2A2 protein of DHAV-1 induces duck embryo fibroblasts gasdermin E-mediated pyroptosis

The duck hepatitis A virus type 1 (DHAV-1) causes rapid death in ducklings by triggering a severe cytokine storm. Pyroptosis is an inflammatory form of programmed cell death that is directly related to an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. Only a few studies have explored the mechanisms underlying pyroptosis in virus-infected avian cells. In this study, we established an avian infection model in vitro by infecting duck embryo fibroblasts (DEFs) with the virulent DHAV-1 LY0801 strain. DHAV-1 infection induced pyroptosis in the DEFs by activating gasdermin E (GSDME) protein via caspase-3-mediated cleavage. The genes encoding the different structural and non-structural DHAV-1 proteins were cloned into eukaryotic expression plasmids, and the 2A2 protein was identified as the key protein involved in pyroptosis. The HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) analysis established that DHAV-1 2A2 directly interacted with the mitochondrial anti-viral signaling protein (MAVS) both intracellularly and in vitro. Furthermore, we got the results that N-terminal 1-130 aa of 2A2 was involved in the interaction with MAVS and the C-terminal TM domain of MAVS is necessary for the interaction with 2A2 by Co-IP analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal that DHAV-1 protein interacts with host proteins to induce pyroptosis. Our findings provide new insights into the molecular pathogenesis of DHAV-1 infection, and a scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of duck viral hepatitis.