IDENTIFICATION OF A DNA-BINDING PROTEIN OF HUMAN HERPESVIRUS-6, A PUTATIVE DNA-POLYMERASE STIMULATORY FACTOR

A 41K early nuclear antigen (p41), expressed in human herpesvirus type 6 (HHV-6)-infected T cells, was cloned by screening a cDNA expression library with the anti-p41 monoclonal antibody (MAb) C5. When expresse d in mammalian cells, the cloned p41 protein comigrated with the authe ntic p41 protein from HHV-6-infected cells and localized to the nucleu s. HHV-6 p41 shares 44% sequence identity with the human cytomegalovir us (HCMV) DNA-binding protein, ICP36 (UL44 gene product); p41 binds to ssDNA with the same apparent affinity as ICP36. Since ICP36 has recen tly been shown to be an HCMV DNA polymerase-associated stimulatory fac tor, a similar function is suggested for p41.