A repetitive region of gammaherpesvirus genomic DNA is a ligand for induction of type I interferon.

Sanchez, David Jesse, Daniel Miranda, Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, Seungmin Hwang, Adam E Singer, Ashkon Senaati, Arash Shahangian, Moon Jung Song, Ren Sun, and Genhong Cheng. 2008. “A Repetitive Region of Gammaherpesvirus Genomic DNA Is a Ligand for Induction of Type I Interferon.”. Journal of Virology 82 (5): 2208-17.

Abstract

Innate immune responses against viral infection, especially the induction of type I interferon, are critical for limiting the replication of the virus. Although it has been shown that DNA can induce type I interferon, to date no natural DNA ligand of a virus that induces type I interferon has been described. Here we screened the genome of murine gammaherpesvirus 68 with mutations at various genomic locations to map the region of DNA that induces type I interferon. A repetitive region termed the 100-base-pair repeat region is a ligand that is both necessary and sufficient for the viral genomic DNA to induce type I interferon. A region colinear with this ligand in the genome of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus also induces type I interferon. We have thus defined a repetitive region of the genomes of gammaherpesviruses as the first natural DNA virus ligand that induces type I interferon.

Last updated on 01/02/2024
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