Identification of Marek's Disease Virus VP22 Tegument Protein Domains Essential for Virus Cell-to-Cell Spread, Nuclear Localization, Histone Association and Cell-Cycle Arrest

VP22 is a major tegument protein of alphaherpesviruses encoded by the UL49 gene. Two properties of VP22 were discovered by studying Marek's disease virus (MDV), the Mardivirus prototype; it has a major role in virus cell-to-cell spread and in cell cycle modulation. This 249 AA-long protein contains three regions including a conserved central domain. To decipher the functional VP22 domains and their relationships, we generated three series of recombinant MDV genomes harboring a modified UL49 gene and assessed their effect on virus spread. Mutated VP22 were also tested for their ability to arrest the cell cycle, subcellular location and histones copurification after overexpression in cells. We demonstrated that the N-terminus of VP22 associated with its central domain is essential for virus spread and cell cycle modulation. Strikingly, we demonstrated that AAs 174-190 of MDV VP22 containing the end of a putative extended alpha-3 helix are essential for both functions and that AAs 159-162 located in the putative beta-strand of the central domain are mandatory for cell cycle modulation. Despite being non-essential, the 59 C-terminal AAs play a role in virus spread efficiency. Interestingly, a positive correlation was observed between cell cycle modulation and VP22 histones association, but none with MDV spread.