Thioester-Containing Protein TEP27 in <i>Culex quinquefasciatus</i> Promotes JEV Infection by Modulating Host Immune Function.

ABSTRACT: Thioester-containing proteins (TEPs), which are distinguished by the thioester motif (GCGEQ), are essential to arthropods' defense against infections. Although TEPs have been extensively investigated in Anopheles, Aedes, and Drosophila, their functions in Culex mosquitoes remain inadequately explored. Interestingly, we discovered that Culex TEPs exhibit functional antagonism to their orthologs in other species, actively facilitating viral infection in this vector. In this study, we identified nine TEP genes in Culex quinquefasciatus, three of which were found to critically facilitate Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection, with CqTEP27 exhibiting the most pronounced proviral effect. Mechanistically, CqTEP27 may have

SUBMITTER: Huang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12692319 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature