Epstein-Barr virus with the latent infection nuclear antigen 3B completely deleted is still competent for B-cell growth transformation in vitro.
The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen 3B (EBNA-3B) is considered nonessential for EBV-mediated B-cell growth transformation in vitro based on three virus isolates with EBNA-3B mutations. Two of these isolates could potentially express truncated EBNA-3B products, and, similarly, we now show that the third isolate, IB4, has a point mutation and in-frame deletion of 263 amino acids. In order to test whether a virus with EBNA-3B completely deleted can immortalize B-cell growth, we first cloned the EBV genome as a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) and showed that the BAC-derived virus was B-cell immortalization competent. Deletion of the entire EBNA-3B open reading frame from the EBV BAC had no adverse impact on growth of EBV-immortalized B cells, providing formal proof that EBNA-3B is not essential for EBV-mediated B-cell growth transformation in vitro.
Chen
Adrienne
A
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Divisconte
Matthew
M
Jiang
Xiaoqun
X
Quink
Carol
C
Wang
Fred
F
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology*; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017354:Point Mutation
C422762:EBNA-3B antigen; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens