title: The viral ubiquitin gene of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus is not essential for viral replication.
abstract: The baculovirus Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) encodes a protein with significant homology to ubiquitin. To study the role of viral ubiquitin in infection, a recombinant virus was constructed with a frameshift mutation within the coding sequence of the viral ubiquitin gene, v-ubi. This recombinant, named Vubi-FS, was viable, indicating that viral ubiquitin is not essential for replication in tissue culture. However, the yields of infectious budded virus were decreased 5- to 10-fold in single step growth curves, and the production of total budded virions was reduced to a similar extent. The mutant virus particles contained the phospholipid-modified form of ubiquitin (Pt-Ub), and amino acid sequence analysis revealed that only host ubiquitin was packaged into virions. Together, these results suggest that viral ubiquitin is a nonessential protein that may confer a slight growth advantage under certain conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843-2128, USA.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Reilly
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Guarino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D016368:Frameshift Mutation; D005814:Genes, Viral; D017924:Nucleopolyhedroviruses / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D018411:Spodoptera; D014452:Ubiquitins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014452:Ubiquitins