title: KSHV but not MHV-68 LANA induces a strong bend upon binding to terminal repeat viral DNA.
abstract: Latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) is central to episomal tethering, replication and transcriptional regulation of γ2-herpesviruses. LANA binds cooperatively to the terminal repeat (TR) region of the viral episome via adjacent LANA binding sites (LBS), but the molecular mechanism by which LANA assembles on the TR remains elusive. We show that KSHV LANA and MHV-68 LANA proteins bind LBS DNA using strikingly different modes. Solution structure of LANA complexes revealed that while kLANA tetramer is intrinsically bent both in the free and bound state to LBS1-2 DNA, mLANA oligomers instead adopt a rigid linear conformation. In addition, we report a novel non-ring kLANA structure that displays more flexibility at its assembly interface than previously demonstrated. We identified a hydrophobic pivot point located at the dimer-dimer assembly interface, which gives rotational freedom for kLANA to adopt variable conformations to accommodate both LBS1-2 and LBS2-1-3 DNA. Alterations in the arrangement of LBS within TR or at the tetramer assembly interface have a drastic effect on the ability of kLANA binding. We also show kLANA and mLANA DNA binding functions can be reciprocated. Although KSHV and MHV-68 are closely related, the findings provide new insights into how the structure, oligomerization, and DNA binding of LANA have evolved differently to assemble on the TR DNA.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras 2700-157, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ponnusamy
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Unit, EMBL c/o DESY, Hamburg 22607, Germany.
authors.forename: Maxim V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Petoukhov
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras 2700-157, Portugal.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras 2700-157, Portugal.
authors.forename: Tania F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Custodio
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Franceline
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Juillard
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Microbiologia e Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa 1649-028, Portugal.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pires de Miranda
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras 2700-157, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Carrondo
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Microbiologia e Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa 1649-028, Portugal.
authors.forename: J Pedro
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Simas
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kaye
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Unit, EMBL c/o DESY, Hamburg 22607, Germany.
authors.forename: Dmitri I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Svergun
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras 2700-157, Portugal mcvey@itqb.unl.pt.
authors.forename: Colin E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: McVey
mesh_terms: D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001665:Binding Sites; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011485:Protein Binding; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D018144:Rhadinovirus; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C109540:latency-associated nuclear antigen