Abstract

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a neuroinvasive human pathogen that has the ability to infect and replicate within epithelial cells and neurons and establish a life-long latent infection in sensory neurons. HSV-1 depends on the host cellular cytoskeleton for entry, replication, and exit. Therefore, HSV-1 has adapted mechanisms to promote its survival by exploiting the microtubule and actin cytoskeletons to direct its active transport, infection, and spread between neurons and epithelial cells during primary and recurrent infections. This review will focus on the currently known mechanisms utilized by HSV-1 to harness the neuronal cytoskeleton, molecular motors, and the secretory and exocytic pathways for efficient virus entry, axonal transport, replication, assembly, and exit from the distinct functional compartments (cell body and axon) of the highly polarized sensory neurons.

Highlights

  • Viruses are acellular, obligate intracellular parasites that can only reproduce within living hosts, and have evolved to utilize different mechanisms of viral reproduction

  • Viral glycoprotein D is the major viral attachment protein binding to the herpesvirus entry mediator (HVEM), a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family, 3-O-sulfated heparan sulfate and nectin-1, a cell adhesion molecule in the immunoglobulin superfamily

  • G-actin has been shown to be essential for nuclear expansion and disruption of the chromatin during Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection of non-neuronal cells, while the expression of the viral proteins pUL31 and pUL34 is required for lamina disruption [104,105]

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Summary

Introduction

Obligate intracellular parasites that can only reproduce within living hosts, and have evolved to utilize different mechanisms of viral reproduction. The viral genome needs to be translocated to the nucleoplasm or cytoplasm where replication of the viral genome, and the synthesis of viral proteins, takes place. These move to sites where assembly of viral particles occurs, and the virus is transported back to the cell plasma membrane. This process usually involves the virus using the cell’s secretory pathways and the cytoskeleton, which are important for long distance transport of cellular cargo and organelles [1,3]

Herpes Simplex Viruses
Herpes
Dorsal Root Ganglia Neurons
HSV-1 Entry into Neurons
Viral Surfing along Filopodia
HSV-1 Exploits the Neuronal Cytoskeleton and Motor Proteins
HSV-1 Assembly in the Cytoplasm of the Cell Body
HSV-1 Anterograde Transport and Exit from Axons
Concluding Remarks

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