Epstein-Barr virus nuclear protein 2 has at least two N-terminal domains that mediate self-association

Previous genetic and biochemical analyses have indicated that the Epstein-B arr virus EBNA-2 amino terminus is important for primary B-lymphocyte growt h transformation and may be involved in self-association, We now report tha t EBNA-2 has at least two domains, amino acids 1 to 60 and 96 to 210, which independently mediate homotypic association, 1 to 60 with 1 to 60 and 96 t o 210 with 96 to 210, EBNA-2 self-association is likely to be critical to t he ability of EBNA-2 to interact simultaneously with multiple cellular tran scription factors, coactivators, and histone acetyltransferases through its RBPJ kappa binding and acidic activating domains.