The mechanism of replication of the flavivirus Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is not well known. The structures at the 3 end of the viral genome are highly conserved among divergent flaviviruses, suggesting that they may function as cis-acting signals for RNA replication and, as such, might specifically bind to cellular or viral proteins. UV cross-linking experiments were performed to identify the proteins that bind with the JEV plus-strand 3 noncoding region (NCR). Two proteins, p71 and p110, from JEV-infected but not from uninfected cell extracts were shown to bind specifically to the plus-strand 3 NCR. The quantities of these binding proteins increased during the course of JEV infection and correlated with the levels of JEV RNA synthesis in cell extracts. UV cross-linking coupled with Western blot and immunoprecipitation analysis showed that the p110 and p71 proteins were JEV NS5 and NS3, respectively, which are proposed as components of the RNA replicase. The putative stem-loop structure present within the plus-strand 3 NCR was required for the binding of these proteins. Furthermore, both proteins could interact with each other and form a protein-protein complex in vivo. These findings suggest that the 3 NCR of JEV genomic RNA may form a replication complex together with NS3 and NS5; this complex may be involved in JEV minus-strand RNA synthesis.

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