Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus LANA-1 interacts with the short variant of BRD4 and releases cells from a BRD4- and BRD2/RING3-induced G1 cell cycle arrest

The Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) latency-associated nuclear antigen 1 (LANA-1) is required for the replication of episomal viral genomes. Regions in its N-terminal and C-terminal domains mediate the interaction with host cell chromatin. Several cellular nuclear proteins, e.g., BRD2/RING3, histones H2A and H2B, MeCP2, DEK, and HP1alpha, have been suggested to mediate this interaction. In this work, we identify the double-bromodomain proteins BRD4 and BRD3/ORFX as additional LANA-1 interaction partners. The carboxy-terminal region of the short variant of BRD4 (BRD4S) containing the highly conserved extraterminal domain directly interacts with an element in the LANA-1 carboxy-terminal domain. We show that ectopically expressed BRD4S and BRD2/RING3 delay progression into the S phase of the cell cycle in epithelial and B-cell lines and increase cyclin E promoter activity. LANA-1 partly releases epithelial and B cells from a BRD4S- and BRD2/RING3-induced G1 cell cycle arrest and also promotes S-phase entry in the presence of BRD4S and BRD2/RING3. This is accompanied by a reduction in BRD4S-mediated cyclin E promoter activity. Our data are in keeping with the notion that the direct interaction of KSHV LANA-1 with BRD4 and other BRD proteins could play a role in the G1/S phase-promoting functions of KSHV LANA-1. Further, our data support a model in which the LANA-1 C terminus contributes to a functional attachment to acetylated histones H3 and H4 via BRD4 and BRD2, in addition to the recently demonstrated direct interaction (A. J. Barbera, J. V. Chodaparambil, B. Kelley-Clarke, V. Joukov, J. C. Walter, K. Luger, and K. M. Kaye, Science 311:856-861, 2006) of the LANA-1 N terminus with histones H2A and H2B.