Abstract
During a herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) lytic infection, three classes of viral genes are transcribed in a temporally regulated manner1–5. The HSV-1 ‘immediate-early’ (IE) promoter sequences contain multiple copies of a hexanucleotide sequence, GGGCGG, known as a GC box, and one or more copies of an 11-base pair (bp) conserved A+T-rich element, designated TAATGARAT. The TAATGARAT elements are thought to mediate the trans-activation of IE RNA synthesis by a virion-associated protein(s)6–14, and the flanking G + C-rich sequences appear both to potentiate this induction and to direct IE promoter activity in vivo9–14. The similarity of the herpesvirus GC box repeats to those of the simian virus 40 (SV40) early promoter15–17 prompted the in vitro analysis of HSV IE transcription reported here. We show that the mammalian gene-specific transcription factor Spl (refs 18–20) binds to eight distinct regions of the HSV short terminal repeat and stimulates transcription 25-fold from the divergent IE-3 (ICP-4) and IE-4/5 promoters.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Honess, W. R. & Roizman, B. J. Virol. 14, 8–19 (1974).
Roizman, B., Kozak, M., Honess, R. M. & Hayward, G. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 39, 687–701 (1975).
Clements, J. B., Watson, R. J. & Wilkie, N. M. Cell 12, 275–285 (1977).
Jones, P. C. & Roizman, B. J. Virol. 31, 299–314 (1979).
Anderson, K. P., Costa, R. H., Hallard, L. E. & Wagner, E. K. J. Virol. 34, 9–27 (1980).
Preston, C. M. J. Virol. 32, 357–369 (1979).
Dixon, R. A. F. & Schaffer, P. A. J. Virol. 36, 189–203 (1980).
Post, L. E., Mackem, S. & Roizman, B. Cell 24, 555–565 (1981).
Mackem, S. & Roizman, B. J. Virol. 43, 1015–1023 (1982).
Mackem, S. & Roizman, B. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 4917–4921 (1982).
Mackem, S. & Roizman, B. J. Virol. 44, 939–949 (1982).
Cordingley, M. G., Campbell, M. E. M. & Preston, C. M. Nucleic Acids Res. 11, 2347–2365 (1983).
Lang, J. C., Spandidos, D. A. & Wilkie, N. M. EMBO J. 13, 389–395 (1984).
Preston, C. M., Cordingley, M. G. & Stow, N. D. J. Virol. 50, 708–716 (1984).
Benoist, C. & Chambon, P. Nature 290, 304–310 (1981).
Myers, R. M., Rio, D. C., Robbins, A. K. & Tjian, R. Cell 25, 373–384 (1981).
Lebowitz, P. & Ghosh, P. K. J. Virol. 41, 449–461 (1982).
Dynan, W. S. & Tjian, R. Cell 32, 669–680 (1983).
Dynan, W. S. & Tjian, R. Cell 35, 79–87 (1983).
Gidoni, D., Dynan, W. S. & Tjian, R. Nature 312, 409–413 (1984).
Murchie, M. J. & McGeoch, D. J. J. gen. Virol. 62, 1–15 (1982).
Watson, R. J., Sullivan, M. & Van de Woude, G. F. J. Virol. 37, 431–444 (1981).
Stow, N. D. & McMonagle, E. C. Virology 130, 427–438 (1983).
Stow, N. D. EMBO J. 1, 863–867 (1982).
Mocarski, E. S. & Roizman, B. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 5626–5630 (1982).
Marsden, H. S., Crombie, I. K. & Subak-Sharpe, J. H. J. gen. Virol. 31, 347–372 (1976).
Watson, R. J. & Clements, J. B. Virology 91, 364–379 (1978).
Watson, R. J. & Clements, J. B. Nature 285, 329–330 (1980).
Everett, R. D. EMBO J. 3, 3135–3141 (1984).
Galas, D. & Schmitz, A. Nucleic Acids Res. 5, 3157–3170 (1978).
Preston, C. M. & Tannahill, D. Virology 137, 439–444 (1984).
Karin, M. et al. Nature 308, 513–519 (1985).
Goodbourn, S., Zinn, K. & Maniatis, T. Cell 41, 509–520 (1985).
Jones, K. A., Yamamoto, K. R. & Tjian, R. Cell (in the press).
Messing, J. & Viera, J. Gene 19, 269–276 (1982).
Fontichiaro, K. L. E., Beck, T. W. & Milette, R. L. J. Virol. 53, 235–242 (1985).
Kadonaga, J. T., Jones, K. A. & Tjian, R. Trends biochem. Sci. (in the press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jones, K., Tjian, R. Sp1 binds to promoter sequences and activates herpes simplex virus ‘immediate-early’ gene transcription in vitro. Nature 317, 179–182 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/317179a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/317179a0
This article is cited by
-
CTCF and Sp1 interact with the Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 internal repeat elements
Virus Genes (2012)
-
High-mobility group protein A1 binds herpes simplex virus gene regulatory sequences and affects their expression
Archives of Virology (2008)
-
HSV-1-Based Vectors for Gene Therapy of Neurological Diseases and Brain Tumors: Part I. HSV-1 Structure, Replication and Pathogenesis
Neoplasia (1999)
-
Molecular cloning and structural analysis of the functional mouse genomic XPG gene
Mammalian Genome (1996)
-
Noncoding control region of naturally occurring BK virus variants: Sequence comparison and functional analysis
Virus Genes (1995)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.