T experiments (n = 3). p values were calculated using Student’s t test. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051033.gTetherin Inhibits DENV SecretionFigure 4. BST2 inhibits DENV spread via cell-to-cell transmission. The cells were infected with DENV at a MOI of 0.01 or 10 for 1 h and culture media were replaced with media containing 0.5 methocellulose to prevent cell-free virus infection and cultured for 2 days. (A) Representative DENV-infected cell foci from cultures of the three cell lines. The infected cell foci and cell viability were revealed by In-Cell Western assay by using of antibody against DENV E protein and Nafarelin custom synthesis Sapphire 700 staining, respectively. The indicated gray values of the dots were quantified by using of an Odyssey Infrared Imaging System (LI-COR Biotechnology). (B) The average infectious foci number per well in 24-well plate and the average DENVinfected cell number per focus from 100 foci were plotted. (C) The intracellular DENV RNA was determined for the cells infected with DENV at MOI of 10 by qRT-PCR assay. The values were presented as percentage of values from the Huh7-BST2 and Huh7-BST2CV5 cells compared with that from parent Huh7 cells. The experiment was performed in 3 replicates to generate statistically sufficient data. p values were calculated using Student’s t test. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051033.gFigure 5. In-cell western analysis for DENV infection in Huh7-BST2 and Huh7-BST2CV5 cells. Cells were infected with DENV at indicated MOI and cultured for 2 days with complete medium. Cells were fixed and double-staining of DENV 4G2 protein and BST2 were revealed by In-Cell western assay. The indicated gray values of the dots were quantified by using of an Odyssey Infrared Imaging System (LI-COR Biotechnology). The values represent average from 3 independent experiments. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051033.gTetherin Inhibits DENV SecretionBST2V5, a single band of 1531364 BST2 was observed and subcellular distribution of BST2 was changed. These results suggests that the addition of 14 amino acid residues of V5 eiptope at the C-terminus prevents modification of the GPI anchor. BST2 potently inhibits the release of many enveloped viruses, including all retroviruses as well as members from five other families, including Filoviridae (Ebola and Marburg viruses), Arenaviridae (Lassa fever virus), Herpesviridase (Kaposi’s sarcoma ssociated herpesvirus) and Rabdoviridae (Vesicular stomatitis virus) and Arg8-vasopressin web Flaviviridae (Hepatitis C virus) [26,40?4]. It has been shown that BST2 tethers budding virions on the cell surface, which are subsequently endocytosed and degraded in the lysosomes [26]. BST2 can inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of HIV [45,46]. However, interestingly, recent report also showed that BST2 enhanced HCMV entry into monocytic THP-1 cells. This might promote cell-to-cell transfer of HIV under some circumstances [47,48]. In this study, we demonstrate that BST2 expression did not effect viral replication and entry in Huh7 cells at high MOI infection (Fig. 2B and Fig. 4). However, supernatant viral infectivity detection showed that BST2 inhibited DENV production (Fig. 3). Infectious foci assays strongly implied that BST2 expression markedly inhibits mature virions budding and cell-to-cell transmission (Fig. 4). The addition of the V5 tag at the C-terminus of BST2 altered its intracellular distribution (Fig. 1). This suggests that the addition of the V5 tag likely impede C-terminal GPI anchor modification that is responsible for its enr.T experiments (n = 3). p values were calculated using Student’s t test. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051033.gTetherin Inhibits DENV SecretionFigure 4. BST2 inhibits DENV spread via cell-to-cell transmission. The cells were infected with DENV at a MOI of 0.01 or 10 for 1 h and culture media were replaced with media containing 0.5 methocellulose to prevent cell-free virus infection and cultured for 2 days. (A) Representative DENV-infected cell foci from cultures of the three cell lines. The infected cell foci and cell viability were revealed by In-Cell Western assay by using of antibody against DENV E protein and Sapphire 700 staining, respectively. The indicated gray values of the dots were quantified by using of an Odyssey Infrared Imaging System (LI-COR Biotechnology). (B) The average infectious foci number per well in 24-well plate and the average DENVinfected cell number per focus from 100 foci were plotted. (C) The intracellular DENV RNA was determined for the cells infected with DENV at MOI of 10 by qRT-PCR assay. The values were presented as percentage of values from the Huh7-BST2 and Huh7-BST2CV5 cells compared with that from parent Huh7 cells. The experiment was performed in 3 replicates to generate statistically sufficient data. p values were calculated using Student’s t test. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051033.gFigure 5. In-cell western analysis for DENV infection in Huh7-BST2 and Huh7-BST2CV5 cells. Cells were infected with DENV at indicated MOI and cultured for 2 days with complete medium. Cells were fixed and double-staining of DENV 4G2 protein and BST2 were revealed by In-Cell western assay. The indicated gray values of the dots were quantified by using of an Odyssey Infrared Imaging System (LI-COR Biotechnology). The values represent average from 3 independent experiments. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051033.gTetherin Inhibits DENV SecretionBST2V5, a single band of 1531364 BST2 was observed and subcellular distribution of BST2 was changed. These results suggests that the addition of 14 amino acid residues of V5 eiptope at the C-terminus prevents modification of the GPI anchor. BST2 potently inhibits the release of many enveloped viruses, including all retroviruses as well as members from five other families, including Filoviridae (Ebola and Marburg viruses), Arenaviridae (Lassa fever virus), Herpesviridase (Kaposi’s sarcoma ssociated herpesvirus) and Rabdoviridae (Vesicular stomatitis virus) and Flaviviridae (Hepatitis C virus) [26,40?4]. It has been shown that BST2 tethers budding virions on the cell surface, which are subsequently endocytosed and degraded in the lysosomes [26]. BST2 can inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of HIV [45,46]. However, interestingly, recent report also showed that BST2 enhanced HCMV entry into monocytic THP-1 cells. This might promote cell-to-cell transfer of HIV under some circumstances [47,48]. In this study, we demonstrate that BST2 expression did not effect viral replication and entry in Huh7 cells at high MOI infection (Fig. 2B and Fig. 4). However, supernatant viral infectivity detection showed that BST2 inhibited DENV production (Fig. 3). Infectious foci assays strongly implied that BST2 expression markedly inhibits mature virions budding and cell-to-cell transmission (Fig. 4). The addition of the V5 tag at the C-terminus of BST2 altered its intracellular distribution (Fig. 1). This suggests that the addition of the V5 tag likely impede C-terminal GPI anchor modification that is responsible for its enr.