iTRAQ-based phospho-proteomics identifies a critical role of ATF2 in pseudorabies virus replication

Pseudorabies virus (PRV), the etiological agent of Aujeszky’s disease, is a swine pathogen of the alphaherpesvirinae subfamily resulting in devastating neurological and respiratory disorders in piglets, or abortion in pregnant sows.Here, we performed isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) quantitative phosphoproteomics on PRV-infected PK-15 cells, which identified 5723 phospho-peptides, corresponding to 2180 proteins, including 810 proteins showing significant changes in phosphorylation level during early PRV infection.