The function and characteristics of DPV pUL49.5 (glycoprotein N homolog) was explored by the College of Veterinary Medicine of Sichuan Agricultural University.

     UL49.5 homologues are known to be involved in processes such as immune escape, virus assembly, viral fusion, transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) inhibition and degradation, and maturation and incorporation of glycoprotein M. However, our studies have focused on the role of gN in the early stage of virus infection cells. The results show that pUL49.5 is the structural protein in duck plague virus, which is distributed in the cytoplasm of transfected host cells and located in the endoplasmic reticulum with no glycosylation modification. After UL49.5 gene was deleted, the viral growth in host cells was slowed and the attachment ability, penetrate into cytoplasm and cell-to-cell spread was weakened. This work was supported by the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-42-17) and the Sichuan Veterinary Medicine and Drug Innovation Group of China Agricultural Research System (SCCXTD-2020-18).

     The related research results are titled "deleting ul 49.5 in duck plague virus causes attachment, entry and spread defects", which was reported on February 28th, 2023 and published online in Veterinary Microbiology. The link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378113523000597.