Extragenic suppression of an HSV-1 UL34 nuclear egress mutant reveals role for pUS9 as an inhibitor of epithelial cell-to-cell spread.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE Herpesviruses are able to disseminate in infected hosts despite development of a strong immune response. Their ability to do this relies on a specialized process called cell-to-cell spread in which newly assembled virus particles are trafficked to plasma membrane surfaces that abut adjacent uninfected cells. The mechanism of cell-to-cell spread is obscure, and little is known about whether or how it is regulated in different cells. We show here that a viral protein with a well-characterized role in promoting spread from neurons has an opposite, inhibitory role in other cells.