Invasion and Propagation of White Spot Syndrome Virus: Hijacking of the Cytoskeleton, Intracellular Transport Machinery, and Nuclear Import Transporters

Abstract

As one of the largest animal DNA viruses, white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) has been causing severe economical loss in aquaculture due to the limited knowledge on WSSV pathogenesis for an antiviral strategy. We demonstrate that the actin cytoskeleton, endocytic vesicles, endosomes, and microtubules are hijacked for WSSV invasion; importantly, the nuclear transporter Cq Importin α1/β1 together with Cq Ran were recruited, via binding of Cq Importin β1 to the nucleoporins Cq Nup35/62, for both the nuclear pore targeting of the incoming nucleocapsids and the nuclear import of expressed viral structural proteins containing the nuclear localization sequences (NLSs).