Identification of putative interactions between swine and human influenza A virus nucleoprotein and human host proteins

Background: Influenza A viruses (IAVs) are important pathogens that affect the health of humans and many additional animal species. IAVs are enveloped, negative single-stranded RNA viruses whose genome encodes at least ten proteins. The IAV nucleoprotein (NP) is a structural protein that associates with the viral RNA and is essential for virus replication. Understanding how IAVs interact with host proteins is essential for elucidating all of the required processes for viral replication, restrictions in species host range, and potential targets for antiviral therapies. Methods: In this study, the NP from a swine IAV was cloned into a yeast two-hybrid bait vector for expression of a yeast Gal4 binding domain (BD)-NP fusion protein. This bait was used to screen a Y2H human HeLa cell prey library which consisted of human proteins fused to the Gal4 protein's activation domain (AD). The interaction of bait and prey proteins resulted in activation of reporter genes. Results: Seventeen positive bait-prey interactions were isolated in yeast. All of the prey isolated also interact in yeast with a NP bait cloned from a human IAV strain. Isolation and sequence analysis of the cDNAs encoding the human prey proteins revealed ten different human proteins. These host proteins are involved in various host cell processes and structures, including purine biosynthesis (PAICS), metabolism (ACOT13), proteasome (PA28B), DNA-binding (MSANTD3), cytoskeleton (CKAP5), potassium channel formation (KCTD9), zinc transporter function (SLC30A9), Na+/K+ ATPase function (ATP1B1), and RNA splicing (TRA2B). Conclusions: Ten human proteins were identified as interacting with IAV NP in a Y2H screen. Some of these human proteins were reported in previous screens aimed at elucidating host proteins relevant to specific viral life cycle processes such as replication. This study extends previous findings by suggesting a mechanism by which these host proteins associate with the IAV, i.e., physical interaction with NP. Furthermore, this study revealed novel host protein-NP interactions in yeast.