Herpes simplex virus type 1 production requires a functional ESCRT-III complex but is independent of TSG101 and ALIX expression.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) acquires its mature virus envelope by budding into the lumen of cytoplasmic membranous compartments carrying the viral glycoproteins. In a cellular context, a budding process with identical topology occurs during the formation of intraluminal vesicles in multivesicular bodies. The cellular machinery that mediates this budding process is composed of four protein complexes termed endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRTs) and several associated proteins, including the ATPase VPS4. We have recently shown that functional VPS4 is specifically required for the cytoplasmic envelopment of HSV-1. We now demonstrate that, consistent with a role of VPS4 in virus envelopment, dominant-negative ESCRT-III proteins potently block HSV-1 production. Retroviruses are known to recruit the ESCRT machinery by small peptide motifs termed late domains. These late domains interact with various ESCRT components and thereby promote ESCRT recruitment. The best-characterized late-domain interacting ESCRT proteins are ALIX and TSG101. The presence of potential ALIX and TSG101 binding sequence motifs in various structural HSV-1 proteins suggested a functional role of these proteins in HSV-1 envelopment. We therefore used a set of dominant-negative proteins, as well as RNA interference, to characterize the contribution of ALIX and TSG101 to HSV-1 production. Interestingly, despite the strict requirement for a functional ESCRT-III complex, our data suggest that HSV-1 production is independent of ALIX and TSG101 expression. In line with these data, we also find that ESCRT-III proteins and VPS4A/B are specifically incorporated into mature HSV-1 virions.