Murid gammaherpesvirus 68 (MuHV-68) is an isolate of the virus species ''

Murid gammaherpesvirus 4 ''Murid gammaherpesvirus 4'' (MuHV-4) is a species of virus in the genus ''Rhadinovirus''. It is a member of the subfamily ''Gammaherpesvirinae'' in the family ''Herpesviridae''. This species infects mice via the nasal passages and causes an acu ...

'', a member of the genus ''

Rhadinovirus ''Rhadinovirus'' (synonyms: ''Rhadinoviridae'' and gamma-2 herpesviruses) is a genus of viruses in the order ''Herpesvirales'', in the family ''Herpesviridae'', in the subfamily ''Gammaherpesvirinae''. Humans and other mammals serve as natural h ...

''. It is a member of the subfamily ''

Gammaherpesvirinae ''Gammaherpesvirinae'' is a subfamily of viruses in the order ''Herpesvirales'' and in the family ''Herpesviridae''. Viruses in ''Gammaherpesvirinae'' are distinguished by reproducing at a more variable rate than other subfamilies of ''Herpesvir ...

'' in the family of '' Herpesviridae''. MuHV-68 serves as a model for study of human gammaherpesviruses which cause significant human disease including B-cell lymphoma and

Kaposi's sarcoma Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a type of cancer that can form masses in the skin, in lymph nodes, in the mouth, or in other organs. The skin lesions are usually painless, purple and may be flat or raised. Lesions can occur singly, multiply in a limite ...

. The WUMS strain of MuHV-68 was fully sequenced and annotated in 1997, and the necessity of most of its genes in viral replication was characterized by random transposon mutagenesis.

Surface proteins

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...

-, and gammaherpesviruses display a

heterodimer In biochemistry, a protein dimer is a macromolecular complex formed by two protein monomers, or single proteins, which are usually non-covalently bound. Many macromolecules, such as proteins or nucleic acids, form dimers. The word ''dimer'' has ...

composed of

glycoprotein Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycos ...

H (gH) and glycoprotein L (gL) on their

envelopes An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a shor ...

. This

receptor Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a ...

is involved in the cell-to-cell transmission of the virus. Glycoprotein H has two conformations. Glycoprotein L is a

chaperone protein In molecular biology, molecular chaperones are proteins that assist the conformational folding or unfolding of large proteins or macromolecular protein complexes. There are a number of classes of molecular chaperones, all of which function to assi ...

which assures that gH takes on the correct conformation. Murid gammaherpesvirus 68 lack gL, gH misfolds. When alpha- or betaherpesviruses lack gL, they are noninfectious. Murid gammaherpesvirus 68 lacks gL, it remains infectious but is less able to bind to fibroblasts and

epithelial cells Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellula ...

. The

open reading frame In molecular biology, open reading frames (ORFs) are defined as spans of DNA sequence between the start and stop codons. Usually, this is considered within a studied region of a prokaryotic DNA sequence, where only one of the six possible readin ...

M7 of the MuHV-68

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

encodes for the surface receptor glycoprotein 150 (gp150). It is homologous to the Epstein-Barr virus membrane

antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...

gp350/220. MuHV-68 is more closely related to the Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) than it is to the Epstein-Barr virus. Glycoprotein K8.1 is the KSHV homolog of MuHV-68 gp150. MuHV-68 is a very close relative of MuHV-72. The MuHV-68 M7 gene differs from the corresponding MuHV-72 gene by five point mutations which alter four

codons The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material ( DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets, or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links ...

. Glycoprotein 150 allows MuHV-68 to bind to

B-cells B cells, also known as B lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell of the lymphocyte subtype. They function in the humoral immunity component of the adaptive immune system. B cells produce antibody molecules which may be either secreted or ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murid Herpesvirus 68 Gammaherpesvirinae Animal virology Unaccepted virus taxa