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Journal of Virology, February 2006, p. 1160-1166, Vol. 80, No. 3
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.80.3.1160-1166.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Nuclear Localization and Dynamic Properties of the Marek's Disease Virus Oncogene Products Meq and Meq/vIL8

Jonathan M. Anobile,1 Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami,2,{dagger} Danielle Downs,1 Kirk Czymmek,2 Mark Parcells,3,{ddagger} and Carl J. Schmidt1*

Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19717,1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19713,2 Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 727013

Received 17 February 2005/ Accepted 2 November 2005

Marek's disease virus (MDV) is an avian herpesvirus that causes T-cell lymphomas and immune suppression in susceptible chickens. At least one gene product, MDV Eco Q-encoded protein (Meq), is essential for the oncogenicity of MDV. Alternative splicing permits the meq gene to give rise to two major transcripts encoding proteins designated Meq and Meq/vIL8. Meq is a basic leucine zipper protein capable of modulating transcription. The Meq/vIL8 protein retains a modified leucine zipper, along with the mature receptor-binding portion of vIL8, but lacks the domain of Meq responsible for transcriptional modulation. In this report, we describe studies using fusions between either Meq or Meq/vIL8 and fluorescent proteins to characterize the distribution and properties of these products in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs). Meq and Meq/vIL8 both localized to the nucleoplasm, nucleoli, and Cajal bodies of transfected cells. Similar distributions were found for fluorescent fusion proteins and native Meq or Meq/vIL8. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and photoactivatable green fluorescent protein revealed that Meq exhibited mobility properties similar to those of other transcription factors, while Meq/vIL8 was far less mobile. In addition, fluorescence resonance energy transfer studies indicated the formation of Meq/vIL8 homodimers in CEFs. Time lapse studies revealed the coordinated elimination of a portion of Meq and Meq/vIL8 from the nucleus. Our data provide new insight regarding the dynamic cellular properties of two forms of a herpesvirus-encoded oncoprotein and suggest that these forms may have fundamentally different functions in MDV-infected cells.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19717. Phone: (302) 831-1334. Fax: (302) 831-2822. E-mail: schmidtc{at}udel.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19717.

Journal of Virology, February 2006, p. 1160-1166, Vol. 80, No. 3
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.80.3.1160-1166.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Okada, T., Takagi, M., Murata, S., Onuma, M., Ohashi, K. (2007). Identification and characterization of a novel spliced form of the meq transcript in lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from Marek's disease tumours. J. Gen. Virol. 88: 2111-2120 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Spatz, S. J., Petherbridge, L., Zhao, Y., Nair, V. (2007). Comparative full-length sequence analysis of oncogenic and vaccine (Rispens) strains of Marek's disease virus. J. Gen. Virol. 88: 1080-1096 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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