Envelope protein Us9 is required for the anterograde transport of bovine herpesvirus type 1 from trigeminal ganglia to nose and eye upon reactivation

Abstract

In this study, the authors examined the role of bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) Us9 in the anterograde transport of the virus from trigeminal ganglia (TG) to nose and eye upon reactivation from latency. During primary infection, both BHV-1 Us9-deleted and BHV-1 Us9-rescued viruses replicated efficiently in the nasal and ocular epithelium. However, upon reactivation from latency, only the BHV-1 Us9-rescued virus could be isolated in the nasal and ocular shedding. By real-time polymerase chain reaction, comparable DNA copy numbers were detected in the TGs during latency and reactivation for both the viruses. Therefore, Us9 is essential for reactivation of the virus in the TG and anterograde axonal transport from TG to nose and eye.

Keywords:

• anterograde neuronal transport
• BHV-1 envelope protein Us9
• latency and reactivation
• trigeminal ganglia

This work is published as contribution # 07-91-J of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

The authors acknowledge Charles Coats for assistance with figures. This work was supported by USDA grants to S. I. Chowdhury (00-02103 and 2004-35204-14657) and C. Jones (2005-01554, 2006-01627).