BIOCHEMICAL-CHARACTERIZATION OF EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS NUCLEAR ANTIGEN-2A AND AN ASSOCIATED ATPASE ACTIVITY

A partial purification of the Epstein-Barr-virus nuclear antigen 2A (EBNA 2A) protein from the Epstein-Barr-virus-infected lymphoblastoid cell line, Cherry, has been designed. The main purification step was immunoaffinity chromatography, based on the mAb, 115E, directed towards the carboxy terminus of EBNA 2A. This was followed by chromatography over a Blue Sepharose column. According to silver-stained SDS/PAGE, EBNA 2A was estimated to be 20% pure. The purified fractions contained an ATPase activity that was inhibited by the mAb 115E. Immunopurification of six EBNA-2A-positive cell lines and their negative counterpart showed that only fractions from EBNA-2A-positive lines contained ATPase activity. In gel-filtration experiments EBNA 2A eluted as a 75-kDa protein in conjunction with an ATPase activity. The EBNA 2A protein was covalently labeled by the ATP analog [C-14]5'-[p-(fluorosulfonyl)benzoyl]adenosine. The ATPase activity was found to be optimal in the presence of 0.25 mM MgCl2 or CaCl2, whereas, in the presence of MnCl2 and ZnCl2, the activity was only about 50% of the control. High concentrations of Na2VO3 and heparin do not interfere with the activity, while 2.5 mM NaF or 0.5 M NaCl give a 50% reduction of the activity. The K(m) for ATP and for GTP was 13-mu-M and 11-mu-M, respectively, and the V(max) for ATP was about six-times higher than with GTP as substrate. Other low-molecular-mass non-protein phosphate esters, such as phosphoserine or phosphothreonine inhibited the ATPase activity with a K(i) of 18 and 32-mu-M, respectively. Phosphotyrosine had a K(i) of 480-mu-M. Serine, threonine and tyrosine had no inhibitory effect on the ATPase activity.