The Porcine Circovirus 2 (PCV2) VP3 protein induces apoptosis in transformed cells. This apoptotic activity, like that of other VP3 homologs, may be related to subcellular localization. Previous studies of other VP3 homologs indicate that nuclear localization is important apoptosis induction, however, PCV VP3 localizes to the cytosol. In this study, we isolate the nuclear localization sequence and nuclear export sequence through the use of truncation mutants tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP). Experiments were also performed to assess the pathway used to export the protein from the nucleus. These results provide further evidence that nuclear localization may not be necessary for induction of apoptosis for PCV2 VP3
