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Kissing-loop interaction between 5' and 3' ends of tick-borne Langat virus genome 'bridges the gap' between mosquito- and tick-borne flaviviruses in mechanisms of viral RNA cyclization: applications for virus attenuation and vaccine development.

ABSTRACT: Insertion of microRNA target sequences into the flavivirus genome results in selective tissue-specific attenuation and host-range restriction of live attenuated vaccine viruses. However, previous strategies for miRNA-targeting did not incorporate a mechanism to prevent target elimination under miRNA-mediated selective pressure, restricting their use in vaccine development. To overcome this limitation, we developed a new approach for miRNA-targeting of tick-borne flavivirus (Langat virus, LGTV) in the duplicated capsid gene region (DCGR). Genetic stability of viruses with DCGR was ensured by the presence of multiple cis-acting elements within the N-terminal capsid coding region, including the stem-loop structure (5'SL6) at the 3' end of the promoter. We found that the 5'SL6 functions as a structural scaffold for the conserved hexanucleotide motif at its tip and engages in a complementary interaction with the region present in the 3' NCR to enhance viral RNA replication. The resulting kissing-loop interaction, common in tick-borne flaviviruses, supports a single pair of cyclization elements (CYC) and functions as a homolog of the second pair of CYC that is present in the majority of mosquito-borne flaviviruses. Placing miRNA targets into the DCGR results in superior attenuation of LGTV in the CNS and does not interfere with development of protective immunity in immunized mice.

SUBMITTER: Tsetsarkin KA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4838367 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Kissing-loop interaction between 5' and 3' ends of tick-borne Langat virus genome 'bridges the gap' between mosquito- and tick-borne flaviviruses in mechanisms of viral RNA cyclization: applications for virus attenuation and vaccine development.

Tsetsarkin Konstantin A KA Liu Guangping G Shen Kui K Pletnev Alexander G AG

Nucleic acids research 20160204 7

Insertion of microRNA target sequences into the flavivirus genome results in selective tissue-specific attenuation and host-range restriction of live attenuated vaccine viruses. However, previous strategies for miRNA-targeting did not incorporate a mechanism to prevent target elimination under miRNA-mediated selective pressure, restricting their use in vaccine development. To overcome this limitation, we developed a new approach for miRNA-targeting of tick-borne flavivirus (Langat virus, LGTV) i ...[more]

PMID: 26850640

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Project description:BackgroundLouping ill virus (LIV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) are tick-borne flaviviruses that are both transmitted by the major European tick, Ixodes ricinus. Despite the importance of I. ricinus as an arthropod vector, its capacity to acquire and subsequently transmit viruses, known as vector competence, is poorly understood. At the molecular scale, vector competence is governed in part by binary interactions established between viral and cellular proteins within infected tick cells.MethodsTo investigate virus-vector protein-protein interactions (PPIs), the entire set of open reading frames for LIV and TBEV was screened against an I. ricinus cDNA library established from three embryonic tick cell lines using yeast two-hybrid methodology (Y2H). PPIs revealed for each viral bait were retested in yeast by applying a gap repair (GR) strategy, and notably against the cognate protein of both viruses, to determine whether the PPIs were specific for a single virus or common to both. The interacting tick proteins were identified by automatic BLASTX, and in silico analyses were performed to expose the biological processes targeted by LIV and TBEV.ResultsFor each virus, we identified 24 different PPIs involving six viral proteins and 22 unique tick proteins, with all PPIs being common to both viruses. According to our data, several viral proteins (pM, M, NS2A, NS4A, 2K and NS5) target multiple tick protein modules implicated in critical biological pathways. Of note, the NS5 and pM viral proteins establish PPI with several tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor (TRAF) proteins, which are essential adaptor proteins at the nexus of multiple signal transduction pathways.ConclusionWe provide the first description of the TBEV/LIV-I. ricinus PPI network, and indeed of any PPI network involving a tick-borne virus and its tick vector. While further investigation will be needed to elucidate the role of each tick protein in the replication cycle of tick-borne flaviviruses, our study provides a foundation for understanding the vector competence of I. ricinus at the molecular level. Indeed, certain PPIs may represent molecular determinants of vector competence of I. ricinus for TBEV and LIV, and potentially for other tick-borne flaviviruses.

Dataset Information

Kissing-loop interaction between 5' and 3' ends of tick-borne Langat virus genome 'bridges the gap' between mosquito- and tick-borne flaviviruses in mechanisms of viral RNA cyclization: applications for virus attenuation and vaccine development.

Publications

Kissing-loop interaction between 5' and 3' ends of tick-borne Langat virus genome 'bridges the gap' between mosquito- and tick-borne flaviviruses in mechanisms of viral RNA cyclization: applications for virus attenuation and vaccine development.

Similar Datasets

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