Epigenetic Code of Host Chromosome Docking Sites for Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Latent Episomes

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genomes persist in latently infected cells as extrachromosomal plasmids that attach to host chromosomes through the tethering functions of EBNA1, a viral encoded sequence-specific DNA binding protein. Here we employed circular chromosome conformation capture (4C) analysis to identify genomewide associations between EBV episomes and host chromosomes. We found that EBV episomes in Burkitt lymphoma (BL) cells preferentially associate with EBNA1 sequence-specific DNA binding sites in the cellular genome that are also enriched for B-cell factors EBF1 and RBP-jK, the repressive histone mark H3K9me3, and surrounded by AT-rich sequence. These attachment sites corresponded to transcriptionally silenced genes with enrichment in neuronal function. Depletion of EBNA1 from EBV latently infected BL cells led to a transcriptional de-repression of these silenced genes. EBV attachment sites in lymphoblastoid cells (LCLs) showed different correlations, suggesting that latency types are functionally linked to the epigenetic environment of host chromosome attachment sites. 4C-seq, ChIP-seq, and RNA-seq data