| First Author | Lei L | Year | 2013 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | e61166 |
| PubMed ID | 23593419 | Mgi Jnum | J:291629 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6234129 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0061166 |
| Citation | Lei L, et al. (2013) Attenuation of mouse hepatitis virus by deletion of the LLRKxGxKG region of Nsp1. PLoS One 8(4):e61166 |
| abstractText | Coronaviruses are a family of large positive-sense RNA viruses that are responsible for a wide range of important veterinary and human diseases. Nsp1 has been shown to have an important role in the pathogenetic mechanisms of coronaviruses in vivo. To assess the function of a relatively conserved domain (LLRKxGxKG) of MHV nsp1, a mutant virus, MHV-nsp1-27D, with a 27 nts (LLRKxGxKG) deletion in nsp1, was constructed using a reverse genetic system with a vaccinia virus vector. The mutant virus had similar growth kinetics to MHV-A59 wild-type virus in 17CI-1 cells, but was highly attenuated in vivo. Moreover, the mutant virus completely protected C57BL/6 mice from a lethal MHV-A59 challenge. To further analyze the mechanism of the attenuation of the mutant virus, changes in reporter gene expression were measured in nsp1- or nsp1-27D-expressing cells; the results showed that nsp1 inhibited reporter gene expression controlled by different promoters, but that this inhibition was reduced for nsp1-27D. The research in vivo and in vitro suggests that the LLRKxGxKG region of nsp1 may play an important role in this process. |
