THE NUCLEAR DOMAIN-10 (ND10) IS DISRUPTED BY THE HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS GENE-PRODUCT IE1

The nuclear domain 10 (ND10) is modified during the life cycle of a nu mber of viruses. In this study we report the effect of infection with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) on the ND10 proteins PML, Sp100, and NDP5 2. Immunofluorescence analyses revealed that 1-2 h after infection (p. i.) with HCMV the immediate early gene (IE) products IE1 and IE2 trans iently colocalize with ND10 proteins. At 4 h p.i. the IE gene products were distributed throughout the nucleus, which was accompanied by a c omplete disruption of ND10, affecting all analyzed proteins. Transfect ion studies using different HCMV-cDNA expression plasmids revealed tha t the expression of IE1 alone was sufficient to induce this disruption . As reported for other ND10-modifying viral proteins, no direct inter action between IE1 and the analyzed ND10 proteins could be detected. T he disruption of ND10 by HCMV IE1 is very similar to that described fo r HSV-1 ICP0. Although there is no sequence similarity between protein s, this observation might suggest similar functions in virus-host inte ractions. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.