Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) assemblons interplay with PML bodies

Using a virus expressing the small capsid protein fused to an eGFP tag (eGFP-ORF23 VZV), we recently identified, in the nuclei of infected cells, the presence of dynamic capsid aggegrates. Because we believe that these structures might represent sites of preferential caspid assembly and by analogy with HSV-1, we referred to them as “VZV assemblons”. Structures resembling these assemblons and identified as capsids entrapped in some “PML-cages” were recently described in the nuclei of wild-type VZV infected cells (Reichelt et al., 2011). We then wonder if there was a link between these independent observations. When we infected MeWo cells in which the expression of each PML subunit is downregulated by shRNA, VZV assemblons still formed. Immunostaining of MeWo cells infected by eGFP-ORF23 VZV with an antibody against the PML protein showed that VZV assemblons only partially colocalize with PML bodies. However, overexpression of PML-I-eGFP in HEK293 cells followed by infection with a tagRFP-T-ORF23 VZV, where the ORF23 protein is fused to a red tag, showed a complete colocalization is complete. The same result was obtained with all tested PML isoforms. This suggests that the partial colocalization in normal cells could be due to the expression level of PML proteins. Altogether, these results suggest that rather than a progressive accumulation of newly formed capsids within PML cages, it is likely that PML protein is recruited to the sites where VZV assemblons develop. It correlates with the fact that the number of PML bodies decreases with the infection. Obviously, even if this phenomenon might impede the egress of a substantial amount of capsids and, in this regard, limit the infection progression, all the tested cell lines are permissive to VZV. It would then be interesting to investigate the relationship between VZV assemblons and PML bodies in latent or non permissive VZV infection models.