A chimera of EBNA1 and the estrogen receptor activates transcription but not replication.
DNA replication from the plasmid origin of replication of Epstein-Barr virus requires one viral protein, EBNA1. This protein also acts as a transcriptional activator. Mutational analyses of EBNA1 have led to the conclusion that it supports transcription and DNA replication similarly. Such analyses have not probed the DNA-binding domain of EBNA1. To test whether domains of EBNA1 specifically required for either transcription or replication lie within its DNA-binding domain, we constructed a functional transcriptional activator by placing the EBNA1 DNA-binding domain in the context of the activation domains of the estrogen receptor. This hybrid protein did not support DNA replication, which indicates that the DNA-binding domain does not contain a replication-specific domain that can function along with heterologous transcriptional activating domains.
Middleton
T
T
McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706.
Sugden
B
B
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004261:DNA Replication; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins