Herpes simplex virus type 1 ICP4 promotes transcription preinitiation complex formation by enhancing the binding of TFIID to DNA.

Infected-cell polypeptide 4 (ICP4) of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) activates the expression of many HSV genes during infection. It functions along with the cellular general transcription factors to increase the transcription rates of genes. In this study, an HSV late promoter consisting of only a TATA box and an INR element was immobilized on a magnetic resin and incubated with nuclear extracts or purified TFIID in the presence and absence of ICP4. Analysis of the complexes formed on these promoters revealed that ICP4 increased the formation of transcription preinitiation complexes (PICs) in a TATA box-dependent manner, as determined by the presence of ICP4, TFIID, TFIIB, and polymerase II on the promoter. With both nuclear extract and purified TFIID, it was determined that ICP4 helped TFIID bind to the promoter and the TATA box. These observations differed from those for the activator Gal4-VP16. As previously observed by others, Gal4-VP16 also increased the formation of PICs without helping TFIID bind to the promoter, suggesting that ICP4 and VP16 differ in their mechanism of activation and that ICP4 functions to facilitate PIC formation at an earlier step in the formation of PICs. We also observed that the DNA binding activity of ICP4 was not sufficient to help TFIID bind to the promoter and that the region of ICP4 that was responsible for this activity is located between residues 30 and 274. Taken together these results demonstrate that a specific region of ICP4 helps TFIID bind to the TATA box and that this in turn facilitates the formation of transcription PICs.