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J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.02648-06
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

The Transcriptional Repressor K-RBP Modulates RTA-mediated Transactivation and Lytic Replication of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus

Nebraska Center for Virology and School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: cwood1{at}unl.edu.

	Abstract

The replication and transcription activator (RTA) protein of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus/Human herpesvirus 8 (KSHV/HHV-8) functions as the key regulator to induce KSHV lytic replication from latency through activation of the lytic cascade of KSHV. Elucidation of the host factors involved in RTA-mediated transcriptional activation is pivotal for understanding the transition between viral latency and lytic replication. KSHV-RTA binding protein (K-RBP) was previously isolated as a cellular RTA binding protein of unknown function. Sequence analysis showed that K-RBP contains a Kruppel-associated box (KRAB) at N-terminus and 12 adjacent zinc finger motifs. Similar to other KRAB-containing zinc finger proteins, K-RBP is a transcriptional repressor. Mutational analysis revealed that the KRAB domain is responsible for the transcriptional suppression activity of this protein and the repression is histone deacetylase (HDAC)-independent. K-RBP was found to repress RTA-mediated transactivation and interact with TIF1, a common corepressor of KRAB-containing protein, to synergize with K-RBP in repression. Overexpression and knockdown experiments suggest that K-RBP is a suppressor of RTA-mediated KSHV reactivation. Our findings suggest that the KRAB-containing zinc finger protein K-RBP can suppress RTA-mediated transactivation and KSHV lytic replication, and KSHV utilizes this protein as a regulator to maintain a balance between latency and lytic replication.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Yang, Z., Yan, Z., Wood, C. (2008). Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Transactivator RTA Promotes Degradation of the Repressors To Regulate Viral Lytic Replication. J. Virol. 82: 3590-3603 [Abstract] [Full Text]