Nuclear targeting activity associated with the amino terminal region of the Borna disease virus nucleoprotein

The Borna disease virus (BDV) replicates in the nucleus. The viral p40 protein (N), which is found abundantly in the nucleus in BDV-infected cells, may play an important role in virus replication. To analyze the amino acid residues involved in the nuclear targeting of BDV N, a series of eukaryotic expression plasmids encoding deletion mutants of N was constructed and transfected into COS-7 cells. In indirect immunofluorescence assays with a rabbit anti-BDV N antiserum, wild-type N was located in the nucleus of transfected cells in the absence of other viral constituents. In contrast, mutants tacking the 13 NH2-terminal amino acid residues (1)MPPKRRLVDDADA(13) in common gave a cytoplasmic localization pattern. Similarly, a mutant with substitution of 4KRR6 by (4)NSG(6) was retained in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, a nonapeptide, (3)PKRRLVDDA(11), derived from the NH2-terminal region of N conferred nuclear targeting activity to beta-galactosidase, which normally resides in the cytoplasm. Thus, we have identified the nuclear targeting signal of the BDV N and narrowed it to the NH2-terminal region where 4KRR6 basic amino acid residues are located. (C) 1998 Academic Press.