Interferon-epsilon (IFN-ε) is a type I IFN playing an essential role in innate and adaptive immunity against viral infection. Ovis aries IFN-ε (OvIFN-ε), consisting of 582 bp and which encodes a protein of 193 amino acids containing a signal peptide of 21 amino acids, was cloned and characterized. OvIFN-ε shares 51.6∼ 86.5% similarity to other species of IFN-ε, and evolves from the IFN-ε branch but not the other types of IFN. Additionally, OvIFN-ε gene is well conserved during evolution, and is highly transcribed in the liver, lung, brain, skin, ovary and uterus. Recombinant protein of OvIFN-ε was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified with nickel chelated column, which exhibited broad antiviral activity in vitro, sensitivity of trypsin, and stability of pH and temperature to some extent. Furthermore, OvIFN-ε could induce the transcription of ISG15, Mx1 and OAS in a time-dependent manner, as well as inhibit the VSV and BVDV replication in Ovis aries peripheral blood lymphocyte cells and MDBK cells. This study revealed OvIFN-ε has the typical characterization of type I IFNs and exerts antiviral activity against VSV and BVDV, and induces the expression of ISGs, which not only enriches the understanding of IFN-ε, but also facilitates further research on the antiviral defense responses of Ovis aries.

中文翻译：

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卵巢IFN-ε的分子和功能表征。

干扰素-ε（IFN-ε）是一种I型IFN，在抵抗病毒感染的先天性和适应性免疫中起着至关重要的作用。克隆并鉴定了由582 bp组成的OvisariesIFN-ε（OvIFN-ε），该蛋白编码193个氨基酸的蛋白质，其中包含21个氨基酸的信号肽。OvIFN-ε与其他IFN-ε共有51.6％至86.5％的相似性，并且是从IFN-ε分支进化而来，而不是其他类型的IFN。另外，OvIFN-ε基因在进化过程中是高度保守的，并且在肝，肺，脑，皮肤，卵巢和子宫中被高度转录。OvIFN-ε的重组蛋白在大肠杆菌中表达，并用镍螯合柱纯化，在体外表现出广泛的抗病毒活性，胰蛋白酶的敏感性以及一定的pH和温度稳定性。此外，OvIFN-ε可以以时间依赖性的方式诱导ISG15，Mx1和OAS的转录，并抑制卵圆细胞和MDBK细胞中VSV和BVDV的复制。这项研究表明OvIFN-ε具有I型IFN的典型特征，并具有抗VSV和BVDV的抗病毒活性，并诱导ISG的表达，这不仅丰富了对IFN-ε的了解，而且还促进了抗病毒防御的进一步研究Ovis白羊座的回应。