Glutamine is required for snakehead fish vesiculovirus propagation via replenishing the tricarboxylic acid cycle

Snakehead fish vesiculovirus (SHVV), a member of the family Rhabdoviridae, has caused mass mortality in snakehead fish culture in China. Previous transcriptomic sequencing of SHVV-infected and non-infected striped snakehead fish cells (SSN-1) showed that glutaminase (GLS), the critical enzyme of glutamine metabolism, was upregulated upon SHVV infection. It therefore drew our attention to investigating the role of glutamine in SHVV propagation. Glutamine deprivation significantly reduced the expression of the mRNAs and proteins of SHVV, and the production of virus particles, indicating that glutamine was required for SHVV propagation. Glutamine can be converted to glutamate by GLS, and then be converted to α-ketoglutarate, to join in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Addition of the TCA cycle intermediate α-ketoglutarate, oxaloacetic acid or pyruvate significantly restored SHVV propagation, indicating that the requirement of glutamine for SHVV propagation was due to its replenishment of the TCA cycle. Inhibiting the activity of GLS in SSN-1 cells by an inhibitor, bis-2-(5-phenylacetamido-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)ethyl sulfide, decreased SHVV propagation, while overexpression of GLS increased SHVV propagation. Taken together, our data have revealed the relationship between glutamine metabolism and SHVV propagation.