FIG 18.

HCMV enters latency by macropinocytosis and endocytosis. The cartoon diagram shows HCMV entry into the undifferentiated cells, where the virus establishes latency. Plasma membrane lamellipodium-like ruffles engulf virions into endosomes. Tegument proteins (pp28, pp65, and pp71) remain associated with the endosome, but capsids and capsid-associated tegument protein pp150 escape the endosomes and travel to the nucleus. Viral genomes enter the nucleus, generate the latency-associated B2.7 transcript, and establish latency.