title: Marek's disease virus (MDV) ubiquitin-specific protease (USP) performs critical functions beyond its enzymatic activity during virus replication.
abstract: Marek's disease virus (MDV) encodes an ubiquitin-specific protease (USP) within its UL36 gene. USP is highly conserved among herpesviruses and was shown to be important for MDV replication and pathogenesis in MDV's natural host, the chicken. To further investigate the role of MDV USP, several recombinant (r) MDVs were generated and their in vitro phenotypes were evaluated using plaque size and growth kinetics assays. We discovered that the N-terminus of pUL36 is essential for MDV replication and could not be complemented by ectopic expression of MDV USP. In addition, we demonstrated that the region located between the conserved glutamine (Q85) and leucine (L106) residues comprising the active site cysteine (C98) is also essential for MDV replication. Based on the analyses of the rMDVs generated here, we concluded that MDV USP likely contributes to the structure and/or stability of pUL36 and affects replication and oncogenesis of MDV beyond its enzymatic activity.
authors: Institut für Virologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Philippstraße 13, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Inês B
authors: IB
authors: Veiga
authors: Keith W
authors: KW
authors: Jarosinski
authors: Benedikt B
authors: BB
authors: Kaufer
authors: Nikolaus
authors: N
authors: Osterrieder
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002645:Chickens; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D025922:Mardivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D008380:Marek Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D050505:Mutant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D064570:Ubiquitin-Specific Proteases; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D050505:Mutant Proteins; D010450:Endopeptidases; D064570:Ubiquitin-Specific Proteases