The β-catenin signaling pathway stimulates bovine herpesvirus 1 productive infection.

Bovine herpes virus 1 (BoHV-1), an important bovine pathogen, causes conjunctivitis and disorders in the upper respiratory tract. Following acute infection, BoHV1 establishes life-long latency in sensory neurons. Recent studies demonstrated that viral gene products expressed in trigeminal ganglionic neurons during latency stabilize β-catenin levels, an important signaling molecule that interacts with a family of DNA binding proteins (T-cell factors) and subsequently stimulates transcription.

β-Catenin, a Transcription Factor Activated by Canonical Wnt Signaling, Is Expressed in Sensory Neurons of Calves Latently Infected with Bovine Herpesvirus 1.

Unlabelled: Like many Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily members, bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) expresses an abundant transcript in latently infected sensory neurons, the latency-related (LR)-RNA. LR-RNA encodes a protein (ORF2) that inhibits apoptosis, interacts with Notch family members, interferes with Notch-mediated transcription, and stimulates neurite formation in cells expressing Notch. An LR mutant virus containing stop codons at the amino terminus of ORF2 does not reactivate from latency or replicate efficiently in certain tissues, indicating that LR gene products are important.