Bat severe acute respiratory syndrome-like coronavirus ORF3b homologues display different interferon antagonist activities

The ORF3b protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) has a nuclear localization signal (NLS) at its C terminus and antagonizes interferon (IFN) function by modulating the activity of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF3). SARS-like coronaviruses (SL-CoVs) found in bats share an identical genome organization and high sequence identity for most of their gene products. In this study, ORF3b homologues were identified from three bat SL-CoV strains. These ORF3b homologues were C-terminally truncated and lacked the C-terminal NLS of SARS-CoV. IFN antagonist activities analysis demonstrated that one SL-CoV ORF3b still possessed IFN antagonist and IRF3-modulating activities. These results indicate that different ORF3b proteins display different IFN antagonist activities and this function is independent of the protein’s nuclear localization, suggesting a potential link between bat SL-CoV ORF3b function and viral pathogenesis