Figure 1.

AFSV p17 promotes autophagy.

(a) HEK-293T cells were transfected with empty vectors or plasmids expressing Flag-tagged ASFV p17. At 36 h post-transcription, cells were harvested for WB analysis by using anti-GAPDH, anti-LC3, anti-Flag, and anti-SQSTM1 antibodies. (b) Vero and 3D4/21 cells were transfected with vectors expressing ASFV p17 or empty vectors (EV). Cells were harvested at the indicated time points (48 h). IFA and confocal analysis were then performed. GFP-dots and cell numbers were counted by using ImageJ software, n>15. c HEK-293T cells were transfected with plasmids expressing ASFV p17 or empty vectors. At 36 h post-transcription, cells were harvested for TEM (transmission electron microscopy) analysis. The number of autophagosomes per cell was counted by a counter, n>15. Black arrows indicate autophagosomes. At least 3 independent experiments were performed. The error bars show the standard error of the mean (SEM). Significance was analyzed with two-tailed Student’s test. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.