An unusual feature of papillomaviruses is that their genomes are packaged into virions along with host histones. Viral minichromosomes were visualized as "beads on a string" by electron microscopy in the 1970s but, to date, little is known about the posttranslational modifications of these histones. To investigate this, we analyzed the histone modifications in HPV16/18 quasivirions, wart-derived bovine papillomavirus (BPV1), and wart-derived human papillomavirus type 1 (HPV1) using quantitative mass spectrometry. The chromatin from all three virion samples had abundant posttranslational modifications (acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation). These histone modifications were verified by acid urea polyacrylamide electrophoresis and immunoblot analysis. Compared to matched host cell controls, the virion minichromosome was enriched in histone modifications associated with active chromatin and depleted for those commonly found in repressed chromatin. We propose that the viral minichromosome acquires specific histone modifications late in infection that are coupled to the mechanisms of viral replication, late gene expression, and encapsidation. We predict that, in turn, these same modifications benefit early stages of infection by helping to evade detection, promoting localization of the viral chromosome to beneficial regions of the nucleus, and promoting early transcription and replication.IMPORTANCE A relatively unique feature of papillomaviruses is that the viral genome is associated with host histones inside the virion. However, little is known about the nature of the epigenome within papillomavirions or its biological relevance to the infectious viral cycle. Here, we define the epigenetic signature of the H3 and H4 histones from HPV16 virions generated in cell culture and native human papillomavirus type 1 (HPV1) and bovine papillomavirus 1 (BPV1) virions isolated from bovine and human wart tissue. We show that native virions are enriched in posttranslational modifications associated with active chromatin and depleted with those associated with repressed chromatin compared to cellular chromatin. Native virions were also enriched in the histone variant H3.3 compared to the canonical histone H3.1. We propose that the composition of virion-packaged chromatin reflects the late stages of the viral life cycle and promotes the early stages of infection by being primed for viral transcription.
Keywords: HPV; chromatin; epigenetics; histones; papillomavirus.