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1 Chemical and Biological Defence Section, Defence Research and Development Canada Suffield, Box 4000, Station Main, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 8K6, Canada
2 United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
Correspondence
Les P. Nagata
les.nagata{at}drdc-rddc.gc.ca
| ABSTRACT |
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The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the sequences determined in this work are DQ393791 (Fleming strain), DQ393790 (California), DQ393792 (McMillan), DQ432026 (CBA87), DQ432027 (B11), NC_003908 (71V-1658), DQ393793 (Mn520), and DQ393794 (Mn548).
| INTRODUCTION |
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WEEV is a member of the genus Alphavirus, a group of enveloped viruses with a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome. All alphaviruses share a number of structural, sequence and functional similarities, including a genome with two polyprotein gene clusters. The non-structural proteins (nsPs) are translated directly from the 5' two-thirds of the genomic RNA. A subgenomic positive-strand RNA (26S RNA) is identical to the 3' one-third of the genome and serves as the translational template for the structural capsid (C), E3, E2, 6K and E1 proteins (reviewed by Schlesinger & Schlesinger, 1996
; Strauss & Strauss, 1988
, 1994
). Sequence comparisons of short regions within the nsP4 gene and the E1 protein/3' non-translated region have been determined for many WEEV strains, allowing a preliminary assessment of the nucleic acid phylogenetic relationships within the WEEV antigenic complex (Weaver et al., 1997
). These WEEV strains could be grouped into multiple lineages. Furthermore, genetic variation among numerous WEEV strains from California since 1938 has been studied by investigating the E2 protein, and four major lineages were identified (Kramer & Fallah, 1999
).
To understand alphavirus pathogenesis in more detail, studies have been conducted on the molecular basis of virulence of the closely related Sindbis virus (SINV) (Davis et al., 1986
; Lustig et al., 1988
; Olmsted et al., 1984
; Polo & Johnston, 1991
; Polo et al., 1988
). Certain essential amino acids for SINV virulence have been identified (Davis et al., 1986
; Griffin et al., 1989
; Tucker et al., 1997
). However, comparable studies on the molecular determinants of virulence of WEEV have not been undertaken, other than a preliminary study of WEEV pathogenicity (Zlotnik et al., 1972
) and a comparison of WEEV virulence among different strains (Bianchi et al., 1993
). In this study, we compared eight strains of WEEV by using an intranasal route of infection in a mouse model and studied genetic diversity by comparison of the complete 26S subgenomic region. Relationships among WEEV infectivity, phenotypic changes and possible determinants of virulence at the molecular level are discussed.
| METHODS |
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Extraction of subgenomic 26S RNA and RT-PCR.
Subgenomic 26S RNA was prepared from cell lysates by using a Qiagen RNeasy Mini kit. RNA was precipitated with 2-propanol and stored at 70 °C. Prior to use, RNA was washed with 80 % (v/v) ethanol, dried and dissolved in nuclease-free water (Promega). RT-PCR was performed in an Eppendorf Mastercycler gradient by using a One-step RT-PCR kit (Qiagen) with 0.1 µg viral 26S RNA and a pair of primers flanking the open reading frame of the complete structural polyprotein gene encoding the C, E3, E2, 6K and E1 proteins. The primers used were 5'-AAGCTTCCGCCAAAATGTTTCCATACCCTCAG-3' (forward) and 5'-TCTAGAGTGTATATTAGAGACCCATAGTGAGTC-3' (reverse). The reverse-transcription reaction was performed in a total volume of 50 µl for 30 min at 45 °C, using Omniscript and Sensiscript reverse transcriptases (Qiagen). After the reverse-transcription step, HotStarTaq polymerase (Qiagen) was activated by an increase in temperature to 95 °C for 15 min, followed by 40 cycles of amplification (94 °C for 10 s, 68 °C for 30 s and 68 °C for 4 min) and final extension (72 °C for 10 min). PCR products (3.7 kb) were isolated from 1 % agarose gels and purified by using a QIAquick Gel Extraction kit (Qiagen).
Cloning and DNA sequencing.
The extracted PCR products were cloned into the pcDNA3.1 TA vector (Invitrogen) following the manufacturer's instructions and transformed into TOP10 chemically competent Escherichia coli (Invitrogen). Plasmid DNA was isolated with a QIAprep Miniprep kit (Qiagen). Selected clones were sequenced by using the plasmid-specific T7 promoter primer and the bovine growth hormone reverse primer combined with internal WEEV-specific primers (Table 2
) (Netolitzky et al., 2000
). Sequencing reactions were performed by using a CEQ DTCS Quick Start kit (Beckman). Reaction products were purified by using Centri-Sep columns (Princeton Separations) and run on a CEQ 8000 Genetic Analysis system (Beckman). Sequences were assembled and analysed by using LASERGENE DNA software (DNAStar).
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| RESULTS |
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-helix important for viral core assembly (Perera et al., 2001
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| DISCUSSION |
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An animal model is crucial to study the pathogenesis of viruses. So far, there has not been a reliable animal infection model for WEEV. When we first tried to inoculate WEEV by the intraperitoneal route, no symptoms of infection were seen in adult mice, which was different from the results of Bianchi et al. (1993)
. We chose BALB/c adult mice aged 720 weeks, whereas Bianchi et al. (1993)
used outbred Swiss NIH adult mice aged 45 weeks. The difference in mouse strain and age could be the reason why we obtained different results. Research with C57 black mice has indicated that mice of less than 8 weeks old are susceptible to disease following intraperitoneal inoculation (unpublished results). Nevertheless, when adult mice were inoculated intranasally with WEEV at a similar or lower dose, all eight strains examined were 100 % lethal to the mice in this model. Based on the time to death, the eight strains could be divided into two pathotypes. Interestingly, the more virulent pathotype consisted of WEEV strains isolated during the major epidemic in the 1930s and 1940s. The less virulent pathotype was composed of the more recent isolates of WEEV. These results are consistent with the study by Bianchi et al. (1993)
, who examined the virulence of two CBA South American strains, one of which was strain CBA87. This strain, isolated 25 years earlier than CBA CIV180, developed higher brain titres and killed mice earlier when suckling mice were inoculated with CBA strain viruses by the intracranial or intraperitoneal routes of inoculation. Natural attenuation of WEEV strains over time is a trend that is observed when considering time to death as an indicator of virulence.
Virus virulence is reflected throughout the multiplication cycle and manifests itself in virus entry to cells, virus replication, viral interaction with host cells, interferon production, an immune response induced by viral infection and other factors. The structural proteins play an important role in the interaction between the virus and its surrounding environment and are potentially related to virus virulence. Thus, the complete structural protein sequence was chosen for analysis among the eight different strains to elucidate WEEV infectivity at the molecular level. We found relatively few differences in the 26S structural protein subgenomic region among the different strains. Nucleotide and amino acid identities were found to be >96 %, indicating the relative stability of WEEV within its natural environment. Small variable regions were concentrated in the C, E1 and E2 proteins, whilst the 6K and E3 proteins were relatively more conserved. Once the virions are exposed to the external environment, they are subject to selective pressure exerted by antibodies of infected or immunized animals. As a result, the E1 and E2 proteins have been shown to be relatively more diverse. The divergence was not distributed randomly over the C, E1 and E2 proteins. Segments in C, E1 or E2, including those important for WEEV basic biological functions such as E1/E2 insertion into a lipid envelope, C protein binding to ribosomes, viral core assembly and fusion of viral envelope with infected cells, were found to be conserved. Furthermore, the three-dimensional topography of the structural proteins of the eight strains is probably similar, as all cysteines and potential N-glycosylation sites in the structural proteins were conserved. The cluster diagram divided the eight strains into two closely related genotypes that matched the pathotype grouping exactly, suggesting that genetic variation of structural proteins contributes to infectivity changes. In addition to structural proteins, there are four non-structural proteins (nsP14) encoded by the 5' two-thirds of the WEEV genome; these are enzymes involved in virus replication. Thus, mutations in the non-structural proteins of viral genomes can play a significant role in virus attenuation by affecting virus replication. Attenuating mutations in non-structural proteins have been identified for SINV (Frolova et al., 2002
), SFV (Tuittila et al., 2000
) and VEEV (Kinney et al., 1989
). We do not know whether differences in non-structural proteins contributed to the differences observed in virus infectivity. Further study is required to identify their contribution to virulence.
The eight strains of WEEV differed in their virulence for mice and this correlated with variations in the amino acid composition of their structural proteins. How does WEEV genetic variation influence its infectivity? A general feature of alphavirus pathogenesis is that remarkably small genetic changes, even a single nucleotide or amino acid substitution in structural proteins, can have dramatic effects on virus virulence. For example, the AR339 strain of SINV is not fatal in adult mice, but a neurovirulent strain that causes fatal encephalitis in adult mice has only four amino acid differences from AR339 in its structural proteins (Griffin et al., 1989
). In the E2 protein of SINV, the residues at positions 55 and 172 determine the neurovirulence for mice of different ages and the efficiency of replication in tissue of the nervous system (Tucker et al., 1997
). Further studies have shown that a single residue change from arginine to serine at aa 114 in the SINV E2 protein is sufficient to attenuate virulence in newborn mice and accelerate penetration of BHK cells (Davis et al., 1986
). A similar result was obtained for VEEV, showing that a single residue substitution in E2 could change VEEV pathogenesis (Aronson et al., 2000
). In our studies, we found that there was a potential amino acid substitution in some positions between the two groups, such as aa 57, 89 and 250 in the C protein, aa 23 and 69 in the E2 protein, aa 30 in the 6K protein and aa 196, 349 and 374 in the E1 protein, suggesting the potential relative importance of amino acid variation in virulence differences. Further studies need to be undertaken to identify the essential amino acids in WEEV infectivity and how these influence infectivity.
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Received 5 January 2006;
accepted 28 March 2006.
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