Open AccessTick-borne encephalitis virus inhibits rRNA synthesis and host protein production in human cells of neural origin
Author(s) -
Martin Selinger,
Hana Tykalová,
Ján Štěrba,
Pavlína Věchtová,
Zuzana Vavrušková,
Jaroslava Lieskovská,
Alain Kohl,
Esther Schnettler,
Libor Grubhoffer
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos neglected tropical diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.99
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1935-2735
pISSN - 1935-2727
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007745
Subject(s) - biology , flavivirus , virology , ribosomal rna , tick borne encephalitis virus , rna , virus , flaviviridae , encephalitis , protein biosynthesis , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , hepatitis c virus
Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a member of the genus Flavivirus ( Flaviviridae ), is a causative agent of a severe neuroinfection. Recently, several flaviviruses have been shown to interact with host protein synthesis. In order to determine whether TBEV interacts with this host process in its natural target cells, we analysed de novo protein synthesis in a human cell line derived from cerebellar medulloblastoma (DAOY HTB-186). We observed a significant decrease in the rate of host protein synthesis, including the housekeeping genes HPRT1 and GAPDH and the known interferon-stimulated gene viperin. In addition, TBEV infection resulted in a specific decrease of RNA polymerase I (POLR1) transcripts, 18S and 28S rRNAs and their precursor, 45-47S pre-rRNA, but had no effect on the POLR3 transcribed 5S rRNA levels. To our knowledge, this is the first report of flavivirus-induced decrease of specifically POLR1 rRNA transcripts accompanied by host translational shut-off.