Figure 6.

Membrane association of ZIKV NS2A transmembrane segments. (A) Bioinformatics analysis of ZIKV NS2A for transmembrane segments. ZIKV NS2A sequence was analyzed by bioinformatics programme TOPCONS, Philius, PolyPhobius, SCAMPI, and TMHMM. The compiled transmembrane segments are shown at the bottom. Seven predicted transmembrane segments (pTMS) are presented as thick bars. The amino acid positions of ZIKV NS2A are indicated. (B) Membrane association of individual pTMS. Expression plasmid pXJ-eGFP (without NS2A sequence) and pXJ-smNS2A-eGFP (smNS2A represents different NS2A segments) were transfected into Vero cell by using X-tremeGENE 9 DNA transfection reagent (Roche). For each plasmid construct, the NS2A segment is indicated by amino acid positions. At 24 h p.t., IFA was performed to monitor eGFP expression. ER and nuclei were stained with anti-Calnexin antibody and DAPI, respectively. The merged images are shown on the right panels.