Dengue virus (DENV) comprises of four serotypes (DENV-1 to -4) and is medically one of the most important arboviruses (arthropod-borne virus). DENV
infection is a major human health burden and is transmitted between humans by the insect vector, Aedes aegypti. Ae. aegypti ingests DENV while feeding on infected humans, which traverses through its gut, haemolymph and salivary glands of the mosquito before being injected into a healthy human. During this process of transmission, DENV must interact with many
proteins of the insect vector, which are important for its successful transmission. Our study focused on the identification and characterisation of interacting
protein partners in Ae. aegypti to DENV. Since domain III (DIII) of envelope
protein (E) is exposed on the virion surface and is involved in virus entry into various cells, we performed phage display library screening against domain III of the envelope
protein (EDIII) of DENV-2. A
peptide sequence showing similarity to
lachesin protein was found interacting with EDIII. The
lachesin protein was cloned, heterologously expressed, purified and used for in vitro interaction studies.
Lachesin protein interacted with EDIII and also with DENV. Further,
lachesin protein was localised in neuronal cells of different organs of Ae. aegypti by confocal microscopy. Blocking of
lachesin protein in Ae. aegypti with anti-
lachesin antibody resulted in a significant reduction in DENV replication.