A promoter of Epstein-Barr virus that can function during latent infection can be transactivated by EBNA-1, a viral protein required for viral DNA replication during latent infection.

A viral promoter that functions on recombinant plasmids in cells immortalized by Epstein-Barr virus was identified and characterized. It is identical to that mapped on the viral genome by Bodescot et al. (M. Bodescot, M. Perricaudet, and P.J. Farrell, J. Virol. 61:3424-3430, 1987) which functions during the latent phase of the viral life cycle in some but not all cells to encode several latent viral gene products. Experiments with these plasmids indicated that this promoter requires the enhancer within oriP of Epstein-Barr virus in cis to function efficiently. They also indicated that it requires the EBNA-1 gene in trans to function efficiently. The EBNA-1 gene therefore positively affects both viral DNA replication (J.L. Yates, N. Warren, and B. Sugden, Nature [London] 313:812-815, 1985) and viral transcription.