Science 2006 Feb 10;3115762:856-61. doi: 10.1126/science.1120541.

The nucleosomal surface as a docking station for Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus LANA.

???displayArticle.abstract???
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) mediates viral genome attachment to mitotic chromosomes. We find that N-terminal LANA docks onto chromosomes by binding nucleosomes through the folded region of histones H2A-H2B. The same LANA residues were required for both H2A-H2B binding and chromosome association. Further, LANA did not bind Xenopus sperm chromatin, which is deficient in H2A-H2B; chromatin binding was rescued after assembly of nucleosomes containing H2A-H2B. We also describe the 2.9-angstrom crystal structure of a nucleosome complexed with the first 23 LANA amino acids. The LANA peptide forms a hairpin that interacts exclusively with an acidic H2A-H2B region that is implicated in the formation of higher order chromatin structure. Our findings present a paradigm for how nucleosomes may serve as binding platforms for viral and cellular proteins and reveal a previously unknown mechanism for KSHV latency.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 16469929
???displayArticle.link??? Science
???displayArticle.grants??? [+]

Species referenced: Xenopus laevis
Genes referenced: h2ac21 h2bc21