Viral Tricks

Abstract

Herpesviruses replicate in the nucleus of host cells, but the particles formed are too big to pass through nuclear pores. How do they escape? Muranyi et al. (see the Perspective by Sanchez and Spector) found that murine cytomegalovirus subverts the normal activity of a cellular protein to aid its escape. A pair of viral proteins (M50/p35 and M53/p38) form a "docking station" for the viral capsids on the inner nuclear membrane. M50/p35 then recruits cellular protein kinase C to phosphorylate and disassemble the filamentous protein network of the nuclear lamina. W. Muranyi, J. Haas, M. Wagner, G. Krohne, U. H. Koszinowski, Cytomegalovirus recruitment of cellular kinases to dissolve the nuclear lamina, Science 297, 854-857 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text] V. Sanchez, D. H. Spector, CMV makes a timely exit, Science 297, 778-779 (2002). [Summary] [Full Text]