Figure 2.

Viral proteins exploit small ubiquitin-like modifier at different steps of virus lifecycle. Scheme representing the different stages of viral infection (entry, replication, assembly, release) in host cells. Viral proteins interact with the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) machinery to promote different steps of viral life cycle, as represented. Viral proteins are designed with their acronym. The asterisk (*) indicates that the marked viral protein has not been formally shown to directly influence viral life cycle by exploiting SUMOylation, but indications of a mechanistic link are known. See text for further details on exploitation of the SUMO machinery by single viral proteins.