title: Structure and function of murine cytomegalovirus MHC-I-like molecules: how the virus turned the host defense to its advantage.
abstract: The mouse cytomegalovirus (CMV), a beta-herpesvirus, exploits its large (~230 kb) double-stranded DNA genome for both essential and non-essential functions. Among the non-essential functions are those that offer the virus a selective advantage in eluding both the innate and adaptive immune responses of the host. Several non-essential genes of MCMV are thought to encode MHC-I-like genes and to function as immunoevasins. To understand further the evolution and function of these viral MHC-I (MHC-Iv) molecules, X-ray structures of several of them have been determined, not only confirming the overall MHC-I-like structure, but also elucidating features unique to this family. Future efforts promise to clarify the nature of the molecular ligands of these molecules, their evolution in the context of the adapting immune response of the murine host, and by analogy the evolution of the host response to human CMV as well.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Section, Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 10; Room 11N311, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892-1892, USA.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mans
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.forename: Maria Jamela R
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Revilleza
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Alec
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Redwood
authors.forename: Kannan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Natarajan
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Margulies
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018146:Muromegalovirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D051381:Rats; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D014764:Viral Proteins