Nature Communications (Jan 2023)

Master mitotic kinases regulate viral genome delivery during papillomavirus cell entry

  • Matteo Rizzato,
  • Fuxiang Mao,
  • Florian Chardon,
  • Kun-Yi Lai,
  • Ruth Villalonga-Planells,
  • Hannes C. A. Drexler,
  • Marion E. Pesenti,
  • Mert Fiskin,
  • Nora Roos,
  • Kelly M. King,
  • Shuaizhi Li,
  • Eduardo R. Gamez,
  • Lilo Greune,
  • Petra Dersch,
  • Claudia Simon,
  • Murielle Masson,
  • Koenraad Van Doorslaer,
  • Samuel K. Campos,
  • Mario Schelhaas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-35874-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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Human papillomavirus (HPV) coopts mitosis for nuclear entry by tethering the viral DNA to mitotic chromosomes, a process facilitated by the viral minor capsid protein L2. Here, Rizzato et al. show that L2 contains conserved phosphorylation motifs within the chromosome-binding region and provide evidence that host master mitotic kinases CDK1 and PLK1 sequentially mediate phosphorylation of L2 at mitosis onset to allow timely tethering of viral DNA to mitotic chromosomes.