from Part II - Basic virology and viral gene effects on host cell functions: betaherpesviruses
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Introduction
The assembly of betaherpesviruses, specifically cytomegaloviruses, is a topic of considerable interest to virologists and structural biologists. These viruses are among the largest and most complex animal viruses and encode a large number of proteins. Some clinical isolates of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) have been predicted to contain as many as 250 ORFs (Chee et al., 1990; Murphy et al., 2003), while other authors have suggested that the coding capacity of HCMV may actually be on the order of 165 ORFs (see Chapter 14). Although the number of virus-encoded proteins that are incorporated into the infectious particle is unknown, estimates from several laboratories suggest that it could approach 100 proteins (Varnum et al., 2004). In addition, the particle also contains an unknown number of host cell proteins, some that may have functional significance in the replicative cycle of these viruses (Varnum et al., 2004). Thus, the complexity of virus assembly rivals that of some cellular organelles. Furthermore, CMVs do not arrest host cell protein synthesis even at late phases of replication as do the alphaherpesviruses and therefore during their assembly can either compete with host cell protein synthetic and targeting pathways or more likely, express viral specific functions that modulate host cellular pathways to optimize viral protein synthesis and transport. Identification of these virus-specified host cell modifications together with their interactions with virion proteins will aid in the understanding of the assembly of this virus.
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