Rift Valley fever virus incorporates the 78 kDa glycoprotein into virions matured in mosquito C6/36 cells.
Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), genus Phlebovirus, family Bunyaviridae is a zoonotic arthropod-borne virus able to transition between distant host species, causing potentially severe disease in humans and ruminants. Viral proteins are encoded by three genomic segments, with the medium M segment coding for four proteins: nonstructural NSm protein, two glycoproteins Gn and Gc and large 78 kDa glycoprotein (LGp) of unknown function. Goat anti-RVFV polyclonal antibody and mouse monoclonal antibody, generated against a polypeptide unique to the LGp within the RVFV proteome, detected this protein in gradient purified RVFV ZH501 virions harvested from mosquito C6/36 cells but not in virions harvested from the mammalian Vero E6 cells. The incorporation of LGp into the mosquito cell line - matured virions was confirmed by immune-electron microscopy. The LGp was incorporated into the virions immediately during the first passage in C6/36 cells of Vero E6 derived virus. Our data indicate that LGp is a structural protein in C6/36 mosquito cell generated virions. The protein may aid the transmission from the mosquitoes to the ruminant host, with a possible role in replication of RVFV in the mosquito host. To our knowledge, this is a first report of different protein composition between virions formed in insect C6/36 versus mammalian Vero E6 cells.
National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ; Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Hana M
HM
Weingartl
National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Shunzhen
S
Zhang
National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Peter
P
Marszal
Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Alan
A
McGreevy
National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Lynn
L
Burton
Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture, Manhattan, Kansas, United States of America.
William C
WC
Wilson
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D009033:Culicidae / Q000821:virology*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012296:Rift Valley fever virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D014771:Virion / Q000502:physiology*
D006023:Glycoproteins; D014764:Viral Proteins