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The product of human cytomegalovirus UL73 is a new polymorphic structural glycoprotein (gpUL73)
P Dal Monte1, S Pignatelli, M Mach
1Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Bologna, Italy. dalmonte@med.unibo.it
Objectives:
This work focuses on human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL73, which encodes for a putative transmembrane glycoprotein that is highly conserved among herpesviruses.
Study Design:
pUL73 expression was analyzed both in transiently transfected and in HCMV-infected cells using a pUL73-specific antiserum by immunoblot and immunofluorescence. Sequencing analysis from several clinical isolates and laboratory-adapted strains was also performed.
Results:
pUL73 expressed in transiently transfected cells consists in a polypeptide of the expected size (15-18 kd) with cytoplasmic localization. In infected cells, pUL73 is expressed with true-late kinetics and localizes both in perinuclear granular formations and on the cell surface. A broad band (39-53 kd), sensitive to O-glycosidase digestion was detected in purified virus. In addition, sequence analysis showed that the N-terminal portion of pUL73 from clinical isolates is highly polymorphic.
Conclusions:
UL73 encodes for a new structural glycoprotein (gpUL73) expressed on the cell surface of infected cells and highly polymorphic among clinical isolates.