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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Virology
Volume 16 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1538737
This article is part of the Research Topic Herpesviruses: Pathogenesis and Host Interactions View all articles
HSV-1 ICP22 condensates impair host transcription by depleting promoter RNAPII Ser-2P occupation
Provisionally accepted- 1 Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Kunming, Yunnan, China
- 2 Maize Research Institute of Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 3 The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
Herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) infection induced host transcription shut down is one of the most critical hallmarks of viral lytic infection. But how HSV-1 and which viral factors accomplish this dramatic effect is not well understood. We show that ICP22 defined condensates shutdown host global transcription but facilitate viral transcription. This is independent of its effects on viral infection triggered changes in splicing, read-through and read-in events. ICP22 condensates depleted the serine-2 phosphorylated RNA polymerase II (RNAPII Ser-2P) occupancy from host transcription start site (TSS), resulting in decreased host transcripts output, while it ensures proper RNAPII Ser-2P distribution on the viral genome to promote viral transcription. This effect is dependent solely on the condensate forming activity, as it is abolished by condensate-disrupting point mutations. In addition, ectopic expressed ICP22 alone could decrease host transcription activity and increase histone H3K27me3 modification level. Thus, ICP22 condensates shut down host transcription by reducing RNAPII binding to host TSS to impair the host transcription.
Keywords: HSV-1, ICP22 condensate, RNAPII, transcription, H3K27me3
Received: 03 Dec 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qi, Yin, Ren, Chen, Li, Li, Cao and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jumin Zhou, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Kunming, Yunnan, China
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