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J Virol, May 1998, p. 3610-3622, Vol. 72, No. 5
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology,
National University of Singapore, Republic of
Singapore,1 and
Applied Tumor
Virology, German Cancer Research Center, 69009 Heidelberg,
Germany2
Received 6 November 1997/Accepted 28 January 1998
The gene functions, transcriptional regulation, and genome
replication of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been extensively studied. Thus far, however, there has been little research on the
organization of HPV genomes in the nuclei of infected cells. As a first
step to understand how chromatin and suprachromatin structures may
modulate the life cycles of these viruses, we have identified and
mapped interactions of HPV DNAs with the nuclear matrix. The endogenous
genomes of HPV type 16 (HPV-16) which are present in SiHa, HPKI, and
HPKII cells, adhere in vivo to the nuclear matrixes of these cell
lines. A tight association with the nuclear matrix in vivo may be
common to all genital HPV types, as the genomes of HPV-11, HPV-16,
HPV-18, and HPV-33 showed high affinity in vitro to preparations of the
nuclear matrix of C33A cells, as did the well-known nuclear matrix
attachment region (MAR) of the cellular beta interferon gene. Affinity
to the nuclear matrix is not evenly spread over the HPV-16 genome. Five
genomic segments have strong MAR properties, while the other parts of the genome have low or no affinity. Some of the five MARs correlate with known cis-responsive elements: a strong MAR lies in
the 5' segment of the long control region (LCR), and another one lies in the E6 gene, flanking the HPV enhancer, the replication origin, and
the E6 promoter. The strongest MAR coincides with the E5 gene and the
early-late intergenic region. Weak MAR activity is present in the E1
and E2 genes and in the 3' part of L2. The in vitro map of MAR activity
appears to reflect MAR properties in vivo, as we found for two selected
fragments with and without MAR activity. As is typical for many MARs,
the two segments with highest affinity, namely, the 5' LCR and the
early-late intergenic region, have an extraordinarily high A-T content
(up to 85%). It is likely that these MARs have specific functions in
the viral life cycle, as MARs predicted by nucleotide sequence
analysis, patterns of A-T content, transcription factor YY1 binding
sites, and likely topoisomerase II cleavage sites are conserved in
similar positions throughout all genital HPVs.
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Nuclear Matrix Attachment Regions of Human
Papillomavirus Type 16 Point toward Conservation of These Genomic
Elements in All Genital Papillomaviruses

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of
Molecular and Cell Biology, National University of Singapore, 30 Medical Dr., Singapore 117609. Phone: 65-778-8823. Fax:
65-779-1117. E-mail: mcbhub{at}mcbsgs1.imcb.nus.edu.sg.
Present address: Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia
University, New York, NY 10032.
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