Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (9): 4041-4050.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.09.028

• Preventive Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Rab32 on the Replication of Avian Metapneumovirus Type C

Xufei FENG1,2,3,4(), Yuxiang QI3, Hanzhe YU3, Zhengzhou ZHANG3, Rujia WANG3, Chuang MENG4, Kui DONG1,2,*()   

  1. 1. School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Coal Environmental Pathogenicity and Prevention of Ministry of Education, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China
    3. College of Veterinary Medicine (Institute of Comparative Medicine), Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
    4. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
  • Received:2023-11-10 Online:2024-09-23 Published:2024-09-27
  • Contact: Kui DONG E-mail:xufei_feng1988@163.com;sxdongkui@163.com

Abstract:

To investigate the effect of Rab32 on the replication of avian metapneumovirus type C (aMPV/C), confocal images were obtained and co-localization coefficients were analyzed by Image J software after infected with A549 cells by aMPV/C. Furthermore, the plasmids of pCMV-Flag-Rab32 or pCMV-Flag as well as siRab32 or siNC RNA sequences were transfected into A549 cells before aMPV/C infection, respectively. The transcription level of aMPV/C N gene, the expression level of aMPV/C N and Rab32 proteins, and the viral titers in collected samples were detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), Western blot, and the half tissue culture infective dose (TCID50) method, respectively. Then, the plasmids of pCMV-mcherry-Rab32 and GFP-tagged aMPV/C proteins were co-transfected into A549 cells before conducting confocal imaging, respectively. Subsequently, the plasmids of pCMV-Flag-Rab32 and GFP-tagged aMPV/C proteins were co-transfected into HEK293T cells before collecting cell samples at 36 h post-transfection and conducting the co-immunoprecipitation assay. The results showed that obvious co-localized fluorescent signals of Rab32 and aMPV/C were observed in the cytoplasm. The co-localization coefficients of Rab32 and N proteins were significantly higher than that of mock-infected group. The transcription level of the N gene, the expression level of Rab32 and N proteins, and the viral titers were significantly increased (P<0.01) after overexpression of Rab32, respectively. On the contrary, the transcription level of the N gene, the expression level of Rab32 and N proteins, and the viral titers were significantly decreased (P<0.01) after knockdown expression of Rab32, respectively. Obvious co-localized fluorescent signals of Rab32 and aMPV/C proteins (N, F, M, G, SH, P, M2-1, M2-2, L1, L2, and L4) were observed in the cytoplasm, while scarcely co-localized signals of Rab32 and L3 protein were found. Specific bands of N and M2-2 proteins were found in immunoprecipitation samples while no bands of other GFP-tagged aMPV/C proteins were found. These results indicating that Rab32 interacts with aMPV/C N and M2-2 proteins. In summary, Rab32 might affect aMPV/C replication by interacting with multiple viral proteins (N and M2-2). The relevant results can provide the basis for elucidating the mechanism of Rab32 regulating aMPV/C replication via protein interaction.

Key words: Rab32, avian metapneumovirus type c, replication, expression level, interaction

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