TRIM72 restricts lyssavirus infection by inducing K48-linked ubiquitination and proteasome degradation of the matrix protein

Abstract

The tripartite motif (TRIM) protein family is the largest subfamily of E3 ubiquitin ligases, playing a crucial role in the antiviral process. In this study, we found that TRIM72, a member of the TRIM protein family, was increased in neuronal cells and mouse brains following rabies lyssavirus (RABV) infection. Over-expression of TRIM72 significantly reduced the viral titer of RABV in neuronal cells and mitigated the pathogenicity of RABV in mice. Furthermore, we found that TRIM72 over-expression effectively prevents the assembly and/or release of RABV. In terms of the mechanism, TRIM72 promotes the K48-linked ubiquitination of RABV Matrix protein (M), leading to the degradation of M through the proteasome pathway. TRIM72 directly interacts with M and the interaction sites were identified and confirmed through TRIM72-M interaction model construction and mutation analysis. Further investigation revealed that the degradation of M induced by TRIM72 was attributed to TRIM72’s promotion of ubiquitination at site K195 in M. Importantly, the K195 site was found to be partially conserved among lyssavirus’s M proteins, and TRIM72 over-expression induced the degradation of these lyssavirus M proteins. In summary, our study has uncovered a TRIM family protein, TRIM72, that can restrict lyssavirus replication by degrading M, and we have identified a novel ubiquitination site (K195) in lyssavirus M.