Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is a human tumor virus and a model of herpesviral latency. The virus efficiently infects resting human B lymphocytes and induces their continuous proliferation in vitro, which mimics certain aspects of EBV’s oncogenic potential in vivo. How lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) evolve from the infected lymphocytes is uncertain. We conducted a systematic time-resolved longitudinal study of cellular functions and transcriptional profiles of newly infected naïve primary B lymphocytes. EBV reprograms the cells comprehensively and globally. Rapid and extensive transcriptional changes occur within 24 h and precede any metabolic and phenotypic changes. Within 72 h, the virus activates the cells, changes their phenotypes with respect to cell size, RNA, and protein content, and induces metabolic pathways to cope with the increased demand for energy, supporting an efficient cell cycle entry on day 3 postinfection. The transcriptional program that EBV initiates consists of 3 waves of clearly discernable clusters of cellular genes that peak on day 2, 3, or 4 and regulate RNA synthesis, metabolic pathways, and cell division, respectively. Upon onset of cell doublings on day 4, the cellular transcriptome appears to be completely reprogrammed to support the proliferating cells, but 3 additional clusters of EBV-regulated genes fine-tune cell signaling, migration, and immune response pathways, eventually. Our study reveals that more than 11,000 genes are regulated upon EBV infection as naïve B cells exit quiescence to enter a germinal center-like differentiation program, which culminates in immortalized, proliferating cells that partially resemble plasmablasts and early plasma cells.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects and activates resting human B lymphocytes, reprograms them, induces their proliferation, and establishes a latent infection in them. In established EBV-infected cell lines, many viral latent genes are expressed. Their roles in supporting the continuous proliferation of EBV-infected B cells in vitro are known, but their functions in the early, prelatent phase of infection have not been investigated systematically. In studies during the first 8 days of infection using derivatives of EBV with mutations in single genes of EBVs, we found only Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 2 (EBNA2) to be essential for activating naive human B lymphocytes, inducing their growth in cell volume, driving them into rapid cell divisions, and preventing cell death in a subset of infected cells. EBNA-LP, latent membrane protein 2A (LMP2A), and the viral microRNAs have supportive, auxiliary functions, but mutants of LMP1, EBNA3A, EBNA3C, and the noncoding Epstein-Barr virus with small RNA (EBERs) had no discernible phenotype compared with wild-type EBV. B cells infected with a double mutant of EBNA3A and 3C had an unexpected proliferative advantage and did not regulate the DNA damage response (DDR) of the infected host cell in the prelatent phase. Even EBNA1, which has very critical long-term functions in maintaining and replicating the viral genomic DNA in established cell lines, was dispensable for the early activation of infected cells. Our findings document that the virus dose is a decisive parameter and indicate that EBNA2 governs the infected cells initially and implements a strictly controlled temporal program independent of other viral latent genes. It thus appears that EBNA2 is sufficient to control all requirements for clonal cellular expansion and to reprogram human B lymphocytes from energetically quiescent to activated cells. IMPORTANCE The preferred target of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is human resting B lymphocytes. We found that their infection induces a well-coordinated, time-driven program that starts with a substantial increase in cell volume, followed by cellular DNA synthesis after 3 days and subsequent rapid rounds of cell divisions on the next day accompanied by some DNA replication stress (DRS). Two to 3 days later, the cells decelerate and turn into stably proliferating lymphoblast cell lines. With the aid of 16 different recombinant EBV strains, we investigated the individual contributions of EBV’s multiple latent genes during early B-cell infection and found that many do not exert a detectable phenotype or contribute little to EBV’s prelatent phase. The exception is EBNA2 that is essential in governing all aspects of B-cell reprogramming. EBV relies on EBNA2 to turn the infected B lymphocytes into proliferating lymphoblasts preparing the infected host cell for the ensuing stable, latent phase of viral infection. In the early steps of B-cell reprogramming, viral latent genes other than EBNA2 are dispensable, but some, EBNA-LP, for example, support the viral program and presumably stabilize the infected cells once viral latency is established.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects and activates resting human B-lymphocytes, reprograms them, induces their proliferation, and establishes a latent infection in them. In established EBV-infected cell lines many viral latent genes are expressed. Their roles in supporting the continuous proliferation of EBV-infected B cells in vitro are known, but their functions in the early, pre-latent phase of infection have not been investigated systematically. In studies during the first eight days of infection using derivatives of EBV with mutations in single genes of EBVs we found only EBNA2 to be essential for activating naïve human B-lymphocytes, inducing their growth in cell volume, driving them into rapid cell divisions, and preventing cell death in a subset of infected cells. EBNA-LP, LMP2A and the viral microRNAs have supportive, auxiliary functions, but mutants of LMP1, EBNA3A, EBNA3C, and the noncoding EBER RNAs had no discernable phenotype compared with wild-type EBV. B cells infected with a double mutant of EBNA3A and 3C had an unexpected proliferative advantage and did not regulate the DNA damage response (DDR) of the infected host cell in the pre-latent phase. Even EBNA1 which has very critical longterm functions in maintaining and replicating the viral genomic DNA in established cell lines, was dispensable for the early activation of infected cells. Our findings document that the virus dose is a critical parameter and indicate that EBNA2 governs the infected cells initially and implements a strictly controlled temporal program independent of other viral latent genes. It thus appears that EBNA2 is sufficient to control all requirements for clonal cellular expansion and to reprogram human B-lymphocytes from energetically quiescent to activated cells. Author summaryThe preferred target of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are human resting B-lymphocytes. We found that their infection induces a well-coordinated, time-driven program that starts with a substantial 3 increase in cell volume followed by cellular DNA synthesis after three days and subsequent rapid rounds of cell divisions on the next day accompanied by some DNA replication stress (DRS). Two to three days later the cells decelerate and turn into stably proliferating lymphoblast cell lines. With the aid of 16 different recombinant EBV strains we investigated the individual contributions of EBV's multiple latent genes during early B-cell infection and found that many do not exert a detectable phenotype or contribute little to EBV's pre-latent phase. The exception is EBNA2 that is essential in governing all aspects of B-cell reprogramming. EBV relies on EBNA2 to turn the infected B-lymphocytes into proliferating lymphoblasts preparing the infected host cell for the ensuing stable, latent phase of viral infection. In the early steps of B-cell reprogramming viral latent genes other than EBNA2 are dispensable but some, EBNA-LP for example, support the viral program and presumably stabilize the infected cells once viral latency is established.