A novel KRAB-Zinc finger protein interacts with latency-associated nuclear antigen of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and activates transcription via terminal repeat sequences

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) establishes latent infection in various cells in vitro as well as KSHV-associated tumor cells in vivo. The latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) of KSHV is one of a small number of genes expressed in the latent phase of KSHV infection. This antigen is crucial for establishment of the latent infection, such as replication of KSHV genomic DNA and maintenance of infection via direct interaction with terminal repeats (TRs) in the viral genome. Using a yeast two-hybrid screening method, we isolated a novel LANA-interacting protein (designated as KZLP; KRAB Zinc finger LANA Protein) from a human peripheral leukocyte cDNA library. KZLP encodes a KRAB domain and 12 Kruppel-type zinc fingers. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction showed that KZLP was expressed ubiquitously in various cell lines including those infected with KSHV. A luciferase assay showed that KZLP could activate the KSHV open reading frame K1 promoter containing TRs in 293T cells, and that such activation required multiple TR sequences. In contrast, LANA repressed the activity of the K1 promoter through TRs, and again this repression required multiple TR units. Moreover, LANA almost completely abrogated the KZLP-mediated transcriptional activation. Our results suggest that KZLP and LANA regulate gene expression through TRs in the KSHV viral genome, including the K1 gene in latent KSHV-infected cells.