A Dimeric Rep Protein Initiates Replication of a Linear Archaeal Virus Genome: Implications for the Rep Mechanism and Viral Replication

  • Oke, Muse
  • Kerou, Melina
  • Liu, Huanting
  • Peng, Xu
  • Garrett, Roger A.
  • Prangishvili, David
  • Naismith, James H.
  • White, Malcolm F.
Publication date
January 2011

Abstract

The Rudiviridae are a family of rod-shaped archaeal viruses with covalently closed, linear double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genomes. Their replication mechanisms remain obscure, although parallels have been drawn to the Poxviridae and other large cytoplasmic eukaryotic viruses. Here we report that a protein encoded in the 34-kbp genome of the rudivirus SIRV1 is a member of the replication initiator (Rep) superfamily of proteins, which initiate rolling-circle replication (RCR) of diverse viruses and plasmids. We show that SIRV Rep nicks the viral hairpin terminus, forming a covalent adduct between an active-site tyrosine and the 5' end of the DNA, releasing a 3' DNA end as a primer for DNA synthesis. The enzyme can also catalyze the joining react...

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