The strategies adopted by viruses to reprogram the translation and protein quality control machinery and promote infection are poorly understood. Here, we report that the viral ubiquitin deconjugase (vDUB)-encoded in the large tegument protein of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV BPLF1)-regulates the ribosomal quality control (RQC) and integrated stress responses (ISR). The vDUB participates in protein complexes that include the RQC ubiquitin ligases ZNF598 and LTN1. Upon ribosomal stalling, the vDUB counteracts the ubiquitination of the 40 S particle and inhibits the degradation of translation-stalled polypeptides by the proteasome. Impairment of the RQC correlates with the readthrough of stall-inducing mRNAs and with activation of a GCN2-dependent ISR that redirects translation towards upstream open reading frames (uORFs)- and internal ribosome entry sites (IRES)-containing transcripts. Physiological levels of active BPLF1 promote the translation of the EBV Nuclear Antigen (EBNA)1 mRNA in productively infected cells and enhance the release of progeny virus, pointing to a pivotal role of the vDUB in the translation reprogramming that enables efficient virus production.
© 2023. The Author(s).