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Updated: Oct 25, 2025

Isolation and Quantification of Epstein-Barr Virus from the P3HR1 Cell Line
Published on: September 28, 2022
Subcellular Localization of Epstein-Barr Virus BLLF2 and Its Underlying Mechanisms
Jingjing Li1,2, Yingjie Guo1, Yangxi Deng1
1The Second Affiliated Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, Guangzhou Medical University, Sino-French Hoffmann Institute, School of Basic Medical Science, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the pathogen of several human malignancies, encodes many proteins required to be transported into the nucleus for viral DNA reproduction and nucleocapsids assembly in the lytic replication cycle. Here, fluorescence microscope, mutation analysis, interspecies heterokaryon assays, co-immunoprecipitation assay, RNA interference, and Western blot were performed to explore the nuclear import mechanism of EBV encoded BLLF2 protein. BLLF2 was shown to be a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling protein neither by a chromosomal region maintenance 1 (CRM1)- nor by a transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP)-dependent pathway. Yet, BLLF2's two functional nuclear localization signals (NLSs), NLS1 (16KRQALETVPHPQNRGR31) and NLS2 (44RRPRPPVAKRRRFPR58), were identified, whereas the predicted NES was nonfunctional. Finally, BLLF2 was proven to transport into the nucleus via a Ran-dependent and importin β1-dependent pathway. This mechanism may contribute to a more extensive insight into the assembly and synthesis of EBV virions in the nucleus, thus affording a new direction for the treatment of viruses.
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