RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Tanapoxvirus 142R Protein is a Serine-Threonine Kinase that Phosphorylates the Tumor Suppressor p53
Krystal N Seibert, Karim Essani , Bruce E Bejcek*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
First Page: 1
Last Page: 4
Publisher Id: TOVJ-7-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874357901307010001
Article History:
Received Date: 13/8/2012Revision Received Date: 30/10/2012
Acceptance Date: 30/10/2012
Electronic publication date: 21/1/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
To effectively respond to viral infections, mammals rely on the innate and adaptive immune systems. Additionally, host cellular responses, such as apoptosis also play a vital role in the host defense mechanisms. To accomplish a successful replicative strategy in vivo, animal viruses have evolved a variety of molecular mechanisms that interfere with host responses. Poxviruses in particular, represents a prime example of where animal viruses encode a wide variety of proteins necessary for replication and subversion of the host’s immune and single cell responses. Several proteins that inhibit host immmunomodulatory cytokines and apoptosis of infected cells have been characterized in vaccinia virus (VV). Here, we describe the identification of a protein encoded by the tanapox virus genome (142R open reading frame) that is orthologous to the B1R protein from VV. We demonstrate that like B1R, TPV142R encodes a serine threonine kinase that can phosphorylate the tumor suppressor p53 and therefore has the potential for inhibiting apoptosis of infected cells.
