Upstream stimulatory factor family binds to the herpes simplex virus type 1 latency-associated transcript promoter.

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency-associated transcript (LAT) promoter 1 (LP1) is the only viral promoter that exhibits detectable transcriptional activity during a latent HSV infection. The LAT promoter-binding factor (LPBF) regulatory sequence (nucleotides -65 to -72 relative to the transcriptional start site of the 8.3-kb primary transcript) closely resembles the core recognition sequence required for binding members of the upstream stimulatory factor (USF)/major late transcription factor (MLTF) family. In this analysis, we demonstrate that oligonucleotides containing either the LPBF recognition sequence or the USF/MLTF recognition sequences from previously described promoters bind cellular factors which exhibit very similar mobilities in electrophoretic mobility shift (EMS) analyses. We also observe a high degree of similarity in competition profiles obtained in competition EMS analyses utilizing oligonucleotides containing recognition sequences for either LPBF or USF/MLTF. Furthermore, antibody supershift EMS analyses have demonstrated that the factors binding the LPBF or USF/MLTF recognition sites in these oligonucleotides are antigenically related, if not identical, and that greater than 90% of the LPBF-binding activity is antigenically related to USF. In addition, we demonstrate that both forms of in vitro translated USF proteins (43 and 44 kDa) bind to the LPBF recognition sequence within HSV-1 LP1. Taken together, these data indicate that USF is capable of binding to the HSV-1 LPBF recognition sequence and that USF is a major LPBF-binding activity in cells of neuronal and nonneuronal lineage. These data further support the hypothesis that USF may indeed play a significant role in the transcriptional activity of HSV-1 LP1.