title: Identification and characterization of a novel envelope protein in Rana grylio virus.
abstract: Viral envelope proteins have been proposed to play significant roles in virus infection and assembly. In this study, an envelope protein gene, 53R, was cloned and characterized from Rana grylio virus (RGV), a member of the family Iridoviridae. Database searches found its homologues in all sequenced iridoviruses, and sequence alignment revealed several conserved structural features shared by virus capsid or envelope proteins: a myristoylation site, two predicted transmembrane domains and two invariant cysteine residues. Subsequently, RT-PCR and Western blot detection revealed that the transcripts encoding RGV 53R and the protein itself appeared late during infection of fathead minnow cells and that their appearance was blocked by viral DNA replication inhibitor, indicating that RGV 53R is a late expression gene. Moreover, immunofluorescence localization found an association of 53R with virus factories in RGV-infected cells, and this association was further confirmed by expressing a 53R-GFP fusion protein in pEGFP-N3/53R-transfected cells. Furthermore, detergent extraction and Western blot detection confirmed that RGV 53R was associated with virion membrane. Therefore, the current data suggest that RGV 53R is a novel viral envelope protein and that it may play an important role in virus assembly. This is thought to be the first report on a viral envelope protein that is conserved in all sequenced iridoviruses.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: You-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiu-Gang
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Jian-Fang
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Gui
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Qi-Ya
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003530:Cyprinidae; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D017995:Ranavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011898:Ranidae / Q000821:virology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019065:Virus Assembly
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins