Background
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus 2 (PRRSV-2) is a member of the genus
Arterivirus, which includes equine arteritis virus (EAV), lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV), and simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) [
1]. PRRSV infection leads to severe morbidity and mortality worldwide; the main clinical manifestations are reproductive disorders, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, and the delivery of mummified fetuses in pregnant sows, as well as respiratory symptoms in pigs of various ages (particularly piglets) [
2,
3]. PRRSV is an enveloped, single-stranded positive-strand RNA virus with a genome of approximately 15.4 kb that includes at least 9 open reading frames (ORFs); ORF1a and ORF1b encode nonstructural proteins (NSPs), and ORF2-ORF7 encode structural proteins [
4,
5]. These NSPs are involved in viral replication and play key roles in regulating genomic transcription [
6]. Among these NSPs, NSP3 and NSP5 are predicted to be transmembrane proteins and NSP9 possesses viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity [
7]. PRRSV is usually grown in Marc-145 cells, which originated from monkey kidney epithelial cells.
Autophagy occurs in eukaryotic cells and is a process by which cell homeostasis is maintained through the degradation of proteins and organelles [
8,
9]. Generally, autophagy is triggered in cells stimulated with external factors, such as starvation or viral infection; the marker of autophagy is the formation of autophagosomes [
10]. The integrated autophagy course primarily comprises three processes: first, the formation of autophagosomes; then, the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes; and last, degradation of the cargo in lysosomes. The first step of the autophagy process is that a membrane possibly derived from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) elongates, becomes curled, and then surrounds part of the cytoplasm, followed by the degradation of organelles, proteins and other cellular components. In this process, two proteins, namely, ATG12 and ATG5, form complexes via ubiquitin-like conjugation [
11,
12]. Furthermore, ATG16 interacts with the ATG12-ATG5 complex to form the ATG12-ATG5-ATG16 protein complex, which plays a significant role in forming autophagosomes [
13]. Finally, lysosomes fuse with mature autophagosomes to form autophagolysosomes; the contents of the autophagosome are degraded, and the substances inside the autophagolysosomes are delivered to the cytoplasm for transformation into amino acids and energy for cytoplasmic metabolism [
14].
Generally, autophagy is accompanied by ER stress, which is induced by the accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the ER [
15]. The ER is the main site of protein synthesis, lipid production and calcium ion storage in eukaryotic cells. A variety of proteins in the ER must be folded, assembled, processed, packaged and transported to the Golgi apparatus [
16]. Once the cells are stimulated with internal and external factors, the balance between ER morphology and function is affected by the changes in molecular biochemistry. Protein processing and transport are blocked, and a large number of unfolded or misfolded proteins accumulate in the ER, leading to the unfolded protein response (UPR) [
17‐
19], which operates through three signaling pathways that play significant roles in regulating autophagy during viral infection [
20,
21]. The ER stress response was recently shown to be induced by PRRSV infection, leading to the activation of JNK signaling pathways [
22].
In the past decade, a number of studies have reported a connection between autophagy and viral proteins [
23,
24]. The HCV polymerase NS5B was recently reported to colocalize with NS4B and interact with ATG5 to initiate autophagosome formation [
25]. In addition, HBx promotes autophagy and prevents the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes to maintain the accumulation of solutions in the autophagosomes [
26,
27]. Recent studies examining the relation between autophagy and PRRSV revealed that PRRSV induced incomplete autophagy and that autophagy enhances the replication of PRRSV [
28‐
30]. Additionally, PRRSV infection promotes mitochondrial fission and activates apoptosis [
31‐
33]; however, few studies have examined the relations between PRRSV NSPs and autophagy to date.
In this study, we detected the involvement of PRRSV NSPs in autophagy in transfected cells for the first time. PRRSV NSP3, NSP5 and NSP9 induce the formation of autophagosomes. Additionally, NSP3 and NSP5 are ER transmembrane proteins, but these two NSPs trigger limited ER stress, and the autophagosomes induced by these two NSPs are derived from the ER and accumulate autophagic cargo to prevent fusion with lysosomes. Furthermore, an NSP3 truncation mutant consisting of only the hydrophobic domains did not induce the formation of autophagosomes. Our findings revealed the important functions of PRRSV NSPs in autophagy.
Materials and methods
Cells and virus
Cells of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line Marc-145 purchased from ATCC were cultivated in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM, Invitrogen) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FCS) at 37 °C in a 5% CO2 atmosphere. HBSS (Hank’s Balanced Salt Solution) was purchased from Sigma and can induce autophagy. The PRRSV strain CH-1a (the first PRRSV2 strain isolated from China) was provided by Dr. Guihong Zhang at the South China Agricultural University, China.
Antibodies
Cellular DNA was stained with 4′,6′-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride (DAPI), and mitochondria were stained with MitoTracker Green. Rabbit anti-LC3, anti-calnexin, and anti-GAPDH; mouse anti-ATG5; Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG; Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated anti-mouse IgG; and Alexa Fluor 647-conjugated anti-mouse IgG secondary antibodies were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology (Beverly, MA). A mouse anti-mCherry antibody was obtained from Abcam (ab167453). A PRRSV nucleocapsid (N) antibody was purchased from Jeno Biotech Inc. (Chuncheon). The mouse monoclonal anti-dsRNA antibody was purchased from Scicons (Hungary).
Plasmid construction and DNA transfection
Viral RNA was isolated with TRIzol (Invitrogen), and cDNAs were obtained using a Reverse Transcription Kit (Promega). PCR primers were designed to amplify the PRRSV Nsp transcripts (Additional file
1: Table S1) using the PRRSV CH-1a cDNA. The PCR fragments were cloned into a pmCherryN1 (Clontech, 632,523) expression vector. The truncated PRRSV Nsp3 mutant was constructed using a PCR primer pair (Additional file
1: Table S1). All multiple cloning digestion sites were selected for digestion with XhoI and BamHI. Marc-145 cells were transfected with 1 μg of the constructed plasmids using Lipofectamine 3000 (Invitrogen).
Immunofluorescence staining
Marc-145 cells were cultured on glass coverslips, followed by transfection with the individual plasmids for 24 h. After three washes with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), cells were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) for 15 min at room temperature. After three washes with PBS, the cells were permeabilized with 0.5% Triton X-100 for 5 min and blocked with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in PBS for one hour at room temperature. Next, the coverslips were incubated with primary antibodies (diluted 1:500) in PBS containing 1% BSA for 2 h, followed by an incubation with an Alexa Fluor-conjugated secondary antibody (diluted 1:1000) for 1 h at room temperature in the dark. After three washes with PBS, cellular nuclei were stained with DAPI in the dark for 5 min at room temperature. Next, the coverslips were washed with PBS, mounted on the microscope slides with antifade mounting medium, and observed under a Leica TCS SP5 confocal microscope.
Immunoblotting
Cells were washed with PBS, and total protein was obtained using SDS cell lysis buffer (1% SDS and 10 mM Tris, pH 6.8) containing 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and heating for 5 min. A volume of lysate containing 20 μg of protein was separated on 12% acrylamide gels in a Bio-Rad system. Then, proteins were transferred to a polyvinyl difluoride (PVDF) membrane and blocked with 3% BSA in Tris-buffered saline including Tween 20 (TBST) for 50 min. After blocking, the PVDF membrane was incubated with the primary antibody for 2 h, followed by incubation with the HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies. Images were captured using an Image Station 4000 mm PRO System and Image Station 4000 mm PRO software.
Xbp1 PCR
Cells were collected, and total RNA was extracted using TRIzol (Invitrogen). Two micrograms of RNA was obtained with the Reverse Transcription Kit as described above. The synthesized cDNAs were amplified with specific primers (Additional file
1: Table S1). The final products were visualized on a 1.5% agarose gel that was electrophoresed at 110 V for 45 min.
Statistical analysis
The Pearson correlation coefficient per cell was quantified using Image-Pro Plus software. Data are presented as means ± standard errors. Statistical significance was determined by performing Student’s t-tests. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Discussion
Knowledge about virus-induced autophagy has gradually increased [
37]. However, the relationship between each PRRSV protein and autophagy has not been elucidated. As shown in the present study, the induction of autophagy by PRRSV NSP3 and NSP5 contributed to the formation of autophagosomes derived from the ER, and the mature autophagosomes were not degraded by fusion with lysosomes. PRRSV NSP3 and NSP5 are ER transmembrane proteins, but these multiple processes of autophagy were not induced by ER stress. Moreover, a deletion mutant of NSP3 revealed that the transmembrane domains are crucial for inducing the formation of autophagosomes. Our findings offer new explanations for the activation of autophagy by PRRSV NSPs.
Autophagy plays an important role in both the innate and adaptive immune responses, both of which eliminate intracellular microbes [
39]. However, many pathogens that invade cells induce the formation of double-membrane autophagosomes to facilitate their own replication [
40]. Almost all viruses induce the formation of autophagosomes, and autophagosomes provide the site for viral replication and assembly [
41]. Additionally, individual nonstructural proteins or structural proteins may perform viral functions, such as inducing apoptosis or necrosis. In the present study, PRRSV CH-1a induced the formation of autophagosomes in the infected cells; these autophagosomes are purported to be the site of viral replication.
Viral nonstructural proteins play important roles in the replication of the viral RNA and in the synthesis of viral particles. In virus-infected cells, the virus interferes with and destroys the normal metabolism of the host cell, causing cell death or apoptosis [
42]. In many studies, viral nonstructural proteins have been shown to play important roles in virus-induced autophagy. In HCV-infected cells, NS3/4A blocks the RIG-I signaling pathway in the early stages of autophagy and modulates the binding of mitochondria-associated immunity-associated GTPase family M (IRGM) to promote autophagy [
43]. Similarly, JEV NS3 targets IRGM to modulate autophagy [
44], and CBV2 protein 2B, whose C-terminal sequence plays a decisive role in autophagy, rearranges the cell membrane [
45]. In our study, GFP-LC3 puncta accumulated in Nsp3-mCherry-, Nsp5-mCherry- and Nsp9-mCherry-transfected cells and p62 expression was increased, indicating that NSP3, NSP5 and NSP9 induced the formation of autophagosomes. Furthermore, we detected an increase in the ratio of LC3II to LC3I in cells transfected with Nsp3 and Nsp5, along with an increased expression of p62, confirming that NSP3 and NSP5 induce autophagy.
Generally, the process of autophagy includes two steps: the formation of autophagosomes and the degradation of autophagosomes. In the early stage of autophagy, ATG5 interacts with ATG12 and ATG16 to form the ATG12-ATG5-ATG16L1 complex; this complex is localized in phagophores, which are the precursors of autophagosomes. In addition, the majority of autophagic degradation occurs when autophagosomes envelope cellular substances, which are delivered to the lysosomes for degradation of the contents. In the present study, a marker of phagosomes, which are the precursor of autophagosomes, namely, ATG5, was colocalized with calnexin, an ER marker, but not with MitoTracker, suggesting that the autophagosomes induced by NSP3 and NSP5 were derived from the ER but not from the mitochondria.
Moreover, autophagy is a complex process. After PRRSV infects cells, it incompletely induces autophagy and inhibits the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes. This inhibition leads to the accumulation of autophagosomes and enhances PRRSV replication. In our study, LC3 was not colocalized with LAMP1 in Nsp3- and Nsp5-transfected cells, suggesting that the mature autophagosomes induced by NSP3 and NSP5 were not fused with lysosomes. Our findings provide evidence that the membranes of autophagosomes induced by NSP3 and NSP5 were derived from the ER and inhibited autophagosome fusion with lysosomes.
NSP3 and NSP5 are two transmembrane proteins that appear to play a role in membrane rearrangement. PRRSV NSP3 and NSP5 were localized to the ER, but not the mitochondria, in the present study, suggesting that the two NSPs are transmembrane ER proteins but not transmembrane mitochondrial proteins. In a recent study, ER stress was activated in PRRSV-infected cells. Additionally, researchers previously believed that autophagy activation is accompanied by the activation of the ER stress pathway. The early ER stress response involves the splicing of the Xbp1 mRNA and the expression of CHOP. In the present study, we confirmed that the splicing of the Xbp1 mRNA was not noticeably altered and CHOP expression exhibited a slight increase, indicating that autophagy was not activated by ER stress in PRRSV Nsp3- and Nsp5-transfected cells. Because PRRSV NSP3 contains transmembrane domains and a hydrophilic cytoplasmic domain, we deleted the cytoplasmic domain and revealed that the activation of autophagy requires complete NSP3 protein.