias and the spatial conformation of the in-plane membrane anchor. Furthermore, the overall tRNA abundance profiling displays that codon positions with a high level of tRNA abundance are more than ones with a low level of tRNA abundance in the in-plane membrane anchor, implying that high translation speed probably acts on the spatial conformation of in-plane membrane anchor of BVDV NS5A. These results give a new opinion on the effect of codon usage bias in the formation of the in-plane membrane anchor of BVDV NS5A.

Stability of the resistance to the thiosemicarbazone derived from 5,6-dimethoxy-1-indanone, a non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor of bovine viral diarrhea virus

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is the prototype Pestivirus. BVDV infection is distributed worldwide and causes serious problems for the livestock industry. The thiosemicarbazone of 5,6-dimethoxy-1-indanone (TSC) is a non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor (NNI) of BVDV. All TSC-resistant BVDV variants (BVDV-TSC^r T_1–5) present an N264D mutation in the NS5B gene (RdRp) whereas the variant BVDV-TSC^r T₁ also presents an NS5B A392E mutation. In the present study, we carried out twenty passages of BVDV-TSC^r T_1–5 in MDBK cells in the absence of TSC to evaluate the stability of the resistance. The viral populations obtained (BVDV R_1–5) remained resistant to the antiviral compound and conserved the mutations in NS5B associated with this phenotype. Along the passages, BVDV R₂, R₃ and R₅ presented a delay in the production of cytopathic effect that correlated with a decrease in cell apoptosis and intracellular accumulation of viral RNA. The complete genome sequences that encode for NS2 to NS5B, Npro and Erns were analyzed. Additional mutations were detected in the NS5B of BVDV R₁, R₃ and R₄. In both BVDV R₂ and R_3, most of the mutations found were localized in NS5A, whereas in BVDV R₅, the only mutation fixed was NS5A V177A. These results suggest that mutations in NS5A could alter BVDV cytopathogenicity. In conclusion, the stability of the resistance to TSC may be due to the fixation of different compensatory mutations in each BVDV-TSC^r. During their replication in a TSC-free medium, some virus populations presented a kind of interaction with the host cell that resembled a persistent infection: decreased cytopathogenicity and viral genome synthesis. This is the first report on the stability of antiviral resistance and on the evolution of NNI-resistant BVDV variants. The results obtained for BVDV-TSC^r could also be applied for other NNIs.

Bovine viral diarrhea virus non-structural protein 5A interacts with NIK- and IKKbeta-binding protein

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus that causes an economically important livestock disease worldwide. Previous studies have suggested that non-structural protein 5A (NS5A) from hepatitis C virus (HCV) and BVDV plays a similar role during virus infection. Extensive reports are available on HCV NS5A and its interactions with the host cellular proteins; however, the role of NS5A during BVDV infection remains largely unclear. To identify the cellular proteins that interact with the N terminus of NS5A and could be involved in its function, we conducted a yeast two-hybrid screening. As a result, we identified a cellular protein termed bovine NIK- and IKKbeta-binding protein (NIBP), which is involved in protein trafficking and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) signalling in cells. The interaction of NS5A with NIBP was confirmed both in vitro and in vivo. Complementing our glutathione S-transferase pull-down and immunoprecipitation data are the confocal immunofluorescence results, which indicate that NS5A colocalized with NIBP on the endoplasmic reticulum in the cytoplasm of BVDV-infected cells. Moreover, the minimal residues of NIBP that interact with NS5A were mapped as aa 597-623. In addition, overexpression of NS5A inhibited NF-kappaB activation in HEK293 and LB9.K cells as determined by luciferase reporter-gene assay. We further showed that inhibition of endogenous NIBP by small interfering RNA molecules enhanced virus replication, indicating the importance of NIBP implications in BVDV pathogenesis. Being the first reported interaction between NIBP and a viral protein, this finding suggests a novel mechanism whereby viruses may subvert host-cell machinery for mediating trafficking as well as NF-kappaB signalling.