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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1992 Sep 1;89(17):8030–8034. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.17.8030

A region of herpes simplex virus VP16 can substitute for a transforming domain of Epstein-Barr virus nuclear protein 2.

J I Cohen 1
PMCID: PMC49849  PMID: 1325641

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear protein 2 (EBNA-2) is essential for EBV-induced B-cell transformation in vitro. EBNA-2 contains a 14-amino acid domain that directly activates transcription and is required for transformation. To determine whether another transcriptional activator can substitute for this function, a chimeric virus was constructed that contained a portion of the transcriptional activation domain from the herpes simplex virus VP16 protein inserted in place of the 14-amino acid domain of EBNA-2. The chimeric virus was able to transform B cells efficiently and transactivate expression of EBV and B-cell genes. Randomization of the 14-amino acid sequence in the domain markedly reduced its transcriptional activating activity and the transforming efficiency of the recombinant EBV. Mutation of a tryptophan within the 14-amino acid domain of EBNA-2 completely abolished transcriptional activation and B-cell transformation. These experiments indicate that EBNA-2 and VP16 activate transcription by similar mechanisms and that transcriptional activation is required for EBV-induced B-cell transformation.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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