Evidence for the Presence of a cis-acting Element in the Coding Region of the Japanese Encephalitis Virus Capsid Protein

ABSTRACT

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a member of mosquito-borne flaviviruses. To investigate whether there is a cis-acting genetic element in the coding region of the JEV C protein, which is required for viral replication, we generated four mutants by introducing a various size of deletions in each structural protein-coding region, designated as pJEV/Rep/deltaCC/LUC, pJEV/Rep/deltaC/LUC, pJEV/Rep/deltaprM/LUC, and pJEV/Rep/deltaE/LUC, of these, all replicons except for pJEV/Rep/deltaCC/LUC were competent in replication. Since pJEV/Rep/deltaCC/LUC is the same as pJEV/Rep/ deltaC/LUC except for an additional 5' deletion (nt 132~201) in the coding region of the C protein, this region appeared to be essential for RNA replication. This is consistent with the proposed cyclization sequence motif in the 5' region of the C gene, which has been recently shown to be required for replication in other mosquito-borne flaviviruses such as DV, YFV, KUN, and WNV. Thus, our results suggest that a cis-acting genetic element in the coding region of the JEV C protein may play an important role in RNA replication. This study will facilitate the current understanding of JEV RNA replication.