Herpes Simplex Virus 2 UL45 Is a Type II Membrane Protein

In addition to eleven glycoproteins, the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) genome encodes several proteins with potential membrane-spanning segments but no asparagine-linked carbohydrates. One of these is UL45. Fractionation of infected cells showed that HSV-2 UL45 is an integral membrane protein, and analysis of UL45 mutants with potential glycosylation sites showed that it has a type II membrane orientation, the first HSV protein known to have this orientation. Furthermore, it is detectable in infected cells at a time similar to that when glycoproteins gB and gD are detected, consistent with a role in cell-cell fusion, which has previously been found for HSV-1 UL45.