Zhou Xia, Liao Qingjiao, Ricciardi Robert P, Peng Can, Chen Xulin
State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, PR China.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Jul 2;397(3):520-5. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.05.147. Epub 2010 May 31.
The processivity factor-8 (PF-8) of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) plays an essential role in viral lytic replication. PF-8 forms homodimers in solution and is observed as a dimer on the DNA. Here, we show that PF-8 dimerizes in cells and that amino acid residues 1-21 and residues 277-304 of PF-8 (396R) are required for dimerization in vivo. Importantly, we demonstrate that PF-8 dimerizes in the cytoplasm before being translocated to the nucleus. The significance of PF-8 cytoplasmic dimerization as a possible first step in the formation of a prereplication complex is discussed.
