American Society for Microbiology, Journal of Virology, 16(93), 2019
DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00630-19
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All homologues of herpesvirus gH studied to date have been implicated in playing an essential role in viral infection of diverse permissive cell types. However, the role of gH in the mechanism of KSHV infection remains largely unresolved. In this study, we generated a gH-null mutant KSHV and provided evidence that deficiency of gH expression did not affect viral particle assembly or egress. Using the gH-null mutant, we showed that gH was indispensable for KSHV infection of epithelial, endothelial, and fibroblast cellsin vitro. This suggests that gH is an important target for the development of a KSHV prophylactic vaccine to prevent initial viral infection.