TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of the nuclear import and export signals, and subcellular transport mechanism of varicella-zoster virus ORF9
AU - Cai, Mingsheng
AU - Wang, Shuai
AU - Xing, Junji
AU - Zheng, Chunfu
PY - 2011/3
Y1 - 2011/3
N2 - Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) open reading frame 9 (ORF9) mRNA is one of the most abundantly expressed messages during VZV infection. However, little is known concerning the function of ORF9 protein. Here, we found that transient expression of ORF9 fused to enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) in COS-7 cells showed a predominantly cytoplasmic localization in the absence of other viral proteins. By constructing a series of ORF9 variants fused to EYFP, a bona fide bipartite nuclear localization signal of ORF9 was, for the first time, determined and mapped to aa 16-32 (RRKTTPSYSGQYRTARR). Additionally, the nuclear export signal (NES) was identified and found to be in a leucine-rich region at aa 103-117 (LRHELVEDAVYENPL). Finally, ORF9 was demonstrated to be targeted to the cytoplasm through the functional NES by Ran and the chromosomal region maintenance 1-dependent pathway, and to the nucleus via an importin β-dependent pathway that does not require importin α5.
AB - Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) open reading frame 9 (ORF9) mRNA is one of the most abundantly expressed messages during VZV infection. However, little is known concerning the function of ORF9 protein. Here, we found that transient expression of ORF9 fused to enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) in COS-7 cells showed a predominantly cytoplasmic localization in the absence of other viral proteins. By constructing a series of ORF9 variants fused to EYFP, a bona fide bipartite nuclear localization signal of ORF9 was, for the first time, determined and mapped to aa 16-32 (RRKTTPSYSGQYRTARR). Additionally, the nuclear export signal (NES) was identified and found to be in a leucine-rich region at aa 103-117 (LRHELVEDAVYENPL). Finally, ORF9 was demonstrated to be targeted to the cytoplasm through the functional NES by Ran and the chromosomal region maintenance 1-dependent pathway, and to the nucleus via an importin β-dependent pathway that does not require importin α5.
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U2 - 10.1099/vir.0.027029-0
DO - 10.1099/vir.0.027029-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 21106804
AN - SCOPUS:79951803563
SN - 0022-1317
VL - 92
SP - 621
EP - 626
JO - Journal of General Virology
JF - Journal of General Virology
IS - 3
ER -