The ORF49 protein of murine gammaherpesvirus 68 cooperates with RTA in regulating virus replication.
Our functional mapping study of murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68, or gammaHV-68) revealed that a mutant harboring a transposon at the ORF49 locus (ORF49(null)) evidenced a highly attenuated in vitro growth. ORF49 resides adjacent to and in an opposite direction from RTA, the primary switch of the gammaherpesvirus life cycle. A FLAG-tagged ORF49 protein was able to transcomplement ORF49(null), and a revertant of ORF49(null) restored its attenuated growth to a level comparable to that of the wild type. The FLAG-tagged ORF49 protein promoted the ability of RTA to activate downstream target promoters and enhanced virus replication from the ORF50(null) virus in the presence of RTA. Furthermore, ORF49 enhanced wild-type virus replication by increasing the RTA transcript levels. Our data indicate that ORF49 may perform an important function in MHV-68 replication in cooperation with RTA.
Lee
Sangmi
S
Division of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, Republic of Korea.
Cho
Hye-Jeong
HJ
Park
Jung-Jin
JJ
Kim
Yong-Sun
YS
Hwang
Seungmin
S
Sun
Ren
R
Song
Moon Jung
MJ
D000818:Animals; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D006224:Cricetinae; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006801:Humans; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000502:physiology*; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000235:genetics; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018144:Rhadinovirus / Q000502:physiology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000502:physiology*; D014709:Vero Cells; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology*
C068382:BRLF1 protein, Human herpesvirus 4; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014764:Viral Proteins; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins