Affiliation:
1. Institut für Klinische und Molekulare Virologie, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Herpesvirus saimiri
(HVS) subgroup C strains are able to growth transform human T lymphocytes in vitro. The stably persisting and nonintegrating HVS episome represents an optimal prerequisite for the investigation of the epigenetic state of latent herpesvirus genomes in vitro. Quantitative chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments using seven different histone acetylation- or methylation-specific antibodies revealed repressive marks at four lytic gene promoters and a variable pattern at the weakly transcribed LANA/
orf73
promoter. The constitutive
stpC/tip
promoter regulating the viral oncoproteins and, more interestingly, the noncoding repetitive H-DNA elements flanking the coding region, showed a permissive chromatin structure. This study provides an appropriate model for the analysis of epigenetic herpesvirus genome modifications and their dynamics in T cells.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Virology,Insect Science,Immunology,Microbiology