Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Oct;36(10):1099-104.
doi: 10.1038/ng1424. Epub 2004 Sep 12.

The EBV lytic switch protein, Z, preferentially binds to and activates the methylated viral genome

Prasanna M Bhende  1 , William T Seaman, Henri-Jacques Delecluse, Shannon C Kenney
Affiliations

The EBV lytic switch protein, Z, preferentially binds to and activates the methylated viral genome

Prasanna M Bhende et al. Nat Genet. 2004 Oct.

Abstract

DNA methylation promotes gene silencing, yet the Epstein-Barr virus immediate-early protein, BZLF1 (Z), converts the virus from the latent to the lytic form of infection even when the viral genome is highly methylated. Here we show that methylation of CpG motifs in Z-responsive elements of the viral BRLF1 immediate-early promoter enhances Z binding to, and activation of, this promoter. Demethylation of the viral genome impairs Z activation of lytic viral genes. Z is the first transcription factor that preferentially binds to, and activates, a methylated promoter. These results identify an unexpected mechanism by which Epstein-Barr virus circumvents the inhibitory effects of viral genome methylation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources