Characterization of Asn130-to-Ala mutant of dengue type 1 virus NS1 protein

The nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of flavivirus has two N-glycosylation sites that are thought to be important for viral replication. Effects of NS1 glycosylation site mutations on viral replication have been reported in several flaviviruses, but the results have differed. In this report, we examined the role of glycosylation site of NS1 on the replication of dengue type 1 virus (DENV-1). DENV-1 production was not detectable when full-length DENV-1 RNA, which has an N-glycosylation site Asn130-to-Ala (Asn130Ala) mutation in NS1, was transfected into mammalian and mosquito cells. However, replication and secretion of recombinant DENV-1 with the NS1 Asn130Ala mutation were recovered by exogenously expressed wild-type DENV-1 NS1. A growth kinetics experiment showed that propagation of wild-type DENV-1 was prevented by NS1 Asn130Ala mutant expression in trans. Our results suggest that Asn130 of the DENV-1 NS1 is important for viral replication in both mammalian and mosquito cells.