title: The Epstein-Barr virus BRRF2 gene product is involved in viral progeny production.
abstract: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) predominantly establishes a latent infection in B lymphocytes, and occasionally switches from the latent state to the lytic cycle. In this report, we identified and examined the role of a lytic gene, BRRF2. We first prepared an antibody against BRRF2 and identified the gene product as a viral lytic protein expressed in B95-8 cells with late kinetics. Immunofluorescence revealed that BRRF2 localized in the cytoplasm of cells during the lytic phase. We also found that BRRF2 protein was phosphorylated in lytic cells, but the only viral protein kinase, BGLF4, was not involved in the phosphorylation. Knockout EBV and a repaired strain were then prepared, and we found that BRRF2 disruption did not affect viral gene expression and DNA replication, but decreased virus production. These results demonstrated that BRRF2 is involved in production of infectious progeny, although it is not essential for lytic replication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsurumai-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsurumai-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Miyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuruoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsurumai-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Narita
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsurumai-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryotaro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Katsuya
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsurumai-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Goshima
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsurumai-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsurumai-cho 65, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. Electronic address: tmurata@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murata
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D019065:Virus Assembly; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins
keywords: BRRF2; EBV; Lytic replication; Phosphorylation