title: Guinea pig cytomegalovirus GP84 is a functional homolog of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL84 gene that can complement for the loss of UL84 in a chimeric HCMV.
abstract: The guinea pig cytomegalovirus (GPCMV) co-linear gene and potential functional homolog of HCMV UL84 (GP84) was investigated. The GP84 gene had delayed early transcription kinetics and transient expression studies of GP84 protein (pGP84) demonstrated that it targeted the nucleus and co-localized with the viral DNA polymerase accessory protein as described for HCMV pUL84. Additionally, pGP84 exhibited a transdominant inhibitory effect on viral growth as described for HCMV. The inhibitory domain could be localized to a minimal peptide sequence of 99 aa. Knockout of GP84 generated virus with greatly impaired growth kinetics. Lastly, the GP84 ORF was capable of complementing for the loss of the UL84 coding sequence in a chimeric HCMV. Based on this research and previous studies we conclude that GPCMV is similar to HCMV by encoding single copy co-linear functional homologs of HCMV UL82 (pp71), UL83 (pp65) and UL84 genes.
authors.affiliation: Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Translational Research and Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Pediatrics, 2001 Sixth Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. mcgre077@umn.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McGregor
authors.forename: K Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Schleiss
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral / Q000502:physiology; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D016865:Reassortant Viruses; D019211:Roseolovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; C072218:UL84 protein, Cytomegalovirus