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Journal of Virology, September 2008, p. 9278-9282, Vol. 82, No. 18
0022-538X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00598-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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Laboratoire de Virologie Moléculaire, INRA, UR1282, Infectiologie Animale et Santé Publique, IASP, Nouzilly F-37380, France
Received 18 March 2008/ Accepted 7 July 2008
VP22, encoded by the UL49 gene of Marek's disease virus (MDV), is indispensable for virus cell-to-cell spreading. We show herein that MDV UL49 can be functionally replaced with avian and human viral orthologs. Replacement of MDV VP22 with that of avian gallid herpesvirus 3 or herpesvirus of turkey, whose residue identity with MDV is close to 60%, resulted in 73 and 131% changes in viral spreading, respectively. In contrast, VP22 replacement with human herpes simplex virus type 1 resulted in 14% plaque formation. Therefore, heterologous avian and human VP22 proteins share sufficient structural homology to support MDV cell-to-cell spreading, albeit with different efficiencies.
Published ahead of print on 16 July 2008.
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