RESUMO
St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) is a re-emerging arbovirus in South America. In 2005, an encephalitis outbreak caused by SLEV was reported in Argentina. The reason for the outbreak remains unknown, but may have been related to virological factors, changes in vectors populations, avian amplifying hosts, and/or environmental conditions. The main goal of this study was to characterize the complete genome of epidemic and non-epidemic SLEV strains from Argentina. Seventeen amino acid changes were detected; ten were non-conservative and located in proteins E, NS1, NS3 and NS5. Phylogenetic analysis showed two major clades based on geography: the North America and northern Central America (NAnCA) clade and the South America and southern Central America (SAsCA) clade. Interestingly, the presence of SAsCA genotype V SLEV strains in the NAnCA clade was reported in California, Florida and Texas, overlapping with known bird migration flyways. This work represents the first step in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying virulence and biological variation among SLEV strains.
Assuntos
Doenças Transmissíveis Emergentes/genética , Vírus da Encefalite de St. Louis , Encefalite de St. Louis/genética , Genoma Viral , Filogenia , Proteínas Virais/genética , Animais , Argentina , Chlorocebus aethiops , Doenças Transmissíveis Emergentes/epidemiologia , Vírus da Encefalite de St. Louis/genética , Vírus da Encefalite de St. Louis/patogenicidade , Encefalite de St. Louis/epidemiologia , Genótipo , Humanos , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Células VeroRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Arenavirus matrix protein Z plays an important role in virus budding and is able to generate enveloped virus-like-particles (VLPs) in absence of any other viral proteins. In these VLPs, Z protein is associated to the plasma membrane inner surface by its myristoyl residue. Budding induction and vesicle formation properties can be exploited to generate enveloped VLPs platform. These structures can be designed to carry specific antigen in the inner side or on the surface of VLPs.Vaccines based on VLPs are a highly effective type of subunit vaccines that mimic the overall structure of virus particles in absence of viral nucleic acid, being noninfectious.In this work we assayed the capacity of Junin Z protein to produce VLPs carrying the green fluorescent protein (eGFP), as a model antigen. RESULTS: In this report the Junin Z protein ability to produce VLPs from 293T cells and its capacity to deliver a specific antigen (eGFP) fused to Z was evaluated. Confocal microscopy showed a particular membrane bending in cells expressing Z and a spot welded distribution in the cytoplasm. VLPs were detected by TEM (transmission electron microscopy) and were purified from cell supernatant. The proteinase protection assay demonstrated the VLPs integrity and the absence of degradation of the fused antigen, thus indicating its internal localization. Finally, immunization of mice with purified VLPs produced high titres of anti-eGFP antibodies compared to the controls. CONCLUSIONS: It was proved that VLPs can be generated from cells transfected with a fusion Junin virus Z-eGFP protein in absence of any other viral protein, and the capacity of Z protein to support fusions at the C-terminal, without impairing its budding activity, allowing vehiculization of specific antigens into VLPs.
Assuntos
Antígenos/metabolismo , Vírus Junin/metabolismo , Proteínas Virais/metabolismo , Vírion/metabolismo , Animais , Antígenos/genética , Antígenos/imunologia , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/genética , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/metabolismo , Células HEK293 , Humanos , Camundongos , Microscopia Eletrônica de Transmissão , Microscopia de Fluorescência , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/biossíntese , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/genética , Transfecção , Proteínas Virais/genética , Proteínas Virais/imunologia , Vírion/imunologia , Vírion/ultraestruturaRESUMO
The Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever, an endemic disease present in a much of Argentina, is caused by the Junín virus (JUNV). Currently, there are sequences available from several strains of this virus, like those belonging to the vaccine lineage (XJ13, XJ#44 and Candid#1), as well as MC2 (rodent isolate) and IV4454 (human isolate). In this article, we report sequence information on two fragments of genomic segment S of viral isolates from the endemic area. A Nested-RT-PCR was used to amplify discrete genomic regions of 13 isolates of rodent and human origin. The bioinformatics studies revealed a great homogeneity of sequences among the JUNV isolates. The phylogenetic classification showed greater evolutionary distance between the old world arenaviruses (Lassa and LCM virus) than between the new world arenaviruses (JUNV and Machupo virus).
