Human cytomegalovirus interactome analysis identifies degradation hubs, domain associations and viral protein functions

LV Nobre, K Nightingale, BJ Ravenhill, R Antrobus… - Elife, 2019 - elifesciences.org
LV Nobre, K Nightingale, BJ Ravenhill, R Antrobus, L Soday, J Nichols, JA Davies…
Elife, 2019elifesciences.org
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) extensively modulates host cells, downregulating> 900
human proteins during viral replication and degrading≥ 133 proteins shortly after infection.
The mechanism of degradation of most host proteins remains unresolved, and the functions
of many viral proteins are incompletely characterised. We performed a mass spectrometry-
based interactome analysis of 169 tagged, stably-expressed canonical strain Merlin HCMV
proteins, and two non-canonical HCMV proteins, in infected cells. This identified a network …
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) extensively modulates host cells, downregulating >900 human proteins during viral replication and degrading ≥133 proteins shortly after infection. The mechanism of degradation of most host proteins remains unresolved, and the functions of many viral proteins are incompletely characterised. We performed a mass spectrometry-based interactome analysis of 169 tagged, stably-expressed canonical strain Merlin HCMV proteins, and two non-canonical HCMV proteins, in infected cells. This identified a network of >3400 virus-host and >150 virus-virus protein interactions, providing insights into functions for multiple viral genes. Domain analysis predicted binding of the viral UL25 protein to SH3 domains of NCK Adaptor Protein-1. Viral interacting proteins were identified for 31/133 degraded host targets. Finally, the uncharacterised, non-canonical ORFL147C protein was found to interact with elements of the mRNA splicing machinery, and a mutational study suggested its importance in viral replication. The interactome data will be important for future studies of herpesvirus infection.
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