A viral regulator of glycoprotein complexes contributes to human cytomegalovirus cell tropism

Viral glycoproteins mediate entry of enveloped viruses into cells and thus play crucial roles in infection. In herpesviruses, a complex of two viral glycoproteins, gH and gL (gH/gL), regulates membrane fusion events and influences virion cell tropism. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) gH/gL can be incorporated into two different protein complexes: a glycoprotein O (gO)-containing complex known as gH/gL/gO, and a complex containing UL128, UL130, and UL131 known as gH/gL/UL128-131. Variability in the relative abundance of the complexes in the virion envelope correlates with differences in cell tropism exhibited between strains of HCMV. Nonetheless, the mechanisms underlying such variability have remained unclear. We have identified a viral protein encoded by the UL148 ORF (UL148) that influences the ratio of gH/gL/gO to gH/gL/UL128-131 and the cell tropism of HCMV virions. A mutant disrupted for UL148 showed defects in gH/gL/gO maturation and enhanced infectivity for epithelial cells. Accordingly, reintroduction of UL148 into an HCMV strain that lacked the gene resulted in decreased levels of gH/gL/UL128-131 on virions and, correspondingly, decreased infectivity for epithelial cells. UL148 localized to the endoplasmic reticulum, but not to the cytoplasmic sites of virion envelopment. Coimmunoprecipitation results indicated that gH, gL, UL130, and UL131 associate with UL148, but that gO and UL128 do not. Taken together, the findings suggest that UL148 modulates HCMV tropism by regulating the composition of alternative gH/gL complexes.The lipid bilayer membranes of living cells pose an existential challenge to viruses. In enveloped viruses, viral glycoproteins execute a highly regulated fusion event between virion and cellular membranes, thereby delivering the viral genome and other contents of the virion into the host cell. Antibody responses that block entry are considered neutralizing and represent an important host defense against viral pathogens.In many enveloped viruses, one or two viral glycoproteins suffice to carry out binding and membrane fusion events that mediate entry. In herpesviruses, however, at least four envelope glycoproteins are typically involved. The core machinery for herpesvirus entry comprises three highly conserved viral glycoproteins, glycoprotein B (gB), glycoprotein H (gH), and glycoprotein L (gL), along with one or more accessory glycoproteins necessary for binding to cell surface receptors (reviewed in refs. 1, 2). gB is thought to be the proximal mediator of membrane fusion, whereas gH and gL form a complex, termed gH/gL, which has been found to regulate the fusogenic activity of gB (3–6). In a number of beta and gamma herpesviruses, including the human pathogens human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), two different gH/gL complexes are found on the virion envelope and are necessary for the viruses to enter the full range of cell types that they infect in vivo.Of the two gH/gL complexes expressed in HCMV virions, the gH/gL complex with glycoprotein O (gO), gH/gL/gO, suffices for entry into fibroblasts, a cell type in which fusion events at the plasma membrane initiate infection (7). Infection of several other types of cells, including monocytes, dendritic cells, endothelial cells, and epithelial cells, requires the pentameric complex of gH/gL and three small glycoproteins—UL128, UL130, and UL131 (UL128-131)—and appears to involve fusion at endosomal membranes (8–16). Strains of HCMV, such as AD169 and Towne, that have undergone extensive serial passage in cultured fibroblasts fail to express the pentameric gH/gL/UL128-131 complex on virions and thus are unable to infect epithelial and endothelial cells (12, 13, 15); however, repair of a frameshift mutation in the UL131 gene of strain AD169 restores expression of gH/gL/UL128-131 (11, 12) and expands its cell tropism.Less extensively passaged HCMV strains that retain expression of gH/gL/UL128-131 can efficiently infect epithelial and endothelial cells (13, 17, 18). Nonetheless, several such strains replicate to ∼1,000-fold lower titers on epithelial cells compared with strain AD169 repaired for UL131 (11). AD169 lacks a ∼15-kb region at the end of the unique long genome region, termed the ULb′ (19). We were intrigued by the rather striking differences in cell tropism between laboratory strain AD169 repaired for expression of the pentameric gH/gL/UL128-131 complex, and strains, such as TB40/E, that have largely intact ULb′ regions and maintain expression of gH/gL/UL128-131. We hypothesized the ULb′ region encodes an additional factor involved in HCMV cell tropism. Our studies addressing this hypothesis led us to identify a new function for UL148, a gene within the ULb′. We found that UL148 encodes an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident glycoprotein that influences virion cell tropism by regulating the composition of alternative gH/gL complexes.