Maintenance of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) oriP-based episomes requires EBV-encoded nuclear antigen-1 chromosome-binding domains, which can be replaced by high-mobility group-I or histone H1.

ABSTRACT: EBV-encoded nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) binding to a cis-acting viral DNA element, oriP, enables plasmids to persist in dividing human cells as multicopy episomes that attach to chromosomes during mitosis. In investigating the significance of EBNA-1 binding to mitotic chromosomes, we identified the basic domains of EBNA-1 within amino acids 1-89 and 323-386 as critical for chromosome binding. In contrast, the EBNA-1 C terminus (amino acids 379-641), which includes the nuclear localization signal and DNA-binding domain, does not associate with mitotic chromosomes or retain oriP plasmid DNA in dividing cell nuclei, but does enable the accumulation of replicated oriP-containing plasmid DNA in transient replication assays. The importance of chromosome association in episome maintenance was eval

SUBMITTER: Hung SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC29348 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature