Abstract
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) pUL93 is essential for virus growth, but its precise function in the virus life cycle is unknown. Here, we characterize a UL93 stop mutant virus (UL93st-TB40/E-BAC) to demonstrate that the absence of this protein does not restrict viral gene expression; however, cleavage of viral DNA into unit-length genomes as well as genome packaging is abolished. Thus, pUL93 is required for viral genome cleavage and packaging.