title: AcMNPV ORF38 protein has the activity of ADP-ribose pyrophosphatase and is important for virus replication.
abstract: The ORF38 of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV), or AcORF38, contains a conserved motif of Nudix (nucleotide diphosphate X) superfamily. It has the highest homology with ADP-ribose pyrophosphatase (ADPRase), a subfamily of Nudix pyrophosphatase. In the current study, recombinant AcORF38 protein was prepared and shown to have ADPRase activity, with a Km of 204 microM, and K(cat) of 6.96 s(-1) at pH 8.0 and 5 mM MgCl2. The transcription of AcORF38 was detected 2 h postinfection, and lasted until the late stage. An orf38 gene-deleted mutant virus, vAcGFP-Delta38, was constructed. Although it produced progeny virus, the yield of extracellular virus was less than 1% of the wild-type virus. The activity of viral very late gene promoter was also greatly reduced in vAcGFP-Delta38-infected cells as indicated by the expression of green fluorescence protein gene driven by polyhedrin promoter. The mutant phenotype was rescued by co-transfection with an AcORF38-expressing plasmid. These results suggest that AcORF38 plays an important role in virus replication, although the detail is to be elucidated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Microbial Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Zong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yishu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Ziqian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D005814:Genes, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011755:Pyrophosphatases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D018411:Spodoptera; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D011755:Pyrophosphatases