Polarized DNA ejection from the herpesvirus capsid.

ABSTRACT: Ejection of DNA from the capsid is an early step in infection by all herpesviruses. Ejection or DNA uncoating occurs after a parental capsid has entered the host cell cytoplasm, migrated to the nucleus, and bound to a nuclear pore. DNA exits the capsid through the portal vertex and proceeds by way of the nuclear pore complex into the nucleoplasm where it is transcribed and replicated. Here, we describe use of an in vitro uncoating system to determine which genome end exits first from the herpes simplex virus 1 capsid. Purified DNA-containing capsids were bound to a solid surface and warmed under conditions in which some, but not all, of the DNA was ejected. Restriction endonuclease digestion was then used to identify the genomic origin of the ejected DNA. The results support the view that

SUBMITTER: Newcomb WW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2743799 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature