Increased Cleavage of Japanese Encephalitis Virus prM Protein Promotes Viral Replication but Attenuates Virulence.

ABSTRACT: In flavivirus, the furin-mediated cleavage of prM is mandatory to produce infectious particles, and the immature particles containing uncleaved prM cannot undergo membrane fusion and release to the extracellular environment. However, the detailed relationship between viral replication or pathogenicity and furin in Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) hasn't been clarified. Here, JEV with the mutations in furin cleavage sites and its nearby were constructed. Compared with WT virus, the mutant virus showed enhanced cleavage efficiency of prM protein and increased replication ability. Furthermore, we found that the mutations mainly promote genomic replication and assembly of JEV. However, the mutant formed smaller plaques than WT virus in plaque forming assay, indicating the lower cytopathogenic

SUBMITTER: Xiong J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9241796 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature