Herpes simplex virus type 1 virions contain a proteinaceous layer between the nucleocapsid and the virus envelope termed the tegument. The mechanism underlying tegumentation remains largely undefined for all herpesviruses, as does the role of many tegument proteins in virus replication. The networks of protein interactions involved in virus assembly have been largely explored and although large-scale studies have been carried out using yeast two hybrid analyses of herpesvirus protein interactions, few of the identified networks have been validated in infected cells. Here, the molecular interactions that occur between the major tegument proteins VP22, VP16 and VP13/14 and a range of glycoproteins and tegument proteins were defined in detail. Two alternative studies were performed from infected cells, however one based on the purification of GFP-tagged proteins and their protein partners proved more successful. These studies validated previous findings and also identified VP13/14, UL21, UL16 and vhs as novel binding partners of VP22, and VP22, UL21, UL16 and vhs as novel binding partners of VP13/14. Thus, these results have led to the identification of two discrete tegument protein complexes in the infected cell: VP22-VP16-VP13/14-vhs and VP22-VP13/14-UL21-UL16.
To investigate the nature of the VP22-VP16-VP13/14-vhs complex in more detail, a number of techniques were used and showed that VP22 and VP13/14 both bind directly to the C-terminus of VP16, but were unable to interact with each other. As anticipated from other studies on transfected cell extracts, vhs was shown to be incorporated into this complex by virtue of its direct binding to VP16 during infection, and did not have the capacity to interact directly with VP22.
This work has established a defined network of protein-protein interactions encompassing over one third of tegument proteins, and will improve our understanding of the wider protein interaction networks that lead to the assembly of the herpesvirus tegument.