Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes an economically important global
swine disease, and has a complicated virus-host
immunomodulation that often leads to a weak Th2 immune response and viral persistence. In this study, we identified a Src homology 3 (SH3) binding motif, PxxPxxP, that is conserved within the N
protein of PRRSV strains. Subsequently, we identified five host cellular
proteins [signal transducing adaptor molecule (STAM)I,
TXK tyrosine kinase (TXK),
protein tyrosine kinase fyn (Fyn),
hematopoietic cell kinase (Hck), and
cortactin] that interact with this SH3 motif. We demonstrated that binding of SH3
proteins with PRRSV N
protein depends on at least one intact PxxP motif as disruption of P53 within the motif significantly reduced interaction of each of the 5
proteins. The first PxxP motif appears to be more important for STAMI-N
protein interactions whereas the second PxxP motif was more important for Hck interaction. Both STAMI and Hck interactions with PRRSV N
protein required an unhindered C-terminal domain as the interaction was only observed with STAMI and Hck
proteins with N-terminal but not C-terminal fluorescent tags. We showed that the P56 residue within the SH3 motif is critical for virus lifecycle as mutation resulted in a loss of virus infectivity, however the P50 and P53 mutations did not abolish virus infectivity suggesting that these highly conserved
proline residues within the SH3 motif may provide a selective growth advantage through interactions with the host rather than a vital functional
element. These results have important implications in understanding PRRSV-host interactions.