{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,3]],"date-time":"2026-04-03T06:46:20Z","timestamp":1775198780579,"version":"3.50.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1013341","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,1]],"date-time":"2025-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1754006400000}}],"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1753315200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009139","name":"Deutsches Zentrum f\u00c3\u00bcr Infektionsforschung","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["TTU 07.833"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["TTU 07.833"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009139","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plospathogens.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Pathog"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Glycoproteins in the viral envelope of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) orchestrate virion tethering, receptor recognition and fusion with cellular membranes. The glycoprotein gB acts as fusion protein. The gHgL complexes gHgLgO and gHgLpUL(128,130,131A) define the HCMV cell tropism. Studies with HCMV lacking gO had indicated that gHgLgO, independently of binding to its cellular receptor PDGFR\u03b1,\u00a0plays an important second role in infection. Here, we identified a gO mutation which abolished virus particle infectivity by preventing the interaction of gHgLgO with host cell heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). We could not only show that gHgLgO \u2013 HSPG interactions are a genuine second role of gHgLgO, but also that gHgLgO is a main player in determining the infectivity of HCMV virus particles. This challenges long-accepted textbook knowledge on the role of gB and gMgN complexes in virion tethering. Additionally, it adds the gHgLgO complex to the antigens of interest for future HCMV vaccines or treatments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1013341","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T17:44:59Z","timestamp":1753379099000},"page":"e1013341","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.ppat.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Identification of the human cytomegalovirus gHgLgO trimer as the central player in virion 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