Download MendeleyStructural basis of DNA methylation-dependent site selectivity of the Epstein-Barr virus lytic switch protein ZEBRA/Zta/BZLF1.
Bernaudat, F., Gustems, M., Gunther, J., Oliva, M.F., Buschle, A., Gobel, C., Pagniez, P., Lupo, J., Signor, L., Muller, C.W., Morand, P., Sattler, M., Hammerschmidt, W., Petosa, C.(2022) Nucleic Acids Res 50: 490-511
- PubMed: 34893887 Search on PubMedSearch on PubMed Central
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab1183
- Primary Citation Related Structures:
7NX5 - PubMed Abstract:
In infected cells, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) alternates between latency and lytic replication. The viral bZIP transcription factor ZEBRA (Zta, BZLF1) regulates this cycle by binding to two classes of ZEBRA response elements (ZREs): CpG-free motifs resembling the consensus AP-1 site recognized by cellular bZIP proteins and CpG-containing motifs that are selectively bound by ZEBRA upon cytosine methylation. We report structural and mutational analysis of ZEBRA bound to a CpG-methylated ZRE (meZRE) from a viral lytic promoter. ZEBRA recognizes the CpG methylation marks through a ZEBRA-specific serine and a methylcytosine-arginine-guanine triad resembling that found in canonical methyl-CpG binding proteins. ZEBRA preferentially binds the meZRE over the AP-1 site but mutating the ZEBRA-specific serine to alanine inverts this selectivity and abrogates viral replication. Our findings elucidate a DNA methylation-dependent switch in ZEBRA's transactivation function that enables ZEBRA to bind AP-1 sites and promote viral latency early during infection and subsequently, under appropriate conditions, to trigger EBV lytic replication by binding meZREs.
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS), 38000 Grenoble, France.
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