title: The 3a Protein of SARS-coronavirus Induces Apoptosis in Vero E6 Cells.
abstract: An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in China and the first case emerged in mid November 2002. The etiologic agent of this disease was found to be a previously unknown coronavirus, SARS-CoV. The detailed pathology of SARS-CoV infection and the host response to the viral infection are still not known. The 3a gene encodes a non-structural viral protein which is predicted to be a transmembrane protein. In this study, we showed that the 3a protein was localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in 3a-transfected monkey kidney Vero E6 cells. In vitro experiments of chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation suggest that the 3a protein may trigger apoptosis. Our data show that over-expression of a single SARS-CoV protein can induce apoptosis in vitro. Thus GFP-3a fusion protein could also be used as a biosensor for monitoring the cytopathic features of SARS infection, e.g. lymphopenia, in animal model systems, similar to nucleocapsid and 7a proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, The Croucher Laboratory for Human Genomics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Y Waye
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: W Law
authors.forename: Chi-Hang
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: C Au
authors.forename: Chi-Pang
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chuck
authors.forename: Siu-Kai
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: S Chan
authors.forename: Ka-Fai
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: To
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: I Lo
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: W Chan
authors.forename: Yick-Keung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Suen
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Edwin Chan
authors.forename: Kwok-Pui
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Fung
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Y Sung
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: W Tsui