Fig 7.
Stabilizing UL136p33 compensates for a loss of UL135 for viral replication in huNSG mice. Humanized NSG mice were injected with fibroblasts infected with either HCMV WT UL136myc, UL136mycΔ33kDa, UL136mycΔK→R, and ΔUL135STOP/UL136mycΔK→R (n = 10 per group). At 4 wk post-infection, half of the mice were treated with G-CSF and AMD-3100 to induce cellular mobilization and promote HCMV reactivation. Control mice were left untreated. At 1 wk post-mobilization, mice were euthanized, and tissues were collected. Total DNA was extracted using DNAzol, and HCMV viral load was determined by qPCR on 1 µg of total DNA prepared from spleen or liver tissue. Error bars represent standard error of the mean between average DNA copies from two or four tissue sections, respectively, for individual animals. All samples were compared by a two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison tests within experimental groups (nonmobilized [-G-CSF] versus mobilized [+G-CSF] for each virus and between all virus groups for both nonmobilized and mobilized conditions). Statistical significance where **, P < 0.01 and ***, P < 0.001.