Structure des enzymes de réplication du virus Epstein-Barr

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen which establishes life-long persistent infection in the large majority of the human population. During viral latency, the cellular machinery takes care of the replication of the viral episome. But EBV, as well as herpesviruses in general, codes for numerous enzymes required for lytic DNA replication which allow viral replication in resting cells. Recently, several tridimensional structures of these enzymes became available for EBV as well as for other herpesviruses so that structural information now exists for most of them. The replication process and the structures of the proteins involved in replication are reviewed in the light of potential drug development and of herpesvirus evolution. The structures of the proteins involved in lytic replication show the relationship between herpesviruses and tailed bacteriophages, furthermore they show that EBV proteins tend to be more complex than their counterparts in other organisms. In this review, we could show the phylogenetic position of the herpesvirus helicase close to the Dda helicases involved in initiation of replication of the caudovirales.