Remodeling of the Actin Network Associated with the Non-Structural Protein 1 (NS1) of West Nile Virus and Formation of NS1-Containing Tunneling Nanotubes

Remodeling of the Actin Network Associated with the Non-Structural Protein 1 (NS1) of West Nile Virus and Formation of NS1-Containing Tunneling Nanotubes

Blog Article

The cellular response to the recombinant NS1 protein of West Nile virus (NS1WNV) was studied using three different cell types: Vero E6 simian epithelial cells, SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells, and U-87MG human astrocytoma cells.Cells were exposed to two different forms of fp9550bk NS1WNV: (i) the exogenous secreted form, sNS1WNV, added to the extracellular milieu; and (ii) the endogenous NS1WNV, the intracellular form expressed in plasmid-transfected cells.The cell attachment and uptake of sNS1WNV varied with the cell type and were only detectable in Vero E6 and SH-SY5Y cells.Addition of sNS1WNV to the cell culture 6-0 igora vibrance medium resulted in significant remodeling of the actin filament network in Vero E6 cells.This effect was not observed in SH-SY5Y and U-87MG cells, implying that the cellular uptake of sNS1WNV and actin network remodeling were dependent on cell type.

In the three cell types, NS1WNV-expressing cells formed filamentous projections reminiscent of tunneling nanotubes (TNTs).These TNT-like projections were found to contain actin and NS1WNV proteins.Interestingly, similar actin-rich, TNT-like filaments containing NS1WNV and the viral envelope glycoprotein EWNV were also observed in WNV-infected Vero E6 cells.