Co-localization of and interaction between duck enteritis virus glycoprotein H and L

BACKGROUND: Duck Enteritis Virus (DEV), belonging to the α-herpesvirus subfamily, is a linear double-stranded DNA virus. Glycoprotein H and L (gH and gL), encoded by UL22 and UL1, are conserved in the family of herpesviruses. They play important roles as gH/gL dimers during viral entry into host cells through cell-cell fusion. The interaction between gH and gL has been confirmed in several human herpesviruses, such as Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV). In this paper, we studied the interaction between DEV gH and gL. RESULTS: Recombinant plasmids pEGFP-N-gH and pDsRED-N-gL were constructed successfully. Expressions of both DEV gH and gL were observed after incubation of COS-7 cells transfected with pEGFP-N-gH and pDsRED-N-gL plasmids after 12 h, respectively. Also, the co-localization of a proportion of the gH and gL was detected in the cytoplasm of COS-7 cells after co-transfection for 24 h. Then, pCMV-Flag-gL and pCMV-Myc-gH recombinant plasmids were constructed and co-transfected into COS-7 cells. It was showed that both gH and gL were tested with positive results through co-immunoprecipitation and Western-blotting. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated not only the co-localization of DEV gH and gL in COS-7 cells, but also the interaction between them. It will provide an insight for the further studies in terms of protein-protein interaction in DEV.