Palm M†, Baise E, Leroy M, Desmecht D
† Department of Pathology,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Sart Tilman B43,
4000 Liège, Belgium
Influenza A viruses are endemic in swine populations. Moreover, pigs are supposed to play the role of intermediate host (“mixing vessel”) for the reassortment of influenza A viruses of avian and human origin since their respiratory epithelium allows productive replication of the two types of viruses. Several MX proteins (IFN-induced GTPases) are known to confer an innate resistance against influenza A viruses. In laboratory mouse strains, allelic polymorphisms at the Mx1 locus affect the probability of survival after experimental influenzal disease, which raises the possibility that identification of an antiviral MX isoform in pigs might allow selection programmes aimed at improving their innate resistance. In this context, Thomas and colleagues recently established that allelic frequencies at the porcine Mx1 locus dramatically differ between wild boar and domestic pig populations: 100% of the wild boars genotyped were homozygous for an allele that was detected in only ~50% of domestic pigs. In the latter, the “wild” allele is replaced by an allele in which a small 11-bp deletion is predicted to result in a frameshift that should yield a significantly altered Mx1 protein. In order to be able to compare the anti-influenzal capacity of both Mx1 proteins, specific expression vectors were constructed and their capacity to drive a significant expression was demonstrated in a Vero cell preparation.
1Thomas A. et al.: Distribution of exon 14 allelic forms at the porcine Orthomyxovirus resistance locus (Mx1) among west European populations of wild and domestic pigs, abstract presented at the 3rd Conference of the Dutch Society of Wildlife Health, June 2004
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