A Mutation in the Latency-Related Gene of Bovine Herpesvirus 1 Inhibits Protein Expression from Open Reading Frame 2 and an Adjacent Reading Frame during Productive Infection

Authors

Yanjun Jiang, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Melissa Inman, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Yange Zhang, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Nuria Aleman Posadas, Departamento de Anatomía y Produccion Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, E-27002 Lugo, Spain
Clinton J. Jones, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

March 2004

Comments

Published in JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY, Mar. 2004, p. 3184–3189 Vol. 78, No. 6. Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. Used by permission.

Abstract

The latency-related (LR) gene of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) is abundantly expressed during latency. A mutant BHV-1 strain that contains three stop codons at the 5′ terminus of the LR gene (LR mutant) does not reactivate from latency. This study demonstrates that the LR mutant does not express open reading frame 2 or an adjacent reading frame that lacks an initiating ATG (reading frame C). Since the LR mutant and wild-type BHV-1 express similar levels of LR RNA, we conclude that LR protein expression plays an important role in regulating the latency reactivation cycle in cattle.