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Journal of Virology, November 1999, p. 9053-9062, Vol. 73, No. 11
Virology Laboratories1
and Mid-Atlantic Mass Spectrometry
Center,2 Department of Pharmacology and
Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
Baltimore, Maryland 21205
Received 13 May 1999/Accepted 30 July 1999
The assembly protein precursor (pAP) of cytomegalovirus (CMV), and
its homologs in other herpesviruses, functions at several key steps
during the process of capsid formation. This protein, and the
genetically related maturational proteinase, is distinguished from the
other capsid proteins by posttranslational modifications, including
phosphorylation. The objective of this study was to identify sites at
which pAP is phosphorylated so that the functional significance of this
modification and the enzyme(s) responsible for it can be determined. In
the work reported here, we used peptide mapping, mass spectrometry, and
site-directed mutagenesis to identify two sets of pAP phosphorylation
sites. One is a casein kinase II (CKII) consensus sequence that
contains two adjacent serines, both of which are phosphorylated. The
other site(s) is in a different domain of the protein, is
phosphorylated less frequently than the CKII site, does not require
preceding CKII-site phosphorylation, and causes an electrophoretic
mobility shift when phosphorylated. Transfection/expression assays for
proteolytic activity showed no gross effect of CKII-site
phosphorylation on the enzymatic activity of the proteinase or on the
substrate behavior of pAP. Evidence is presented that both the CKII
sites and the secondary sites are phosphorylated in virus-infected
cells and plasmid-transfected cells, indicating that these
modifications can be made by a cellular enzyme(s). Apparent
compartmental differences in phosphorylation of the CKII-site
(cytoplasmic) and secondary-site (nuclear) serines suggest the
involvement of more that one enzyme in these modifications.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Phosphorylation of Simian Cytomegalovirus Assembly
Protein Precursor (pAPNG.5) and Proteinase Precursor (pAPNG1): Multiple
Attachment Sites Identified, Including Two Adjacent Serines in a Casein
Kinase II Consensus Sequence

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Virology
Laboratories, Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205. Phone: (410) 955-8680. Fax: (410) 955-3023. E-mail:
wgibson{at}bs.jhmi.edu.
Present address: Center for Cell Signaling, University of Virginia
Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, Va.
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