J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.00556-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.
Identification of the DNA Sequence Interacting with Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Viral Interferon Regulatory Factor 1
Junsoo Park*,
Myung-Shin Lee,
Seung-Min Yoo,
Kwi Wan Jeong,
Daeyoup Lee,
Joonho Choe,
and
Taegun Seo*
Korea Basic Science Institute, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, 301- 832, Korea; Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email:
junsoo{at}kaist.ac.kr. tseo{at}eulji.ac.kr.
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Abstract |
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Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent of Kaposi's sarcoma. The open reading frame (K9) of KSHV encodes viral interferon regulatory factor 1 (vIRF1), which functions as a repressor of interferon-mediated signal transduction. The amino-terminal region of vIRF1 displays significant homology to the DNA-binding domain of cellular interferon regulatory factors, supporting the theory that the protein interacts with specific DNA sequences. Here, we identify the consensus sequence of vIRF1-binding sites from a pool of random oligonucleotides. Moreover, our data show that vIRF1 interacts with the K3:viral dihydrofolate reductase:viral interleukin 6 promoter region in the KSHV genome.