Differential anti-influenza activity among allelic variants at the Sus scrofa Mx1 locus

A promising way to oppose infectious challenges would be to improve the resistance of the target species through genetic selection. Theoretically, a candidate gene is available against influenza viruses since a resistance trait was fortuitously discovered in the A2G mouse strain. This trait was demonstrated to be correlated with the expression of a specific isoform of the type I interferon (IFN)-dependent protein MX, an isoform coded by a specific allele at the mouse Mx1 locus. Two allelic polymorphisms were described recently in the Sus scrofa homologous gene. In this study, the frequencies and distribution of both alleles were evaluated among European domestic pig and wild boar populations by PCR-RFLP, and the anti-influenza activity conferred by both MX1 isoforms was evaluated in vitro using transfection of Vero cells followed by flow cytometric determination of the fraction of influenza virus-infected cells among MX-producing and MX-nonproducing cell populations. A significant difference in the anti-influenza activity brought by the two MX1 isoforms was demonstrated, which suggests that a significant improvement of innate resistance of pigs by genetic selection might be feasible provided the differences found here in vitro are epidemiologically relevant in vivo.