Herpes Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Herpes, including details on herpes simplex virus (hsv), genital, oral, symptoms, treatment.

Glycoprotein I of herpes simplex virus type 1 contains a unique polymorphic tandem-repeated mucin region.

Norberg P, Olofsson S, Tarp MA, Clausen H, Bergström T, Liljeqvist JA

Department of Virology, University of Göteborg, Guldhedsgatan 10B, S-413 46 Göteborg, Sweden.

Glycoprotein I (gI) of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) contains a tandem repeat (TR) region including the amino acids serine and threonine, residues that can be utilized for O-glycosylation. The length of this TR region was determined for 82 clinical HSV-1 isolates and the results revealed a polymorphic distribution of two to six or eight repeated blocks with a majority harbouring between two and four repeats. Assessment of the O-glycosylation capacity of an acceptor peptide (STPSTTTSTPSTTT), representing two of the gI blocks, showed that the peptide was a universal substrate for O-glycosylation not only for the two most commonly expressed N-acetyl-d-galactosamine (GalNAc)-T1 and -T2 transferases, but also for the GalNAc-T3, -T4 and -T11 transferases. Immunoblotting of virus-infected cells showed that gI was exclusively O-glycosylated with GalNAc monosaccharides (Tn antigen). A polymorphic mucin region has not been described previously for HSV-1 and is a unique finding, as repeated blocks within gI homologues are lacking in other alphaherpesviruses.

Published 8 May 2007 in J Gen Virol, 88: 1683-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Herpes Research Today. All Rights Reserved.