scholarly journals Genetic Analysis of the Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 UL20 Protein Domains Involved in Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment and Virus-Induced Cell Fusion

2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (14) ◽  
pp. 7329-7343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Melancon ◽  
Timothy P. Foster ◽  
Konstantin G. Kousoulas

ABSTRACT The herpes simplex virus type 1 UL20 protein (UL20p) is an important determinant for cytoplasmic virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion. To delineate the functional domains of the UL20 protein, we generated a panel of single and multiple (cluster) alanine substitutions as well as UL20p carboxyl-terminal truncations. The UL20 mutant genes could be broadly categorized into four main groups: Group I UL20 mutant genes complemented for both virus production and virus-induced cell fusion; Group II UL20 mutant genes did not complement for either virus-induced cell fusion or infectious virus production; Group III UL20 mutant genes complemented for virus-induced cell fusion to variable extents but exhibited substantially decreased ability to complement UL20-null infectious virus production; Group IV mutant genes complemented for infectious virus production but had variable effects on virus-induced cell fusion; this group included two mutants that efficiently complemented for gBsyn3, but not for gKsyn1, virus-induced cell fusion. In addition, certain recombinant viruses with mutations in either the amino or carboxyl termini of UL20p produced partially syncytial plaques on Vero cells in the absence of any other virally encoded syncytial mutations. These studies indicated that the amino and carboxyl termini of UL20p contained domains that functioned both in infectious virus production and virus-induced cell fusion. Moreover, the data suggested that the UL20p's role in virus-induced cell fusion can be functionally separated from its role in cytoplasmic virion morphogenesis and that certain UL20p domains that function in gB-syn3 virus-induced cell fusion are distinct from those functioning in gKsyn1 virus-induced cell fusion.

2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (14) ◽  
pp. 7380-7387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin M. Crump ◽  
Catherine Yates ◽  
Tony Minson

ABSTRACT The assembly and egress of herpesviruses are complex processes that require the budding of viral nucleocapsids into the lumen of cytoplasmic compartments to form mature infectious virus. This envelopment stage shares many characteristics with the formation of luminal vesicles in multivesicular endosomes. Through expression of dominant-negative Vps4, an enzyme that is essential for the formation of luminal vesicles in multivesicular endosomes, we now show that Vps4 function is required for the cytoplasmic envelopment of herpes simplex virus type 1. This is the first example of a large enveloped DNA virus engaging the multivesicular endosome sorting machinery to enable infectious virus production.


2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (10) ◽  
pp. 5347-5357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Foster ◽  
Jeffrey M. Melancon ◽  
Joel D. Baines ◽  
Konstantin G. Kousoulas

ABSTRACT The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) UL20 protein is an important determinant for virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion. A precise deletion of the UL20 gene in the HSV-1 KOS strain was constructed without affecting the adjacent UL20.5 gene. The resultant KOS/UL20-null virus produced small plaques of 8 to 15 cells in Vero cells while it produced wild-type plaques on the complementing cell line G5. Electron microscopic examination of infected cells revealed that the KOS/UL20-null virions predominantly accumulated capsids in the cytoplasm while a small percentage of virions were found as enveloped virions within cytoplasmic vacuoles. Recently, it was shown that UL20 expression was necessary and sufficient for cell surface expression of gK (T. P. Foster, X. Alvarez, and K. G. Kousoulas, J. Virol. 77:499-510, 2003). Therefore, we investigated the effect of UL20 on virus-induced cell fusion caused by syncytial mutations in gB and gK by constructing recombinant viruses containing the gBsyn3 or gKsyn1 mutations in a UL20-null genetic background. Both recombinant viruses failed to cause virus-induced cell fusion in Vero cells while they readily caused fusion of UL20-null complementing G5 cells. Ultrastructural examination of UL20-null viruses carrying the gBsyn3 or gKsyn1 mutation revealed a similar distribution of virions as the KOS/UL20-null virus. However, cytoplasmic vacuoles contained aberrant virions having multiple capsids within a single envelope. These multicapsid virions may have been formed either by fusion of viral envelopes or by the concurrent reenvelopment of multiple capsids. These results suggest that the UL20 protein regulates membrane fusion phenomena involved in virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion.


2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (24) ◽  
pp. 13889-13903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Beitia Ortiz de Zarate ◽  
Lilia Cantero-Aguilar ◽  
Magalie Longo ◽  
Clarisse Berlioz-Torrent ◽  
Flore Rozenberg

ABSTRACT The use of endocytic pathways by viral glycoproteins is thought to play various functions during viral infection. We previously showed in transfection assays that herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein B (gB) is transported from the cell surface back to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and that two motifs of gB cytoplasmic tail, YTQV and LL, function distinctly in this process. To investigate the role of each of these gB trafficking signals in HSV-1 infection, we constructed recombinant viruses in which each motif was rendered nonfunctional by alanine mutagenesis. In infected cells, wild-type gB was internalized from the cell surface and concentrated in the TGN. Disruption of YTQV abolished internalization of gB during infection, whereas disruption of LL induced accumulation of internalized gB in early recycling endosomes and impaired its return to the TGN. The growth of both recombinants was moderately diminished. Moreover, the fusion phenotype of cells infected with the gB recombinants differed from that of cells infected with the wild-type virus. Cells infected with the YTQV-mutated virus displayed reduced cell-cell fusion, whereas giant syncytia were observed in cells infected with the LL-mutated virus. Furthermore, blocking gB internalization or impairing gB recycling to the cell surface, using drugs or a transdominant negative form of Rab11, significantly reduced cell-cell fusion. These results favor a role for endocytosis in virus replication and suggest that gB intracellular trafficking is involved in the regulation of cell-cell fusion.


2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (22) ◽  
pp. 10351-10361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry V. Chouljenko ◽  
Nithya Jambunathan ◽  
Vladimir N. Chouljenko ◽  
Misagh Naderi ◽  
Michal Brylinski ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) UL37 protein functions in virion envelopment attrans-Golgi membranes, as well as in retrograde and anterograde transport of virion capsids. Recently, we reported that UL37 interacts with glycoprotein K (gK) and its interacting partner protein UL20 (N. Jambunathan, D. Chouljenko, P. Desai, A. S. Charles, R. Subramanian, V. N. Chouljenko, and K. G. Kousoulas, J Virol 88:5927–5935, 2014,http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00278-14), facilitating cytoplasmic virion envelopment. Alignment of UL37 homologs encoded by alphaherpesviruses revealed the presence of highly conserved residues in the central portion of the UL37 protein. A cadre of nine UL37 site-specific mutations were produced and tested for their ability to inhibit virion envelopment and infectious virus production. Complementation analysis revealed that replacement of tyrosines 474 and 480 with alanine failed to complement the UL37-null virus, while all other mutated UL37 genes complemented the virus efficiently. The recombinant virus DC474-480 constructed with tyrosines 474, 476, 477, and 480 mutated to alanine residues produced a gK-null-like phenotype characterized by the production of very small plaques and accumulation of capsids in the cytoplasm of infected cells. Recombinant viruses having either tyrosine 476 or 477 replaced with alanine produced a wild-type phenotype. Immunoprecipitation assays revealed that replacement of all four tyrosines with alanines substantially reduced the ability of gK to interact with UL37. Alignment of HSV UL37 with the human cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus UL37 homologs revealed that Y480 was conserved only for alphaherpesviruses. Collectively, these results suggest that the UL37 conserved tyrosine 480 residue plays a crucial role in interactions with gK to facilitate cytoplasmic virion envelopment and infectious virus production.IMPORTANCEThe HSV-1 UL37 protein is conserved among all herpesviruses, functions in both retrograde and anterograde transport of virion capsids, and plays critical roles in cytoplasmic virion envelopment by interacting with gK. We show here that UL37 tyrosine residues conserved among all alphaherpesviruses serve critical roles in cytoplasmic virion envelopment and interactions with gK.


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