The Wikipedia article for Viral Proteins contains the following line:
Thus, viruses do not code for many of their own viral proteins, and instead use the host cell's machinery to produce the viral proteins they require for replication
If the host-derived (i.e. not encoded by the virus) viral proteins are made following the hosts DNA, are those proteins still flagged as "viral" by cytotoxic T cells? If so, why don't they attack host cells that have those proteins when uninfected?
My guesses:
- Those host-derived viral proteins are coded for by the host, but aren't usually produced during normal function
- The proportion of host-derived viral peptides matters, with a lower proportion indicating normal cell function and a higher proportion indicates infection
- The viral proteins are a mix of host proteins that, separately, are not recognized as viral, but when put together by virus instruction can form composite proteins whose peptides fragments are viral
- I'm misunderstanding the quote, and what they meant was "Thus, viruses do not code for self-generation of many of their own viral proteins, and instead code to utilize the host cell's machinery to produce the viral proteins they require for replication"