Evidence for attachment of fatty acid to varicella-zoster virus glycoproteins and effect of cerulenin on the maturation of varicella-zoster virus glycoproteins.

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) contains four major glycoproteins designated gpI, gpII, gpIII, and gpIV. In the present study the presence and role of fatty acids in these glycoproteins were examined. The incorporation of fatty acid into the glycoproteins that span the membranes of VZV was studied. For this, virus-infected human embryo fibroblast cells were labeled with [3H]-palmitic acid, an extract of the cells was treated with monoclonal antibodies to VZV glycoproteins, and the precipitate was analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The electrophoretic pattern showed that gpI was heavily labeled and that gpII and gpIV were lightly labeled. Cerulenin, an antibiotic that inhibits de novo fatty acid biosynthesis, was used to examine the effects of fatty acids on replication of VZV and posttranslation processing of glycoproteins. Treatment of the cells with cerulenin significantly inhibited viral growth, but did not affect protein synthesis in the cells. Examination of processing of viral glycoproteins in these cerulenin-treated cells revealed the accumulation of precursor proteins and a decrease in the amount of mature glycoproteins. These data suggest that fatty acid acylation of VZV glycoproteins is necessary for formation of complete infectious virions.