title: Function of glycoprotein E of herpes simplex virus requires coordinated assembly of three tegument proteins on its cytoplasmic tail.
abstract: Glycoprotein E (gE) of HSV plays a key role in cell-to-cell spread and virus-induced cell fusion. Here, we report that this function of gE requires the cooperation of tegument proteins UL11, UL16, and UL21. We found that the four proteins come together with very high efficiency to form a complex in transfected cells and in a manner that is regulated and coordinated. In particular, the inefficient interaction of UL16 with each membrane protein (UL11 and gE) observed in pairwise transfections became efficient when other binding partners were present. The significance of these interactions was revealed in studies of viral mutants, which showed that each of these tegument proteins is critical for processing, transport, and biological activity of gE. These findings provide insights into the mechanisms of how gE executes its function and also have implications in understanding HSV assembly and budding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Pooja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chadha
authors.forename: Jason L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Starkey
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Wills
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002459:Cell Fusion; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology*; D009154:Mutation; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000502:physiology*; D014709:Vero Cells; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C044768:glycoprotein E, herpes simplex virus type 1