The accessory protein ORF3 of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has been proposed to play a key role in virus replication. However, our understanding of its function regarding virus and host interaction is still limited. In this study, we employed immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry to screen for cellular interacting partners of ORF3. Gene ontology analysis of the host interactome highlighted the involvement of ORF3 in endosomal and immune signaling pathways. Among the identified ORF3-interacting proteins, the vacuolar protein-sorting-associated protein 36 (VPS36) was assessed for its role in PEDV replication. VPS36 was found to interact with ORF3 regardless of its GLUE domain. As a result of VPS36-ORF3 interaction, PEDV replication was substantially suppressed in cells overexpressing VPS36. Interestingly, the ORF3 protein expression was diminished in VPS36-overexpressing cells, an effect that could not be restored by treatment of lysosomal inhibitors. In addition, disruption of endogenously-expressed VPS36 by siRNA could partially augment PEDV replication. Taken together, our study provides mechanistic insights into the contribution of ORF3 in PEDV replication.
Keywords: ORF3 accessory protein; PEDV; Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus; VPS36; interactome; virus replication.