Adler Lab - Research
- Research
- BAC technology
- CMV vectors
- CMV gH/gL envelope glycoprotein complexes
We are interested in the roles of envelope glycoprotein complexes of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV), which serves as an animal model. The envelope glycoproteins in focus of our research are gH/gL glycoprotein complexes, which determine the cell tropism and which are important targets of virus-neutralizing antibodies. Cytomegaloviruses express different gH/gL complexes, which recognize different receptors. The virus producing cells determine which gH/gL complexes are included in the virions and thus cell-type dependently contribute to virus navigation in the infected host. Very specific for CMV, one of the gH/gL complexes contains a viral chemokine, which in addition to promoting receptor recognition also shapes the antiviral immune response. We have analyzed many mutants of gH/gL complexes with the aim to identify their cellular receptors and to study their roles in virus dissemination and in shaping the antiviral adaptive and innate immune responses.
Figure: Overexpression of the HCMV envelope glycoprotein UL131A. Left: wildtype HCMV (nuclear pp65 (red),
UL131A (green)); right: HCMV overexpressing UL131 (nuclear pp65 (red), UL131A (green)).