Increased association between Epstein-Barr virus EBNA2 from type 2 strains and the transcriptional repressor BS69 restricts EBNA2 activity

DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007458

Authors: Rajesh Ponnusamy (University of Sussex) , Ritika Khatri (University of Sussex) , Paulo B. Correia (Imperial College London) , C. David Wood (University of Sussex) , Erika J. Mancini (University of Sussex) , Paul J. Farrell (Imperial College London) , Michelle J. West (University of Sussex)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Plos Pathogens , VOL 15

State: Published (Approved)
Published: July 2019
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 14891

Abstract: Natural variation separates Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) into type 1 and type 2 strains. Type 2 EBV is less transforming in vitro due to sequence differences in the EBV transcription factor EBNA2. This correlates with reduced activation of the EBV oncogene LMP1 and some cell genes. Transcriptional activation by type 1 EBNA2 can be suppressed through the binding of two PXLXP motifs in its transactivation domain (TAD) to the dimeric coiled-coil MYND domain (CC-MYND) of the BS69 repressor protein (ZMYND11). We identified a third conserved PXLXP motif in type 2 EBNA2. We found that type 2 EBNA2 peptides containing this motif bound BS69CC-MYND efficiently and that the type 2 EBNA2TAD bound an additional BS69CC-MYND molecule. Full-length type 2 EBNA2 also bound BS69 more efficiently in pull-down assays. Molecular weight analysis and low-resolution structures obtained using small-angle X-ray scattering showed that three BS69CC-MYND dimers bound two molecules of type 2 EBNA2TAD, in line with the dimeric state of full-length EBNA2 in vivo. Importantly, mutation of the third BS69 binding motif in type 2 EBNA2 improved B-cell growth maintenance and the transcriptional activation of the LMP1 and CXCR7 genes. Our data indicate that increased association with BS69 restricts the function of type 2 EBNA2 as a transcriptional activator and driver of B cell growth and may contribute to reduced B-cell transformation by type 2 EBV.

Journal Keywords: Polypeptides; Sequence motif analysis; B cells; Binding analysis; Dimers; Polymerase chain reaction; Small-angle scattering; Epstein-Barr virus

Diamond Keywords: Epstein-Barr Virus; Viruses; Herpes

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials


Instruments: B21-High Throughput SAXS

Added On: 16/07/2019 15:38

Documents:
gjjgj444.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Pathogens Infectious Diseases Health & Wellbeing Genetics Structural biology Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Scattering Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)