title: A vhs-like activity of bovine herpesvirus-1.
abstract: Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) is a major pathogen of cattle, causing significant disease including immunosuppression in infected animals. In vitro, the surface expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules, crucial for an appropriate anti-viral immune response of the host, is down-regulated by BHV-1 infection. Northern blot analyses revealed that the mRNAs for MHC class I and class II molecules were significantly down-regulated in BHV-1 infected cells, starting as early as 2 h after infection. Furthermore, mRNA expression of the two house keeping genes actin and glyceraldehyde-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was also repressed after infection. This BHV-1 induced effect on cellular metabolism resembled the virion host shutoff (vhs) activity of herpes simplex virus (HSV). Similar to the HSV vhs activity, the putative BHV-1 vhs activity was not abrogated in cells infected in the presence of actinomycin D (ActD) which suggested that no viral gene expression is required for the vhs function and the putative vhs protein is associated with the virion. Sequence comparison indicated a BHV-1 open reading frame having a 60% similarity to the HSV vhs sequence. This putative BHV-1 open reading frame contained the four conserved regions of the alphaherpesvirus vhs protein. Since an HSV vhs-mutant exhibited less virulence and good immunogenicity, we suggest that a BHV-1 vhs- mutant may hold promising potential as a candidate vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hinkley
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Ambagala
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Srikumaran
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D003609:Dactinomycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases / Q000378:metabolism; D007242:Herpesvirus 1, Bovine / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012260:Ribonucleases; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014764:Viral Proteins; C070722:virion host shutoff protein, Simplexvirus; D003609:Dactinomycin; D005987:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenases; D012260:Ribonucleases