Mouse cytomegalovirus crosses the species barrier with help from a few human cytomegalovirus proteins.

ABSTRACT: Strong species specificity and similar tropisms suggest mouse cytomegalovirus (mCMV) as a potential vector for transgenes into human cells. We reexamined the dogma that mouse cytomegalovirus cannot productively replicate in human cells and found that mouse cytomegalovirus can produce infectious particles albeit at a level that does not sustain an infection. This finding demonstrates that mouse cytomegalovirus can undergo all processes of its life cycle in human cells but may not be well adapted to circumvent the human cell's intrinsic defenses. The suppression of mCMV production in human cells is affected at several levels, which additively or synergistically result in the appearance of species specificity. Hydrolysis of most newly replicated viral DNA and very low capsid protein transcrip

SUBMITTER: Tang Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1563706 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature