Small ruminant morbillivirus (SRMV) is a highly contagious and economically important viral disease of small domestic and wild ruminants. Difficulty with its stable proliferation in ovis aries–derived cells has led to a relative lag in the study of its natural immunity and pathogenesis. Here we report the antiviral properties of ZAP against SRMV, a single-stranded negative-stranded RNA virus of the genus Morbillivirus. ZAP expression was significantly induced in sheep endometrial epithelial cells following SRMV infection. ZAP inhibited SRMV replication in cells after infection, while its overexpression in Vero-SLAM cells significantly increased their resistance to SRMV replication. The ZAP protein co-localized with SRMV RNA in the cytoplasm and ZAP-responsive elements were mapped to the 5′ untranslated region of SRMV nucleocapsid, phosphoprotein, matrix, and fusion. In summary, ZAP confers resistance to SRMV infection by directly targeting viral RNA and inhibiting viral replication. Our findings further extend the ranges of viral targets of ZAP and help elucidate the mechanism of SRMV replication.

小型反刍动物麻疹病毒 (SRMV) 是一种高度传染性和经济上重要的小型家养和野生反刍动物病毒性疾病。由于其在绵羊源细胞中难以稳定增殖，因此对其天然免疫和发病机制的研究相对滞后。在这里，我们报告了 ZAP 对 SRMV 的抗病毒特性，SRMV 是一种麻疹病毒属的单链负链 RNA 病毒. SRMV感染后绵羊子宫内膜上皮细胞中ZAP表达显着诱导。ZAP在感染后抑制细胞中的SRMV复制，而其在Vero-SLAM细胞中的过表达显着增加了它们对SRMV复制的抵抗力。ZAP 蛋白与细胞质中的 SRMV RNA 共定位，ZAP 响应元件被定位到 SRMV 核衣壳、磷蛋白、基质和融合体的 5' 非翻译区。总之，ZAP 通过直接靶向病毒 RNA 和抑制病毒复制赋予对 SRMV 感染的抗性。我们的发现进一步扩展了 ZAP 病毒靶点的范围，并有助于阐明 SRMV 复制的机制。