The Human Cytomegalovirus Transmembrane Protein pUL50 Induces Loss of VCP/p97 and Is Regulated by a Small Isoform of pUL50.

The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL50 gene encodes a transmembrane protein, pUL50, which acts as a core component of the nuclear egress complex (NEC) for nucleocapsids. Recently, pUL50 has been shown to have NEC-independent activities: downregulation of IRE1 to repress the unfolded protein response and degradation of UBE1L to inhibit the protein ISG15 modification pathway. Here, we demonstrate that a 26-kDa N-terminal truncated isoform of pUL50 (UL50-p26) is expressed from an internal methionine at amino acid position 199 and regulates the activity of pUL50 to induce the loss of valosin-containing protein (VCP/p97). A UL50(M199V) mutant virus expressing pUL50(M199V) but not UL50-p26 showed delayed growth at a low multiplicity of infection. There was also delayed accumulation of the viral immediate early 2 (IE2) protein in the mutant virus, and this correlated with the reduced expression of VCP/p97, which promotes IE2 expression. Infection with mutant virus did not significantly alter ISGylation levels. In transient expression assays, pUL50 induced VCP/p97 loss posttranscriptionally, and this was dependent on the presence of its transmembrane domain. In contrast, UL50-p26 did not destabilize VCP/p97 but, rather, inhibited pUL50-mediated VCP/p97 loss and the associated major IE gene suppression. Both pUL50 and UL50-p26 interacted with VCP/p97, although UL50-p26 did so more weakly than pUL50. UL50-p26 interacted with pUL50, and this interaction was much stronger than the pUL50 self-interaction. Furthermore, UL50-p26 was able to interfere with the pUL50-VCP/p97 interaction. Our study newly identifies UL50-p26 expression during HCMV infection and suggests a regulatory role for UL50-p26 in blocking pUL50-mediated VCP/p97 loss by associating with pUL50.