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. 1989 Jun;63(6):2469–2475. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.6.2469-2475.1989

The transforming domain alone of the latent membrane protein of Epstein-Barr virus is toxic to cells when expressed at high levels.

W Hammerschmidt 1, B Sugden 1, V R Baichwal 1
PMCID: PMC250704  PMID: 2542565

Abstract

A previously unrecognized activity has been associated with the product of the BNLF-1 gene of Epstein-Barr virus. This gene encodes the latent membrane protein of Epstein-Barr virus. When the gene was expressed at high levels, it was toxic to all cell lines tested, which included six human B-lymphoid lines as well as BALB/3T3, 143/EBNA-1, and HEp-2 cells. The BNLF-1 gene was previously shown to induce anchorage-independent and tumorigenic growth in Rat-1 and BALB/3T3 cells. We demonstrate here that only those mutations in the BNLF-1 gene that score positively in the anchorage-independent growth assay were cytotoxic when expressed at high levels. It is therefore possible that the same activities of the latent membrane protein that are necessary to induce anchorage-independent growth of some rodent cell lines also confer toxicity to many cell lines when expressed at high levels.

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Selected References

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