Abstract

Pseudorabies is caused by pseudorabies virus (PRV), a member of the Herpesvirus family, and has caused tremendous damage to the pig industry. Protein unique lone 16 (pUL16) is a conserved envelope protein in all herpesviruses, that is known to play an important role in several aspects, including virus diffusion in cells and virulence in mice. It has been shown that the pUL16 can interact with the virus proteins UL11, UL49, UL21, gD, and gE. However, the research to date on pUL16 has only focused on etiology, without discussing the possible cellular pathways involved in PRV infection. Leucine-rich PPR motif-containing protein (LRPPRC) is a multifunctional cellular protein that participates in various cellular processes, such as RNA processing, splicing, stabilization, editing, translation, and energy metabolism. This was the first caspase-independent apoptosis protein to be identified. In this study, immune precipitation and mass spectrometry was performed to define the function of the pUL16 in PRV infection to study the possible cellular pathways in which pUL16 may participate. It was found that LRPRRC could interact with PRV pUL16, which may indicate that UL16 is involved in a redox reaction or cellular apoptosis. This is the first study of the interaction between pUL16 and host proteins, which has positive significance to gain a further understanding of the pUL16.