Unconserved C terminal of human cytomegalovirus tegument protein pUL76 elicits nuclear aggresome formation and induces DNA damage in transfected cells

作者：Zhang, Wenchang; Yao, Yao; Chen, Jingxian; Wang, Mingli^*

来源：Journal of Biomedical Science, 2015, 22(1): 95.

DOI：10.1186/s12929-015-0205-4

• Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)
• Tegument protein
• UL76
• Unconserved C terminal
• Chromosome damage
• Protein aggresome formation

Background: The HCMV UL76 gene is a member of UL24 family in herpes virus and encodes a highly conserved herpes virus protein. Inherited from common ancestor, members of Herpes_UL24 family encode proteins with a conserved N terminal and varied in C terminal region. To define which region (conserved N terminal or unconserved C terminal) of UL76 was responsible for its ability to induce DNA damage and aggresome formation, the wild-type UL76 gene and two deletion mutants were transfected to cells and analyzed by immunofluorescent staining, Western blotting and comet assay. @@@ Results: We report that the EGFP-fusion proteins present as globular aggresomes and colocalize with gamma-H2AX in cells transfected with either pEGFP-UL76 or pEGFP-UL76C. The relative expression level of gamma-H2AX and percentage of cells with comet tails were elevated in pEGFP-UL76 or pEGFP-UL76C transfection groups compared to the control. @@@ Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the unconserved C terminal (not the conserved N terminal) of pUL76 was sufficient to induce DNA damage and aggresome formation in transfected cells.

• 出版日期2015-10-22
• 单位安徽医科大学