The C, V and W proteins of Nipah virus inhibit minigenome replication

Nipah virus (NiV) is a recently emergent, highly pathogenic, zoonotic paramyxovirus of the genus Henipavirus. Like the phosphoprotein (P) gene of other paramyxoviruses, the P gene of NiV is predicted to encode three additional proteins, C, V and W. When the C, V and W proteins of NiV were tested for their ability to inhibit expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene in plasmid-based, minigenome replication assays, each protein inhibited CAT expression in a dose-dependent manner. The C, V and W proteins of NiV also inhibited expression of CAT from a measles virus (MV) minigenome, but not from a human parainfluenzavirus 3 (hPIV3) minigenome. Interestingly, the C and V proteins of MV, which have previously been shown to inhibit MV minigenome replication, also inhibited NiV minigenome replication; however, they were not able to inhibit hPIV3 minigenome replication. In contrast, the C protein of hPIV3 inhibited minigenome replication of hPIV3, NiV and MV. Although there is very limited amino acid sequence similarity between the C, V and W proteins within the paramyxoviruses, the heterotypic inhibition of replication suggests that these proteins may share functional properties.