Irrespective of their effects on ongoing host protein synthesis, productive replication of the representative alphaherpesvirus herpes simplex virus type 1, the representative gammaherpesvirus Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus, and the representative betaherpesvirus human cytomegalovirus [HCMV] stimulates the assembly of the multisubunit, cap-binding translation factor eIF4F. However, only HCMV replication is associated with an increased abundance of eIF4F core components (eIF4E, eIF4G, eIF4A) and the eIF4F-associated factor poly(A) binding protein (PABP). Here, we demonstrate that the increase in translation factor concentration was readily detected in an asynchronous population of HCMV-infected primary human fibroblasts, abolished by prior UV inactivation of virus, and genetically dependent upon viral immediate-early genes. Strikingly, while increased mRNA steady-state levels accompanied the rise in eIF4E and eIF4G protein levels, the overall abundance of PABP mRNA, together with the half-life of the polypeptide it encodes, remained relatively unchanged by HCMV infection. Instead, HCMV-induced PABP accumulation resulted from new protein synthesis and was sensitive to the mTORC1-selective inhibitor rapamycin, which interferes with phosphorylation of the mTORC1 substrate p70 S6K and the translational repressor 4E-BP1. While virus-induced PABP accumulation did not require p70 S6K, it was inhibited by the expression of a dominant-acting 4E-BP1 variant unable to be inactivated by mTORC1. Finally, unlike the situation in alpha-or gammaherpesvirus-infected cells, where PABP is redistributed to nuclei, PABP accumulated in the cytoplasm of HCMV-infected cells. Thus, cytoplasmic PABP accumulation is translationally controlled in HCMV-infected cells via a mechanism requiring mTORC1-mediated inhibition of the cellular 4E-BP1 translational repressor.Herpesvirus mRNAs contain methyl-7-GTP caps and 3Ј polyadenylate tails like their host cell counterparts and are primarily translated by a cap-dependent mechanism. Assembly of the cap-binding protein eIF4E, eIF4G, and the RNA helicase eIF4A into the active, cap-binding, multisubunit translation initiation factor eIF4F represents a key step regulating translation (reviewed in reference 33). In addition to controlling small ribosome subunit recruitment to the mRNA 5Ј end, whereupon a scanning mechanism commences to locate the initiator AUG codon, eIF4F assembly is responsive to a diverse assortment of cell stress and signaling inputs, including viral infection (24). Typically, eIF4E is bound to the translational repressor 4E-BP1. Hyperphosphorylation of 4E-BP1 by activated mTORC1 relieves this repression, releasing eIF4E and exposing the binding site for eIF4G, a large assembly platform bound to eIF4A. eIF4G also binds eIF3, which directly associates with the 40S ribosome subunit. The cellular poly(A) binding protein (PABP) and the eIF4E kinase Mnk are eIF4F-associated proteins that physically associate with eIF4G and act to stimulate translation. Bound to both the 3Ј poly(A) tail and...