Viruses that replicate in the host cell nucleus face challenges in usurping cellular pathways to enable passage through the nuclear envelope [1]. Baculoviruses are enveloped, double-stranded DNA viruses that infect lepidopteran insects and are tools for protein expression, cell transduction, and pest management [2-4]. The type species Autographa californica M nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) shares with other pathogens an ability to assemble host actin monomers (G-actin) into actin filaments (F-actin) to drive motility [5]. During early infection, actin-based motility in the cytoplasm speeds AcMNPV transit to the nucleus and passage through nuclear pores, enabling nuclear ingress [6, 7]. During late infection, AcMNPV assembles F-actin within the nucleus [8], which is essential for virus production [9, 10]. However, the function of nuclear F-actin is poorly understood [11], and its mechanistic role in AcMNPV infection was unknown. We show that AcMNPV mobilizes actin within the nucleus to promote egress. AcMNPV nucleocapsids exhibit intranuclear actin-based motility, mediated by the viral protein P78/83 and the host Arp2/3 complex. Viral motility drives transit to the nuclear periphery and is required for viruses to enter protrusions of the nuclear envelope. Moreover, actin polymerization is necessary for viral disruption of nuclear envelope integrity during egress. In the cytoplasm, viruses use actin-based motility to reach the plasma membrane to enable budding. Our results demonstrate that pathogens can harness actin polymerization to disrupt the nuclear envelope. Employing actin for nuclear envelope disruption may reflect viral appropriation of normal functions of nuclear actin in nuclear envelope integrity, stability, and remodeling.

Most viruses move intracellularly to and from their sites of replication using microtubule-based mechanisms. In this study, we show that nucleocapsids of the baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus undergo intracellular motility driven by actin polymerization. Motility requires the viral P78/83 capsid protein and the host Arp2/3 complex. Surprisingly, the virus directs two sequential and coordinated phases of actin-based motility. Immediately after cell entry, motility enables exploration of the cytoplasm and collision with the nuclear periphery, speeding nuclear entry and the initiation of viral gene expression. Nuclear entry itself requires transit through nuclear pore complexes. Later, after the onset of early gene expression, motility is required for accumulation of a subpopulation of nucleocapsids in the tips of actin-rich surface spikes. Temporal coordination of actin-based nuclear and surface translocation likely enables rapid transmission to neighboring cells during infection in insects and represents a distinctive evolutionary strategy for overcoming host defenses.

The baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV), the type species of alphabaculoviruses, is an enveloped DNA virus that infects lepidopteran insects and is commonly known as a vector for protein expression and cell transduction. AcMNPV belongs to a diverse group of viral and bacterial pathogens that target the host cell actin cytoskeleton during infection. AcMNPV is unusual, however, in that it absolutely requires actin translocation into the nucleus early in infection and actin polymerization within the nucleus late in infection coincident with viral replication. Of the six viral factors that are sufficient, when coexpressed, to induce the nuclear localization of actin, only AC102 is essential for viral replication and the nuclear accumulation of actin. We therefore sought to better understand the role of AC102 in actin mobilization in the nucleus early and late in infection. Although AC102 was proposed to function early in infection, we found that AC102 is predominantly expressed as a late protein. In addition, we observed that AC102 is required for F-actin assembly in the nucleus during late infection, as well as for proper formation of viral replication structures and nucleocapsid morphogenesis. Finally, we found that AC102 is a nucleocapsid protein and a newly recognized member of a complex consisting of the viral proteins EC27, C42, and the actin polymerization protein P78/83. Taken together, our findings suggest that AC102 is necessary for nucleocapsid morphogenesis and actin assembly during late infection through its role as a component of the P78/83-C42-EC27-AC102 protein complex.IMPORTANCE The baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) is an important biotechnological tool for protein expression and cell transduction, and related nucleopolyhedroviruses are also used as environmentally benign insecticides. One impact of our work is to better understand the fundamental mechanisms through which AcMNPV exploits the cellular machinery of the host for replication, which may aid in the development of improved baculovirus-based research and industrial tools. Moreover, AcMNPV's ability to mobilize the host actin cytoskeleton within the cell's nucleus during infection makes it a powerful cell biological tool. It is becoming increasingly clear that actin plays important roles in the cell's nucleus, and yet the regulation and function of nuclear actin is poorly understood. Our work to better understand how AcMNPV relocalizes and polymerizes actin within the nucleus may reveal fundamental mechanisms that govern nuclear actin regulation and function, even in the absence of viral infection.