Murine gammaherpesvirus M11 gene product inhibits apoptosis and is expressed during virus persistence

The murine gammaherpesvirus (MHV-68) M11 gene encodes a protein with BH1 do main homology to Bcl-2. We found that the M11 gene product (MHVBcl-2) prote cted murine epithelial cells from TNF-alpha induced apoptosis. M11 was tran scribed during early lytic infection in vitro. During early infection of mi ce, M11 message was detected in spleen and lung along with lytic cycle mess ages. During persistence, lytic cycle gene expression was undetectable but M11 RNA was still present. This suggests that MHVBcl-2 promotes virus survi val by protecting not only productively infected but also persistently infe cted cells from apoptotic death.