Inhibition of lytic infection of pseudorabies virus by arginine depletion

Journal Article · Fri Aug 26 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.06.139· OSTI ID:20710936

Wang, H -C ^[1]; Kao, Y -C ^[1]; Chang, T-J ^[1]; Wong, M -L ^[1]

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1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan (China)

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is a member of Alphahepesviruses; it is an enveloped virus with a double-stranded DNA genome. Polyamines (such as spermine and spermidine) are ubiquitous in animal cells and participate in cellular proliferation and differentiation. Previous results of our laboratory showed that the PRV can accomplish lytic infection either in the presence of exogenous spermine (or spermidine) or depletion of cellular polyamines. The amino acid arginine is a precursor of polyamine biosynthesis. In this work, we investigated the role of arginine in PRV infection. It was found that the plaque formation of PRV was inhibited by arginase (enzyme catalyzing the conversion of arginine into ornithine and urea) treatment whereas this inhibition can be reversed by exogenous arginine, suggesting that arginine is essential for PRV proliferation. Western blotting was conducted to study the effect of arginine depletion on the levels of structural proteins of PRV in virus-infected cells. Four PRV structural proteins (gB, gE, UL47, and UL48) were chosen for examination, and results revealed that the levels of viral proteins were obviously reduced in long time arginase treatment. However, the overall protein synthesis machinery was apparently not influenced by arginase treatment either in mock or PRV-infected cells. Analyzing with native gel, we found that arginase treatment affected the mobility of PRV structural proteins, suggesting the conformational change of viral proteins by arginine depletion. Heat shock proteins, acting as molecular chaperons, participate in protein folding and translocation. Our results demonstrated that long time arginase treatment could reduce the expression of cellular heat shock proteins 70 (hsc70 and hsp70), and transcriptional suppression of heat shock protein 70 gene promoter was one of the mechanisms involved in this reduced expression.

• OSTI ID: 20710936
• Journal Information: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Journal Name: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 334; ISSN 0006-291X; ISSN BBRCA9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
ANIMAL CELLS
ARGINASE
ARGININE
BIOSYNTHESIS
CELL PROLIFERATION
CONFORMATIONAL CHANGES
DNA
GELS
HEAT-SHOCK PROTEINS
INHIBITION
ORNITHINE
PLAQUE FORMATION
PRECURSOR
SPERMIDINE
SPERMINE
TRANSLOCATION
UREA
VIRUSES