Olf-1, a neuron-specific transcription factor, can activate the herpes simplex virus type 1-infected cell protein 0 promoter

Laxminarayana R. Devireddy, Clinton J. Jones

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) establishes a lifelong latent infection in sensory neurons of infected individuals. Infected cell protein 0 (ICP0) is important for productive infection and reactivation from latency. Thus, activation of ICP0 expression in neurons is likely to be important for reactivation from latency. In a mouse neuroblastoma cell line, ICP0 promoter activity is high compared with other strong viral promoters. In contrast, promoter activity is low in non-neuronal cells. DNase I footprinting assays indicated that three distinct motifs in the ICP0 promoter are bound by nuclear factors. One of these motifs contains a binding site for a novel helix-loop-helix olfactory neuron-specific transcription factor (Olf-1). Gel shift assays and supershift assays using an Olf-1-specific antibody demonstrated that mouse neuroblastoma cells express Olf-1, which is bound to the Olf-1-like site in the ICP0 promoter. Deletion of the putative Olf-1 motif reduced ICP0 promoter activity more than 5-fold in mouse neuroblastoma cells and prevented trans-activation by an Olf-1 expression vector. We hypothesize that the Olf-1-binding site activates ICP0 promoter activity in neurons during reactivation from latency.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)77-81
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume275
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 7 2000
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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