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Sapovirus translation requires an interaction between VPg and the cap binding protein eIF4E.


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Chaudhry, Yasmin 
Kim, Deok-Song 
Cho, Kyoung-Oh 

Abstract

UNLABELLED: Sapoviruses of the Caliciviridae family of small RNA viruses are emerging pathogens that cause gastroenteritis in humans and animals. Molecular studies on human sapovirus have been hampered due to the lack of a cell culture system. In contrast, porcine sapovirus (PSaV) can be grown in cell culture, making it a suitable model for understanding the infectious cycle of sapoviruses and the related enteric caliciviruses. Caliciviruses are known to use a novel mechanism of protein synthesis that relies on the interaction of cellular translation initiation factors with the virus genome-encoded viral protein genome (VPg) protein, which is covalently linked to the 5' end of the viral genome. Using PSaV as a representative member of the Sapovirus genus, we characterized the role of the viral VPg protein in sapovirus translation. As observed for other caliciviruses, the PSaV genome was found to be covalently linked to VPg, and this linkage was required for the translation and the infectivity of viral RNA. The PSaV VPg protein was associated with the 4F subunit of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor (eIF4F) complex in infected cells and bound directly to the eIF4E protein. As has been previously demonstrated for feline calicivirus, a member of the Vesivirus genus, PSaV translation required eIF4E and the interaction between eIF4E and eIF4G. Overall, our study provides new insights into the novel mechanism of sapovirus translation, suggesting that sapovirus VPg can hijack the cellular translation initiation mechanism by recruiting the eIF4F complex through a direct eIF4E interaction. IMPORTANCE: Sapoviruses, which are members of the Caliciviridae family, are one of the causative agents of viral gastroenteritis in humans. However, human sapovirus remains noncultivable in cell culture, hampering the ability to characterize the virus infectious cycle. Here, we show that the VPg protein from porcine sapovirus, the only cultivatable sapovirus, is essential for viral translation and functions via a direct interaction with the cellular translation initiation factor eIF4E. This work provides new insights into the novel protein-primed mechanism of calicivirus VPg-dependent translation initiation.

Description

Keywords

Animals, Cell Line, Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-4E, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Protein Binding, Protein Biosynthesis, Sapovirus, Swine, Viral Proteins

Journal Title

J Virol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0022-538X
1098-5514

Volume Title

Publisher

American Society for Microbiology
Sponsorship
This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (NRF-2014R1A2A2A01004292), and by the Wellcome Trust (Ref: WT097997MA). IG is a Wellcome senior fellow. The authors would like to thank Professor Jeong-Sun Kim for providing reagents and critical input into the project.