Interaction of human cytomegalovirus pUL52 with major components of the viral DNA encapsidation network underlines its essential role in genome cleavage-packaging.

ABSTRACT: Cleavage of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) genomes and their packaging into capsids requires at least seven essential viral proteins, yet it is not completely understood how these proteins cooperate to accomplish this task. Besides the portal protein pUL104 and the terminase subunits pUL51, pUL56, and pUL89, the UL52 protein is also necessary for HCMV genome encapsidation; however, knowledge about pUL52 is scant. In the absence of pUL52, viral concatemers are not cleaved into unit-length genomes and no DNA-filled capsids are observed, yet no viral or cellular proteins interacting with pUL52 have been identified that would explain how pUL52 exerts its essential role in the HCMV infection cycle. In this study, we aimed at a comprehensive definition of pUL52-interacting proteins in infected cel

SUBMITTER: Harmening S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11998523 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature