FIG 6.

Putative sorting motifs in the ORF3 protein’s C-terminal sequences (aa 140 to 224) and design of mutations. (A) Comparison of amino acid sequences in the C-terminal domain of ORF3 proteins of different PEDV isolates. Sequences were obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The potential sorting motifs, YxxØ 1 to 3, ExD, and KKx, are underlined in red. (B) Mutations introduced into the motifs and designation of ORF3 mutants. The putative sorting motifs are underlined, the substituted amino acid in each motif is marked in red, and dots indicate residue deletions. All of the ORF3 mutant constructs are framed in light blue.