{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T00:31:03Z","timestamp":1790123463166,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,18]],"date-time":"2019-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1576627200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National Key Research and Development Program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2016YFD0500400"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2016YFD0500400"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["31772742"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["31772742"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003453","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2015A03031103"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2015A03031103"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003453","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rabies virus (RABV) matrix (M) protein plays several important roles during RABV infection. Although previous studies have assessed the functions of M through gene rearrangements, this interferes with the position of other viral proteins. In this study, we attenuated M expression through deoptimizing its codon usage based on codon pair bias in RABV. This strategy more objectively clarifies the role of M during virus infection. Codon-deoptimized M inhibited RABV replication during the early stages of infection, but enhanced viral titers at later stages. Codon-deoptimized M also inhibited genome synthesis at early stage of infection and increased the RABV transcription rates. Attenuated M through codon deoptimization enhanced RABV glycoprotein expression following RABV infection in neuronal cells, but had no influence on the cell-to-cell spread of RABV. In addition, codon-deoptimized M virus induced higher levels of apoptosis compared to the parental RABV. These results indicate that codon-deoptimized M increases glycoprotein expression, providing a foundation for further investigation of the role of M during RABV infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v12010004","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,20]],"date-time":"2019-12-20T09:50:33Z","timestamp":1576835433000},"page":"4","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["The Deoptimization of Rabies Virus Matrix Protein Impacts Viral Transcription and Replication"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Jun","family":"Luo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yue","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuting","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Boyue","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meijun","family":"Mo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qin","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mingzhu","family":"Mei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2896-3629","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiaofeng","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"242","DOI":"10.1128\/JVI.73.1.242-250.1999","article-title":"Matrix protein of rabies virus is responsible for the assembly and budding of bullet-shaped particles and interacts with the transmembrane spike glycoprotein G","volume":"73","author":"Mebatsion","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. 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