Pseudorabies virus glycoprotein K requires the UL20 gene product for processing

Glycoprotein K (gK) of pseudorabies virus (PrV) has recently been identified as a virion component which is dispensable for viral entry but required for direct cell-to-cell spread. Electron microscopic data suggested a possible function of gK in virus egress by preventing immediate fusion of released virus particles with the plasma membrane (B. G. Klupp, J. Baumeister, P. Dietz, H. Granzow, and T. C. Mettenleiter, J. Virol. 72:1949-1958, 1998). For more detailed analysis, a PrV mutant with a deletion of the UL53 (gK) open reading frame (ORF) from codons 48 to 275 was constructed, and the protein was analyzed with two monoclonal antibodies directed against PrV gK. The salient findings of this report are as follows. (i) From the PrV UL53 ORF, a functional gK is translated only from the first in-frame methionine. From the second in-frame methionine, a nonfunctional product is expressed which is not incorporated into virions. (ii) When constitutively expressed in a stable cell line without other viral proteins, gK is only incompletely processed. After superinfection with gK-deletion mutants, proper processing is restored and mature gK is incorporated into virions. (iii) The UL20 gene product is specifically required for processing of gK. gK is not correctly processed in a UL20 deletion mutant of PrV, and superinfection of gK-expressing cells with PrV-UL20(-) does not restore processing. However, all other known structural viral glycoproteins appear to be processed normally in PrV-UL20(-)-infected cells. (iv) Coexpression of gK and UL20 restored gK processing at least partially. Thus, our data show that the UL20 gene product is required for proper processing of PrV gK.