The enhancer factor R of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a sequence-specific DNA binding protein

In cells latently infected with EBV, the switch from latency to productive infection is linked to the expression of two EBV transcription factors called EB1 (or Z) and R. EB1 is an upstream element factor which has partial homology to the AP1/ATF family, whereas R is an enhancer factor. In the R-responsive enhancer of the replication origin only active during the EBV lytic cycle (ORIIyt), R-responsive elements are located in a region of about 70 bp (RRE-DR). Here we show that R, produced either by in vitro translation, or present in nuclear extracts from HeLa cells constitutively producing R, binds directly to and protects against DNAase I digestion, two regions in RRE-DR. Using mobility shift assay and DMS interference, we have characterized the contact-points between R and the DNA. Two binding sites, RRE-DR1 and RRE-DR2, were characterized and are contiguous in RRE-DR. R binds to these two sites probably by simultaneously contacting two sequences within the sites, which are separated by 7 bp in RRE-DR1, cctGTGCCttgtcccGTGGACaatgtccc, and by 6bp in RRE-DR2, caatGTCCCtccagcGTGGTGgctg. Direct interaction of R with its cognate sequences is conferred by its N-terminal 355 amino-acids. Directed mutagenesis in RRE-DR, of either R-binding site, impaired binding of R in vitro and, as assayed by transient expression in HeLa cells, impaired R-activation by a factor of two. This suggests that RRE-DR1 and RRE-DR2 do not respond cooperatively to R.