Asparagine Is a Critical Limiting Metabolite for Vaccinia Virus Protein Synthesis during Glutamine Deprivation

Copyright © 2019 Pant et al..

Viruses actively interact with host metabolism because viral replication relies on host cells to provide nutrients and energy. Vaccinia virus (VACV; the prototype poxvirus) prefers glutamine to glucose for efficient replication to the extent that VACV replication is hindered in glutamine-free medium. Remarkably, our data show that VACV replication can be fully rescued from glutamine depletion by asparagine supplementation. By global metabolic profiling, as well as genetic and chemical manipulation of the asparagine supply, we provide evidence demonstrating that the production of asparagine, which exclusively requires glutamine for biosynthesis, accounts for VACV's preference of glutamine to glucose rather than glutamine's superiority over glucose in feeding the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Furthermore, we show that sufficient asparagine supply is required for efficient VACV protein synthesis. Our study highlights that the asparagine supply, the regulation of which has been evolutionarily tailored in mammalian cells, presents a critical barrier to VACV replication due to a high asparagine content of viral proteins and a rapid demand of viral protein synthesis. The identification of asparagine availability as a critical limiting factor for efficient VACV replication suggests a new direction of antiviral strategy development.IMPORTANCE Viruses rely on their infected host cells to provide nutrients and energy for replication. Vaccinia virus, the prototypic member of the poxviruses, which comprise many significant human and animal pathogens, prefers glutamine to glucose for efficient replication. Here, we show that the preference is not because glutamine is superior to glucose as the carbon source to fuel the tricarboxylic acid cycle for vaccinia virus replication. Rather interestingly, the preference is because the asparagine supply for efficient viral protein synthesis becomes limited in the absence of glutamine, which is necessary for asparagine biosynthesis. We provide further genetic and chemical evidence to demonstrate that asparagine availability plays a critical role in efficient vaccinia virus replication. This discovery identifies a weakness of vaccinia virus and suggests a possible direction to intervene in poxvirus infection.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2019

Erschienen:

2019

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:93

Enthalten in:

Journal of virology - 93(2019), 13 vom: 01. Juli

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Pant, Anil [VerfasserIn]
Cao, Shuai [VerfasserIn]
Yang, Zhilong [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

0RH81L854J
7006-34-0
Antiviral Agents
Asparagine
Glutamine
Journal Article
Metabolic profiling
Metabolism
Poxvirus
Protein synthesis
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Vaccinia virus
Viral Proteins

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 28.05.2020

Date Revised 28.05.2020

published: Electronic-Print

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1128/JVI.01834-18

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM296166588