Effects of PB1-F2 and PA-X on the pathogenicity of H1N1 influenza virus

Abstract

Influenza A virus (IAV) is a negative sense, single-stranded, segmented RNA virus with eight gene segments. It is an important respiratory pathogen which causes annual epidemics and occasional pandemics worldwide in humans and leads to considerable economic problems for the livestock industry. To control and prevent this significant disease, understanding the pathogenesis of IAVs is critical. Although some molecular mechanisms regarding virulence have been determined, IAV pathogenesis is not completely understood and is difficult to predict. The eight viral gene segments of IAV were thought to encode for 10 viral proteins. Since 2001, eight additional viral proteins have been identified, including PB1-F2, PB1-N40, PA-X, NS3, PA-N155, PA-N182, M42, and PB2-S1. However, the functions of these novel proteins in influenza virus replication as well as pathogenesis have not been fully elucidated. Although PB1-F2 protein is an important virulence factor of IAV, the effects of this protein on viral pathogenicity of swine influenza virus (SIV) remain unclear. In Chapter 2, we investigated the contribution of the PB1-F2 protein to viral pathogenicity of a virulent triple-reassortant (TR) H1N1 SIV in different hosts, pigs and mice. Our data indicate that PB1-F2 expression in virulent TR H1N1 SIV modulates virus replication and pathogenicity in the natural host, pigs, but not in mice. In addition, single amino acid (aa) substitution at position 66 (N/S) in the PB1-F2 has a critical role in virulence in mice but no effect was found in pigs. A novel IAV protein, PA-X consists of the N-terminal 191aa of PA protein and a unique C-terminal 41 (truncated form) or 61 (full-length form) aa residues encoded by +1 ribosomal frameshifting. Although several studies have demonstrated the PA-X protein as an important immune modulator and virulence factor, the impact of different expressions of PA-X protein including full-length, truncated or PA-X deficient forms on viral pathogenicity and host response remains unclear. In Chapter 3, we showed that expression of either truncated or full-length PA-X protein in 2009 human pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) viruses suppresses host antiviral response by host shutoff activity which promotes viral growth and virulence in mice when compared to loss of PA-X expression. Furthermore, full-length PA-X expression displayed stronger impact on viral pathogenicity and host immune response compared to truncated PA-X expression. Taken together, our results provide new insights into the impact of PB1-F2 and PA-X proteins on virus replication, pathogenicity and modulation of host immune responses. This knowledge is important for better understanding of IAV pathogenesis.