Functional analysis of prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) in foot-and-mouth disease virus replication.

Ziyi WANG; Rongzeng HAO; Yi RU; Bingzhou LU; Yang YANG; Longhe ZHAO; Yajun LI; Kun MA; Feifan LENG; Haixue ZHENG

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Functional analysis of prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) in foot-and-mouth disease virus replication.

Author: Ziyi WANG ¹ ; Rongzeng HAO ² ; Yi RU ² ; Bingzhou LU ² ; Yang YANG ² ; Longhe ZHAO ² ; Yajun LI ² ; Kun MA ² ; Feifan LENG ¹ ; Haixue ZHENG ¹
Author Information

1. School of Life Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu, China.
2. State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, College of Veterinary Medicine of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730046, Gansu, China.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: baby hamster kidney-21 (BHK-21) cells; foot-and-mouth disease virus; prolyl oligopeptidase (POP); virus replication
MeSH: Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus/genetics*; Virus Replication/genetics*; Prolyl Oligopeptidases; Serine Endopeptidases/physiology*; Animals; Cell Line; RNA, Small Interfering/genetics*; Foot-and-Mouth Disease/virology*; Cricetinae
From: Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2025;41(7):2658-2671
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: The study aims to investigate the impacts of prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) on the replication of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) in BHK-21 cells. Firstly, the effects of FMDV replication on POP expression in BHK-21 cells were analyzed by Western blotting and Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Secondly, a eukaryotic expression plasmid for POP was constructed, and the effects of POP overexpression on the replication of two different serotypes of FMDV were assessed by Western blotting, RT-qPCR, and virus titer assays. Thirdly, specific small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting POP were synthesized, and their efficiency in interfering with endogenous POP expression was identified by RT-qPCR. The impacts of downregulating endogenous POP expression on FMDV replication were further evaluated by Western blotting, RT-qPCR, and virus titer assays. The results indicated that FMDV infection did not significantly affect POP expression in BHK-21 cells. Overexpression of POP dose-dependently enhanced the replication of both FMDV/O and FMDV/A serotypes. Conversely, siRNA-mediated downregulation of endogenous POP expression markedly suppressed FMDV/O replication. This study is the first to demonstrated that the role of the host POP protein in promoting FMDV replication in BHK-21 cells, thereby providing a critical theoretical foundation and potential molecular targets for developing efficient candidate cell strains for foot-and-mouth disease inactivated vaccines.