Abstract
White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a large (≈300 kbp), double-stranded DNA eukaryotic virus that has caused serious disease in crustaceans worldwide. ICP11 is the most highly expressed WSSV nonstructural gene/protein, which strongly suggests its importance in WSSV infection; but until now, its function has remained obscure. We show here that ICP11 acts as a DNA mimic. In crystal, ICP11 formed a polymer of dimers with 2 rows of negatively charged spots that approximated the duplex arrangement of the phosphate groups in DNA. Functionally, ICP11 prevented DNA from binding to histone proteins H2A, H2B, H3, and H2A.x, and in hemocytes from WSSV-infected shrimp, ICP11 colocalized with histone H3 and activated-H2A.x. These observations together suggest that ICP11 might interfere with nucleosome assembly and prevent H2A.x from fulfilling its critical function of repairing DNA double strand breaks. Therefore, ICP11 possesses a functionality that is unique among the handful of presently known DNA mimic proteins.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 20758-20763 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Volume | 105 |
| Issue number | 52 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 30 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Apoptosis
- Crystal structure
- DNase enhancer
- Shrimp aquaculture
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General