The cellular chaperone hsc70 is specifically recruited to reovirus viral factories independently of its chaperone function

Mammalian orthoreoviruses replicate and assemble in the cytosol of infected cells. A viral nonstructural protein, μNS, forms large inclusion-like structures called viral factories (VFs) in which assembling viral particles can be identified. Here we examined the localization of the cellular chaperone Hsc70 and found that it colocalizes with VFs in infected cells and also with viral factory-like structures (VFLs) formed by ectopically expressed μNS. Small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of Hsc70 did not affect the formation or maintenance of VFLs. We further showed that dominant negative mutants of Hsc70 were also recruited to VFLs, indicating that Hsc70 recruitment to VFLs is independent of the chaperone function. In support of this finding, μNS was immunoprecipitated with wild-type Hsc70, with a dominant negative mutant of Hsc70, and with the minimal substrate-binding site of Hsc70 (amino acids 395 to 540). We identified a minimal region of μNS between amino acids 222 and 271 that was sufficient for the interaction with Hsc70. This region of μNS has not been assigned any function previously. However, neither point mutants with alterations in this region nor the complete deletion of this domain abrogated the μNS-Hsc70 interaction, indicating that a second portion of μNS also interacts with Hsc70. Taken together, these findings suggest a specific chaperone function for Hsc70 within viral factories, the sites of reovirus replication and assembly in cells.