Expression of dengue virus NS3 protein in Drosophila alters its susceptibility to infection.
We developed a Drosophila model in which the dengue virus NS3 protein is expressed in a tissue specific and inducible manner. Dengue virus NS3 is a multifunctional protein playing a major role during viral replication. Both protease and helicase domains of NS3 are interacting with human and insect host proteins including innate immune components of the host machinery. We characterized the NS3 transgenic flies showing that NS3 expression did not affect fly development. To further study the links between NS3 and the innate immune response, we challenge the flies with gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Interestingly, the Drosophila transgenic flies expressing NS3 were more susceptible to bacterial infections than control flies. However ubiquitous or immune-specific NS3 expression affected neither the life span nor the response to a non-infectious stress of the flies. In conclusion, we generated a new in vivo system to study the functional impact of DENV NS3 protein on the innate immune response.
a Université de Lyon; Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Cell; UMR5239 CNRS/Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon ; Lyon , France.
Matthieu
M
Querenet
Marie-Laure
ML
Danjoy
Bertrand
B
Mollereau
Nathalie
N
Davoust
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa; D020365:RNA Helicases / Q000502:physiology; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000502:physiology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases; D000085242:Viral Proteases
D020365:RNA Helicases; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C060028:NS3 protein, flavivirus; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases; D000085242:Viral Proteases
Drosophila; NS3 helicase; dengue virus; infectious challenge; stress response