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Human cytomegalovirus UL49 encodes an early, virion-associated protein essential for virus growth in human foreskin fibroblasts

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Abstract

Despite recent results of deletion experiments showing that open reading frame (ORF) UL49 of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is essential, the expression, function and functional location of its encoded protein remain unknown. We generated an antibody specific for pUL49 to investigate the protein product encoded by the UL49 ORF and identified its function in HCMV-infected host foreskin fibroblasts. A bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) of HCMV strain Towne (pRV-Towne) and the UL49-deleted mutant pRV-delUL49Towne were used to observe virus growth by plaque assay. Using a UL49-protein-binding antibody, we located pUL49 in the fibroblast cytoplasm. pUL49 exhibited expression kinetics resembling those of the class β-2 proteins and was detected in the virion tegument. Following deletion of UL49 ORF, the virus failed to replicate, but it could be recovered by addition of pUL49 from pCDNA3.1 (+)-UL49. Our findings indicate that UL49 ORF is essential for HCMV replication in host foreskin fibroblasts.

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Acknowledgments

Feng Zhu and Jian Yuan contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors. This work was supported by 211 grants of MOE, National Key Basic Research Program of China (2011CB504800), Guangdong Provincial Medical Science Study of China (Grant No. A2014598) and Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2014A020212028 and Grant No. 2013B021800087).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science and Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Hong-Jian Li, Zhi-Feng Zeng, Zhi-Wen Luo, Shi-Qian Li, Chi-Qiang He, Xue-Fang Jia, Xin Zhang, Yue-Qin Li & Tian-Hong Zhou

  2. Guangzhou Occupational Disease Preventive and Treatment Center, Guangzhou No. 12 Hospital Affiliated to Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510620, China

    Feng Zhu, Hui Zuo & Yi-Min Liu

  3. Department of Pathology, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Bioactive Drugs Research Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Jian Yuan

  4. Center for Musculoskeletal Research, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA

    Martin Chang

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  1. Feng Zhu
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  2. Jian Yuan
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Correspondence to Feng Zhu or Tian-Hong Zhou.

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Zhu, F., Yuan, J., Li, HJ. et al. Human cytomegalovirus UL49 encodes an early, virion-associated protein essential for virus growth in human foreskin fibroblasts. Arch Virol 161, 1273–1284 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-016-2780-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-016-2780-4

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