The cell cycle and virus infection

A number of different viruses interact with the cell cycle in order to subvert host-cell function and increase the efficiency of virus replication; examples can be found from DNA, retro, and RNA viruses. The majority of studies have been conducted on DNA and retroviruses whose primary site of replication is the nucleus, but increasingly a number of researchers are demonstrating that RNA viruses, whose primary site of replication is normally the cytoplasm, also interfere with the cell cycle. Viral interference with the cell cycle can have a myriad of different effects to improve virus infection, for example to promote replication of viral DNA genomes, or to delay the cell cycle to allow sufficient time for RNA virus assembly. Although cell cycle control is fairly well characterized in terms of checkpoints and control molecules (e.g., cyclins), in recent years several researchers have demonstrated that the nucleolus is also involved in cell cycle control. The nucleolus and associated subnuclear structures can sequester cell cycle regulatory complexes, and nucleolar proteins also have a direct and indirect effect on the cycling cell. Viruses also interact with the nucleolus. In order to study the interactions between a virus and the cell cycle and vice versa we have developed and adapted a number of different approaches and strategies. These include determinations of virus yield and measurements of virus replication to flow cytometry and confocal analysis of the host cell. Increasingly we have found that proteomic approaches allow the rapid analysis of a whole plethora of cell cycle proteins that may be affected by virus infection.