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Journal of Virology, May 2009, p. 5181-5191, Vol. 83, No. 10
0022-538X/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00090-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850
Received 14 January 2009/ Accepted 26 February 2009
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The most prominent model of nuclear egress proposes that the step following primary envelopment involves the fusion of the perinuclear virion envelope with the outer nuclear membrane (ONM), allowing subsequent steps in which the deenveloped capsid engages budding sites in the Golgi or trans-Golgi network (20, 32). The US3 protein is a promiscuous kinase that phosphorylates pUL31, pUL34, and several other viral and cellular components (1, 2, 5, 11, 15, 21-23, 25). In the absence of pUS3 kinase activity, (i) virions accumulate within distensions of the perinuclear space that herniate into the nucleoplasm (14, 27, 29), (ii) the pUL31/pUL34 complex is mislocalized at the nuclear rim from a smooth pattern to discrete foci that accumulate adjacent to nuclear membrane herniations (12, 14, 27, 29), and (iii) the onset of infectious virus production is delayed (21, 29).
Aberrant accumulations of perinuclear virions similar to those observed in cells infected with US3 kinase-dead viruses have been observed in cells infected with viruses lacking the capacity to produce glycoproteins H and B (gH and gB, respectively) (8). Because these proteins are required for fusion with the plasma membrane or endocytic vesicles during HSV entry (3, 4, 9, 10, 18, 30, 33), it has been proposed that the accumulation of perinuclear virions in the absence of gH and gB reflects a failure in the apparatus that normally mediates the fusion between the nascent virion envelope and the ONM (8). By extension of this hypothesis, pUS3 might act to trigger or otherwise regulate this perinuclear fusion event.
The substrate(s) of the pUS3 kinase responsible for the altered localization of the pUL31/pUL34 complex and the aberrant accumulation of perinuclear virions were heretofore unknown. In one study to identify such a substrate, it was determined that precluding the phosphorylation of pUL34 was not responsible for the nuclear egress defects induced by the absence of pUS3 or its kinase activity (29). The current study was therefore undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that the pUS3-mediated phosphorylation of pUL31 is critical to regulate nuclear egress. The presented evidence indicates that aspects of the US3 kinase-dead phenotype, including the retention of virions in the perinuclear space, the mislocalization of the pUL31/pUL34 complex, and the delayed onset of virus replication, can be replicated by precluding pUL31 phosphorylation in the presence or absence of pUS3 kinase activity. The data also suggest that the dynamic phosphorylation of pUL31 is important during the primary envelopment of nucleocapsids.
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Plasmids. For transient expression, UL31 fused to DNA encoding a FLAG epitopic tag at the 3' end was cloned into the pcDNA3 vector (Invitrogen) or into the pBudCE4.1 vector (Invitrogen) as indicated in Table 1. Full-length UL31 in pcDNA3 was previously described (26). This plasmid served as a template for other pcDNA3 or pBudCE4.1 constructs using the PCR primers listed in Table 1.
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TABLE 1. Vectors and primers used to generate the UL31 subclones
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To generate plasmids bearing UL31 with point mutations, UL31 was amplified from the corresponding mutant viral BAC DNAs (described below), and the amplicons were cloned into the pGEX4T vector at the EcoRI and XhoI sites.
Recombinant viruses and BAC mutagenesis. A series of recombinant viruses were constructed using en passant mutagenesis of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) containing the entire HSV-1(F) genome as previously described (34, 35). Briefly, a PCR amplicon bearing fragments containing a kanamycin resistance (Kanr) cassette, an Sce-I restriction endonuclease site, and desired mutations flanked by homologous regions to the target gene was generated with the pEPkan-S plasmid as a template and the primer pairs listed in Table 2. The resulting amplicons were electroporated into recombination competent GS1783 E. coli (a kind gift of Greg Smith, Northwestern University), which harbors the target BAC as an episome and an Sce1 endonuclease gene in the chromosome. Following confirmation by Kanr screening and restriction length polymorphism, the SceI cleavage was initiated by arabinose-induced SceI expression in GS1783, causing the Kanr sequence to be removed efficiently by Red recombination between internal homologous sequences. Positive clones were verified through Kan selection and further by restriction length polymorphism and DNA sequencing (not shown). Rabbit skin cells were transfected with the BACs and a plasmid encoding FLP recombination target recombinase to remove BAC sequences as described previously (17). Viral plaques were propagated into viral stocks using Vero cells.
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TABLE 2. Primers for BAC mutagenesis
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In vitro US3 kinase assays.
A kinase assay was performed using purified GST-pUS3 essentially as described previously (21). Briefly, 0.1 µg GST-pUS3 was incubated separately with approximately 1 µg of pUL31-GST fusion proteins partially purified from E. coli and bound to glutathione Sepharose beads. The kinase reaction was performed for 30 min at 30°C in 50 µl pUS3 specific kinase buffer (50 mM Tris [pH 9.0], 20 mM MgCl2, 0.1% NP-40, 1 mM dithiothreitol) containing 10 µM ATP and 10 µCi [
-32P]ATP (Amersham). The Sepharose beads bearing the fusion proteins were then washed three times with TNE buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl [pH 8.0], 100 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA). The bound proteins were eluted in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis sample buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 8.0], 10 mM β-mercaptoethanol, 20% glycerol, 5% SDS, trace amounts of bromophenol blue) and subjected to electrophoresis in a 12% polyacrylamide gel in the presence of 0.1% SDS. The gels were then stained with Coomassie brilliant blue, dried, and autoradiographed using X-ray film (Pierce).
Transient complementation assay. Hep2 cells were seeded at 90% confluence in 12-well plates and were transfected with 1.6 µg plasmid DNA using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen). After 20 h of incubation at 37°C, the cells were infected with 5.0 PFU per cell of the UL31 null virus. At 24 h postinfection (hpi), whole-cell cultures were lysed for viral titering on UL31-expressing rabbit skin cells. The experiments were performed in duplicate. The means and standard deviations were calculated and plotted.
One-step viral growth assay. The 100% confluent Vero cells grown in 12-well plates were infected with 5.0 PFU per cell of the viruses shown in Fig. 4 and 8. After the cells were incubated for 1 h at 37°C, residual surface infectivity was inactivated with a low-pH wash (40 mM citric acid [pH 3.0], 10 mM KCl, 135 mM NaCl). At various time points, the cultures were frozen and thawed to lyse the cells, and infectious virus was titrated by plaque assay on Vero cells. The mean values of the results from two independent experiments and the corresponding standard deviations were calculated and plotted.
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FIG. 4. One-step growth curves of the wild-type and mutant viruses. Hep-2 cells were infected with the wild-type HSV-1(F), US3(K220A), UL31SA6, or UL31SAR virus at an MOI of 5. After adsorption for 1 h, residual infectivity was inactivated by a low-pH wash. At the indicated time points, pooled intracellular and extracellular viral infectivity was titrated on Vero cells. Experiments were done in duplicate. Mean values are plotted, and deviations are represented by error bars.
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FIG. 8. One-step growth curves of pseudophosphorylated UL31 viruses. Hep-2 cells were infected with wild-type HSV-1(F), US3(K220A), UL31(SE6), or UL31(SE6)/US3(K220A) at an MOI of 5 PFU/cell. Residual viruses were inactivated by a low-pH wash at 1 hpi. At the indicated time points, virus in the whole culture was collected and titrated on Vero cells. Experiments were done in duplicate. Mean values are plotted, and simple standard deviations are represented by error bars.
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Hep2 cells growing on glass coverslips were mock infected or were infected with the viruses shown in Fig. 5 and 7 at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 5 PFU/cell for 16 h. The cells were fixed with 3% paraformaldehyde for 15 min. For the experiments for which the preadsorbed pUL31-specific rabbit polyclonal antibody was to be used, the cells were treated for another 15 min at –20°C in methanol. The cells were then permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 and reacted with 10% human serum in phosphate-buffered saline to block nonspecific immunoreactivity, and they were subsequently probed with the preadsorbed pUL31 antiserum diluted 1:50 in phosphate-buffered saline supplemented with 1% bovine serum albumin. Thereafter, 10% BlockHen II (Aves Lab) was used for a second round of blocking before probing with a 1:400 dilution of chicken anti-pUL34 polyclonal antibody. Bound primary antibodies were recognized by the corresponding secondary antibodies conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate or Texas Red, respectively (Jackson ImmunoResearch). Digital images were recorded using an Olympus confocal microscope and were processed with Adobe Photoshop.
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FIG. 5. Confocal immunofluorescence staining of pUL31 and pUL34 in HSV-1-infected Hep2 cells. Cells were infected with the wild-type HSV-1(F), US3(K220A), UL31(SA6), or UL31(SAR) virus at 5.0 PFU/cell. After 16 h, the cells were fixed in paraformaldehyde and methanol, permeabilized, immunostained for pUL31 (green) and pUL34 (red), and visualized by confocal microscopy. Optical sections were taken through the middle of the cells.
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FIG. 7. pUL31 and pUL34 localization in Hep2 cells infected with pseudophosphorylated UL31 viruses. Hep2 cells were infected with the indicated viruses and were fixed at 16 h after infection in paraformaldehyde and methanol. The cells were then immunostained for pUL31 (green) and pUL34 (red) and visualized by confocal microscopy. Optical sections were taken through the middle of the cells.
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As shown in Fig. 1, the expression of full-length pUL31 increased the yield of the infectious virus more than 100-fold above the background levels produced by the transfection of the vector DNA. In contrast to this result, the plasmid bearing N-terminally truncated pUL31 produced only a fivefold enhancement of the viral yield over the background. This result indicated that the N-terminal domain is important for the full function of the HSV-1 UL31 protein.
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FIG. 1. Functional analysis of the N terminus of pUL31. Hep2 cells were transfected with a pcDNA3 vector plasmid or plasmids bearing full-length UL31(FL) or the N-terminally deleted UL31(dN). The cells were then infected with the UL31 null virus at 5.0 PFU/cell. Infectivity at 24 hpi was determined by freeze-thawing the infected cells, followed by titration on a UL31-complementing cell line. Experiments were performed in duplicate. Each histogram represents the mean value, and the standard deviations are indicated by error bars.
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-32P]ATP. The reaction components were then separated on an SDS polyacrylamide gel, and the gel was stained with Coomassie brilliant blue, dried, and exposed to X-ray film. As shown in Fig. 2B, equal amounts of all four fragments were present in the reactions (top panel), but only the N-terminal 50 amino acids of pUL31 were labeled with 32P (bottom panel).
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FIG. 2. Mapping the pUL31 phosphorylation sites of the pUS3 kinase. (A) Schematic illustration of the full-length UL31 protein and its subfragments as shown in panel B and the primary sequence showing potential phosphorylation sites (underlined). A series of constructs with point mutations used in subsequent experiments is listed. (B) In vitro kinase assay with subfragments of pUL31. GST fusion proteins purified from E. coli were incubated with purified US3 kinase and [ -P32]ATP. The reaction products were electrophoretically separated on a denaturing gel and were stained by Coomassie brilliant blue (CBB), dried, and exposed to X-ray film. (C) Wild-type and mutant pUL31 reacted with purified US3 kinase in vitro. Reactions were performed as described for panel B. Reactants were separated on a denaturing gel, visualized by CBB staining, and dried. The presence or absence of phosphorylation was determined by autoradiography of the same gel.
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2]) (24), while the other three serines (S26, S27, and S43) could not be excluded since the kinase was found to be more promiscuous than originally predicted (21). We therefore systematically substituted serines encoded by this region with alanines and tested the corresponding mutants for their capacity to be phosphorylated by pUS3 in vitro. The constructs were designated pUL31(SA3) bearing S11, S24, and S40 changed to alanine codons and pUL31(SA6) bearing all six serines, S11, S24, S26, S27, S40, and S43, changed to alanines. Mixing GST fusion proteins bearing these mutations with active US3 kinase and [32P]ATP revealed that wild-type pUL31 was heavily phosphorylated by US3 kinase, whereas mutating all six serines completely abolished phosphorylation. In contrast, the SA3 mutations decreased but did not eliminate US3-dependent phosphorylation (Fig. 2C). The results reveal that the pUL31 N terminus contains multiple sites that the US3 kinase can phosphorylate in vitro and suggest that the protein is phosphorylated by the US3 kinase during infection as indicated previously (11). Precluding the phosphorylation of the pUL31 N terminus impairs viral propagation. We next proceeded to determine whether the N terminus of pUL31 was phosphorylated by US3 during viral infection. Recombinant viruses bearing the six serine-to-alanine mutations in UL31 and its corresponding genetically repaired virus UL31(SAR) were generated through BAC mutagenesis. Cells were infected with 5.0 PFU/cell of the wild-type virus HSV-1(F), the kinase-dead virus US3(K220A), the UL31 mutant virus UL31(SA6), or the repaired virus UL31(SAR). At 16 hpi, the cells were harvested, and electrophoretically separated proteins were subjected to immunoblotting with pUL31-specific antiserum.
The results, shown in Fig. 3, indicated the following. (i) Consistent with previous reports (11), bacteriophage lambda phosphatase (
-PPase) treatment caused an increase in the electrophoretic mobility of the pUL31-specific band of HSV-1(F) (lanes 1 and 2). The migration of this band was similar to that of nontreated pUL31 from cells infected with US3(K220A) (lane 3), indicating that pUS3 played an important role in the phosphorylation of pUL31 during infection directly or indirectly. (ii) The substitution of all six serines by alanines increased the electrophoretic migration of the UL31 protein. Phosphatase treatment did not cause a mobility change of this mutant protein (lanes 5 and 6), suggesting that these were the only sites in pUL31 that were phosphorylated, at least as detected by one-dimensional electrophoresis. In contrast, the mobility of pUL31 expressed by the genetically repaired virus UL31(SAR) (lanes 7 and 8) was greatly increased by
-PPase treatment, confirming that pUL31 phosphorylation was successfully blocked by the SA6 mutations. (iii) All of the nonmutated pUL31 proteins (lanes 1, 3, and 7) produced wider bands than their
-PPase-treated counterparts (lanes 2, 4, and 8), implying the existence of heterogeneously phosphorylated pUL31 species during infection.
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FIG. 3. Immunoblot to determine the phosphorylation state of pUL31 during infection with wild-type and mutant viruses. Hep2 cells were infected with wild-type HSV-1(F) (lanes 1 and 2), US3(K220A) (lanes 3 and 4), UL31(SA6) (lanes 5 and 6), and UL31(SAR) (lanes 7 and 8) viruses at an MOI of 5.0 PFU/cell for 16 h. Prepared lysates were treated or untreated with -PPase as indicated. Cell lysates were electrophoretically resolved on denaturing polyacrylamide gels, electrically transferred to nitrocellulose, and probed with antibody to pUL31.
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Precluding the phosphorylation of the pUL31 N terminus mimics the effects of the US3 kinase deficiency in pUL31/pUL34 complex localization and perinuclear virion accumulation. Although the absence of US3 kinase activity causes a defect in capsid nuclear egress, including the mislocalization of pUL34 at the nuclear rim and the accumulation of primary enveloped virions in the perinuclear space, the substrate responsible for these changes had not been identified. Because the growth kinetics of the UL31(SA6) and Us3(K220A) viruses were very similar, we compared the localization of pUL34 and virions in cells infected with the UL31(SA6) and US3 kinase-dead viruses.
Hep2 cells were infected with the wild-type HSV-1(F), US3(K220A), UL31(SA6), or UL31(SAR) virus for 16 h, at which time the cells were fixed, permeabilized, immunostained with antibodies against pUL31 and pUL34, and visualized by confocal microscopy (Fig. 5). Consistent with previous reports, the pUL31 and UL34 proteins colocalized smoothly along the nuclear envelope in cells infected with HSV-1(F). The deactivation of the US3 kinase in cells infected with the US3(K220A) virus induced discrete foci of pUL31 and pUL34 at the nuclear rim. In cells infected with the UL31(SA6) virus, the focal distribution of pUL31/pUL34 appeared very similar to that of cells infected with US3(K220A). The aberrant distribution of pUL31/pUL34 was restored to the wild-type distribution in cells infected with the genetically repaired virus UL31(SAR).
To examine the effects of pUL31 phosphorylation on the distribution of virions, cells were infected with the wild-type HSV-1(F), US3(K220A), UL31(SA6), or UL31(SAR) virus and embedded, and thin sections were stained and examined by electron microscopy. As shown in Fig. 6, U L31(SA6) viral infection produced nuclear membrane invaginations containing multiple primary enveloped virions. Enumerating these invaginations indicated that in 25 sections of cells infected with each virus, UL31(SA6)-infected cell sections contained an average of 1.6 invaginations/section (range, 0 to 5), whereas the US3(K220A)-infected cells yielded 3.75 invaginations per section (range, 0 to 14). The presence of the virions in these invaginations implied an egress defect for both viruses. The appearance of these infected cells was dissimilar to that of cells infected with HSV-1(F) or the restored virus UL31(SAR) where such invaginations were not observed (not shown).
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FIG. 6. Electron microscopy of Hep2 cells infected with HSV mutants. Cells were infected for 16 h at an MOI of 5.0 PFU/cell with the indicated viruses, fixed, embedded, sectioned, stained, and examined in a transmission electron microscope. Images show primary enveloped virion accumulation in Hep2 cells infected by US3(K220A) viruses or UL31(SA6) viruses. N, nucleus; C, cytoplasm. The scale in µm is indicated.
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Proper pUL31/pUL34 distribution can be restored by increasing the acidity of the pUL31 N terminus. In preliminary studies, the localization of pUL31/pUL34 in cells infected with a virus [designated UL31(SA3)] expressing pUL31 with point mutations S11A, S24A, and S40A was undistinguishable from that in cells infected with the wild-type virus (not shown). This observation suggested that phosphorylation at sites S26, S27, and/or S43 were sufficient to enable pUL31 to function properly. With this in mind, two pseudophosphorylated pUL31-expressing viruses were generated, one termed UL31(SAE), which encoded residues 11, 24, and 40 as alanines while residues 26, 27, and 43 were changed to glutamic acid, and one termed UL31(SE6), which had all six residues changed to glutamic acid (diagrammed in Fig. 2A).
An immunofluorescence analysis of pUL31 and pUL34 distribution in cells infected with these viruses revealed phenotypic differences (Fig. 7). Specifically, UL31(SAE) still produced punctate pUL31/pUL34-specific staining like the UL31(SA6) or US3(K220A) viruses, whereas these proteins were distributed smoothly throughout the nuclear rim in cells infected with UL31(SE6). Taken together with the distribution patterns of pUL31/pUL34 in cells infected with the UL31(SA3) and UL31(SA6) viruses, the data indicated that the acidification of the pUL31 N terminus, either through phosphorylation or the experimental introduction of glutamic acid, was critical for proper pUL31/pUL34 localization at the nuclear rim.
In order to confirm the rescuing effect of the acidity of pUL31 in pUL31/pUL34 complex localization and to see if effecters of US3 other than UL31 played a role, a novel virus was generated in which the mutation abolishing US3 kinase activity was introduced into the UL31(SE6) virus, resulting in a UL31(SE6)/US3(K220A) double mutant virus. An analysis of the distribution of the pUL31/pUL34 complex in cells infected with this mutant indicated that the complex localized in a smooth distribution at the nuclear rim in contrast to what would be expected in cells infected with US3(K220A). Thus, the rescuing phenotype of pseudophosphorylated pUL31 was dominant over the inactive US3 kinase phenotype. These observations suggested that pUL31 is the major substrate of US3 kinase responsible for regulating the localization of pUL31/pUL34 at the nuclear rim.
The pseudophosphorylation of pUL31 inhibits the primary envelopment of nucleocapsids. Based on the immunofluorescence data above, we presumed that unlike the US3 kinase-dead virus, the UL31(SE6) virus and UL31(SE6)/US3(K220A) viruses (i) would not induce herniations of the nuclear membrane containing perinuclear virions and (ii) would replicate as efficiently as wild-type HSV-1. To test the first prediction, cells were infected with these viruses and examined by electron microscopy 16 h later. Consistent with the hypothesis, no excessive perinuclear virion accumulation was observed in cells infected with either virus over that seen in cells infected with wild-type HSV-1(F) (data not shown). Inconsistent with the second hypothesis above, however, very few viral particles were detected in the cytoplasm or on the surface of cells infected with the UL31(SE6) virus or the UL31(SE6)/US3(K220A) viruses (not shown). This was the case despite ample numbers of capsids within the nuclei of these cells. Counting a representative nine cell sections indicated that whereas the ratio of cytoplasmic to intranuclear capsids was approximately 1.55 in cells infected with HSV-1(F), this ratio was only 0.11 in cells infected with the UL31(SE6) mutant virus and 0.02 for the UL31(SE6)/US3(K220A) double mutant (Table 3). These data suggest that the mutant virions were enveloped at the INM less efficiently than their wild-type counterparts.
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TABLE 3. Subcellular distribution of viral particles in Hep2 cells infected for 16 h and examined by electron microscopy
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Perhaps the most important finding of the current work is that most aspects of the US3 nuclear egress phenotype, including the mislocalization of the pUL31/pUL34 complex and virion accumulation in herniations of the perinuclear space, can be mimicked by precluding the phosphorylation of pUL31 at its N terminus. Thus, US3 mediates much of its effects in nuclear egress through the phosphorylation of pUL31. Although we have no evidence indicating that the rate of budding into the perinuclear space is affected by the absence of the phosphorylation of pUL31, the aggregation of pUL31/pUL34 may restrict the number of budding sites, causing nucleocapsids to continue budding into herniations of the perinuclear space that already contain multiple perinuclear virions. The machinery that mediates the fusion of the perinuclear virion and the ONM therefore may become overwhelmed, leading to the observed phenotype.
Our data also indicate that pseudophosphorylated pUL31(SE6) is defective in the primary envelopment of nucleocapsids at the INM and is insufficient to complement the full contribution of US3 kinase to replication. We cannot exclude the possibility that the serine-to-glutamic-acid mutations cause some misfolding of pUL31, thereby impairing its ability to mediate nuclear egress. Alternatively, the data suggest that substrates of US3 kinase other than pUL31 are important to nuclear egress. We speculate that these other substrates include an impaired or mistriggered apparatus responsible for fusing the nascent virion envelope with the ONM (possibly through effects on gB and gH). This is difficult to assess because the paucity of perinuclear virions in cells infected with pUL31(SE6) precludes an evaluation of whether the mutation also affects egress at later steps.
The data presented herein suggest that the function of pUL31 is tightly and dynamically controlled by phosphorylation as diagrammed in Fig. 9. We hypothesize that there is a mixed population of both unphosphorylated and phosphorylated pUL31 and that most pUL31 at the INM is phosphorylated, thereby preventing pUL31/pUL34 aggregation and premature budding. This conclusion is consistent with the observations that (i) pUL31/pUL34 aggregates aberrantly to form foci when pUL31 phosphorylation by pUS3 is precluded, (ii) pUL31/pUL34 foci do not form upon the pseudophosphorylation of pUL31, and (iii) the foci comprise pUL31/pUL34 associated with perinuclear virions and pUL31/pUL34 located at the INM but free from virions (27). We further propose that at primary envelopment sites in the INM, the unphosphorylated form is involved in the initiation of the budding reaction, possibly by direct or indirect interaction with the nucleocapsid or other egress components. Once in the perinuclear space, newly phosphorylated pUL31 is needed to promote the fusion of the perinuclear virion with the ONM, probably by activating the fusion properties of gH and gB. This phosphorylation of pUL31 may also decrease the affinity of pUL31/pUL34 for nucleocapsids, facilitating nucleocapsid release into the cytosol after membrane fusion.
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FIG. 9. Model of virion egress consistent with presented data. (1) Nucleocapsids are produced in the nucleoplasm. (2) The nucleocapsid engages unphosphorylated pUL31 associated with pUL34 at the INM directly or indirectly. pUL31 in the UL31/UL34 complex is mostly phosphorylated to preclude promiscuous budding and pUL31/pUL34 aggregation. (3) The completion of budding produces perinuclear virions bearing fusion proteins, the US3 kinase (not shown), and pUL34 bound to unphosphorylated pUL31. (4) pUL31 becomes phosphorylated by pUS3 in the virion conferring a signal to initiate fusion between the virion envelope and the inner surface of the ONM. (5) Fusion protein conformation is altered and fusion occurs. Phosphorylated pUL31, pUL34, and fusion proteins remain at the ONM while the nucleocapsid is released into the cytosol. PNS, perinuclear space.
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These studies were supported by R01 grant AI52341 from the National Institutes of Health.
Published ahead of print on 11 March 2009. ![]()
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