Biology subjects

Liu, G.

Publications and source records attributed to Liu, G..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A Human Genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 Screen Reveals Host Factors That Support Epstein-Barr Virus B cell infection

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects 90% of the population worldwide and is associated with multiple malignancies, including Burkitt, Hodgkin and post-transplant lymphomas, nasopharyngeal and gastric carcinoma. EBV also triggers autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. While host factors important for EBV B-cell entry have been defined, including CD21/CR2, MHC class II and R9AP, much remains to be learned about host factors that support post-entry steps of EBV infection. To gain insight, we conducted a human genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screen. In addition to known EBV B cell receptors/co-receptors, we identified multiple new factors and pathways essential for EBV B cell infection. These included multiple B cell signaling pathways, actin cytoskeleton and nuclear import factors. Knockout of CD19, its tetraspanin chaperone CD81 or karyopherin subunit alpha 1 (KPNA1, also called importin-5) significantly impaired establishment of EBV infection. EBV and CD19 co-localized at early stages of EBV infection, and the CD19 cytoplasmic tail was important for EBV infection, suggesting CD19 signaling supports EBV uptake. Depletion of KPNA1 significantly impaired establishment of EBV infection, but did not impair production of infectious EBV upon reactivation of latently infected B cells. Together, these results provide insights into pathways that support EBV B cell infection and identify potential therapeutic targets.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2026

AI-Guided Multi-Objective Engineering of Glucoamylase Enables Acidification-Free Starch Saccharification

Glucoamylase is essential for industrial starch saccharification, but the limited thermostability and near-neutral pH tolerance of fungal glucoamylases necessitate cooling and acidification of liquefied starch. Here, we developed an artificial intelligence-guided strategy to simultaneously improve the thermostability, pH tolerance, and catalytic activity of glucoamylase from Penicillium oxalicum (PoGA). Two property-specific machine-learning models, CASPE-T and CASPE-A, identified substitutions associated with thermostability and pH tolerance, respectively. Experimental screening identified beneficial substitutions in 11 of 21 CASPE-T and 12 of 22 CASPE-A candidates. Folding-energy-guided recombination integrated the two traits while maintaining structural compatibility. The optimal variant, PoGA T513E/Q305N, exhibited 2.21-fold higher specific activity than the wild type, with half-life extended from 22.3 to 57.9 min at 60 degrees C and from 16.6 to 64.7 min at pH 8.0. Molecular dynamics simulations attributed these improvements to reinforcement of high-occupancy hydrogen-bonding networks, suppression of conformational fluctuations in the linker and carbohydrate-binding module, enhanced long-range dynamic coordination, and preservation of a compact catalytic architecture. At 60 degrees C and pH 6.5 without acidification, PoGA T513E/Q305N produced 219.9 g/L glucose and achieved 89.1% starch conversion, 31.4% higher than the wild type. This work provides an efficient framework for multi-objective enzyme engineering and sustainable starch biorefining.

synthetic biology↗

bioRxiv2026

Tracing high transductive cohort AUC to same-site supervision in a site-aware population GNN for multisite fMRI

Population-graph models can use cohort-level context, complicating interpretation of strong multisite neuroimaging performance. We investigated which information pathways accounted for high transductive cohort discrimination in a site-aware heterogeneous population graph neural network for autism classification. Using a frozen ABIDE-I cohort (871 participants, 20 sites) and evaluation protocol, we applied controlled graph, feature, supervision, and architecture interventions to a clean-room re-implementation across C-PAC and NIAK preprocessing pipelines. Cohort out-of-fold AUC was approximately 0.94. A site-only graph retained similarly high discrimination (0.948 versus 0.941 for the full model), with no statistically significant difference detected. Removing same-site supervision under a site-wise intervention reduced AUC to 0.480, whereas a supervision-budget control retaining same-site supervision achieved 0.921. Among the alternative heads evaluated, the high cohort AUC was observed only with the sex-heterogeneous dual-channel head; a canonical topology-only Parisot-GCN did not reproduce it. A demographic classifier using site, sex, and their interaction achieved a best pooled AUC of 0.51. Under leave-one-site-out evaluation, AUC was 0.522 for C-PAC and 0.532 for NIAK, with confidence intervals including 0.5 and no clear evidence of unseen-site discrimination; an imaging-only reference achieved 0.653 and 0.588. Because leave-one-site-out evaluation jointly changes supervision availability, target-site topology, and training-domain composition, the decrease cannot be attributed to a single factor. These findings distinguish cohort-visible transductive performance from unseen-site generalization and motivate explicit site-only, no-graph, and site-held-out controls.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Chimeric Induced Cooperativity Opens the Design Space of Eukaryotic Gene Regulation

Predictive engineering of eukaryotic transcription is limited by the coupling of signal sensing, DNA binding, TF abundance and promoter output. Here we establish chimeric induced cooperativity (CIC), a modular architecture that separates LBD, DBD and AD functions and links them to promoters with tunable basal and maximal output. Module parameters can be recombined to predict new CIC-TF configurations and guide design before construction. Ligand-induced cooperativity reduces basal DNA occupancy while increasing induced occupancy, and effective DBDs combine low OFF-state activity with strong ON-state promoter occupancy rather than binding strength alone. Synthetic promoters independently control occupancy gain and output range. The same framework extends to repression and can be recalibrated with limited measurements in mammalian cells. In yeast, CIC-12 achieved a mean fold induction of 298-fold across 12 orthogonal sensors; an earlier CIC-10 chassis enabled model-guided optimization of an eight-gene vitamin B5 biosynthetic pathway. CIC establishes a programmable, model-guided design space for eukaryotic transcriptional control.

synthetic biology↗

bioRxiv2026

Compressed representations underpin knowledge awareness in sequence learning

Humans can acquire sequence structure before its presence enters awareness, and in some learners this implicit knowledge later becomes accessible and reportable. Yet the neural reformatting that enables this transition remains unclear. Here we used electro/magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG) to resolve how category-based triplet rules were organized before and after awareness emerged. We found that implicit sequence knowledge was already represented in an abstract, compressed format. Within this format, rule information generalized across triplet elements, and regular-sequence elements became more similar while perceptual-category structure remained separable. Compression rate quantified how efficiently local rule information entered this shared format, and its pre-awareness level predicted later awareness specifically in the event-related potential P3 window. MEG source imaging localised pre-transition compression to left middle temporal cortex and showed post-awareness expansion into prefrontal cortex. Pre-awareness directional connectivity further showed that temporal-to-prefrontal theta-band transfer was rule-specific and predicted later awareness. Overall, these findings identify a mechanism supporting conscious access to abstract sequence-rule knowledge, involving cross-element representational compression and theta-band routing from the compression source to prefrontal cortex.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

rVSV-EBOV vaccination protects ferrets from lethal Bundibugyo virus disease

An uncontrolled and rapidly growing outbreak of Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) is currently gripping the Democratic Republic of the Congo and threatening health security across Central Africa. There are no available BDBV-specific vaccines, although emerging evidence suggests that the Ebola virus-specific vaccine, rVSV-EBOV (also known by its tradename ERVEBO), may offer cross-protective immunity. To directly address this question, we evaluated the efficacy of rVSV-EBOV in the uniformly lethal ferret model of BDBV infection. All vaccinated animals survived BDBV challenge and exhibited minimal clinical signs of infection, presumably as a result of a moderate--but protective--humoral immune response. These findings provide critical evidence further supporting the cross-protective efficacy of rVSV-EBOV, and they suggest a potential role for this vaccine in mitigating the ongoing BDBV outbreak.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2026

HMCES DNA-protein cross-links promote template slippage during DNA replication

During replication, nucleolytic processing of apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites in single-stranded (ss)DNA is attenuated by the evolutionarily conserved 5-hydroxymethylcytosine binding, embryonic-specific (HMCES) protein. HMCES forms a covalent thiazolidine linkage with the ring-opened aldehyde form of a ssDNA AP site to stabilize the AP site and suppress the formation of DNA double-strand breaks. The resulting HMCES DNA-protein cross-link (DPC) can then be digested by the SPRTN protease and bypassed through mutagenic translesion synthesis (TLS). Here, we use Xenopus egg extracts and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate how HMCES-DPC formation influences the mutagenicity of AP site bypass. We show that SPRTN processes the HMCES-DPC to a five amino acid peptide adduct prior to TLS. Surprisingly, the mutagenicity of HMCES-DPC bypass is insensitive to the extent of DPC proteolysis and depends only on cross-link formation, which traps the AP site in a more dynamic ring-opened configuration. We further show that the spectrum of mutations produced during bypass of HMCES-adducts strongly depends on the template strand nucleotide immediately 5 of the AP site. Our data support a model in which HMCES-DPC formation increases the conformational flexibility of the DNA template, allowing template slippage and use of the 5 template nucleotide to direct insertion opposite the adducted AP site.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2026

Mode of T cell priming durably shapes the TCR repertoire, effector function and α4β1 integrin expression of human virus-specific CD4+ T cells

The generation of an effective T cell response against an antigen depends on the recognition of the antigen by the T cell receptor (TCR), followed by T cell priming, initiating coordinated biophysical, biochemical and proliferative changes that drive differentiation into effector and memory clones. The immunological environments in which priming occurs, such as natural infection or vaccination, influences the quality and persistence of memory T cells, but the long-term impacts remain incompletely understood. Here, we investigate how the mode of priming shapes durable antigen-specific CD4+ T cell memory, utilising two cohorts 3-4 years after initial antigen encounter: individuals recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection and infection-naive individuals who received a SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Using ex vivo single-cell RNA sequencing, paired TCR sequencing and in vitro functional analyses, we characterise the transcriptional, clonal and functional profile of Spike-specific CD4+ T cells. Across both cohorts, CD4+ T cell responses against spike epitopes S166-180, S751-765 and S866-880, were immunodominant, with shared public TCR clonotypes indicating conserved antigen-recognition regardless of mode of priming. Despite this shared specificity, infection-primed individuals exhibited greater TCR repertoire diversity and lower CDR3{beta} sequence convergence. Transcriptionally, infection-primed cells exhibited a more cytotoxic and effector phenotype, while vaccine-primed cells preferentially adopted T follicular helper (Tfh)- and Th1-associated phenotypes. Infection-primed individuals also displayed enrichment of cell adhesion and integrin signalling pathways, with a greater proportion of spike-specific CD4+ T cells expressing 4{beta}1 integrin subunits, consistent with enhanced migratory and effector potential. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that the mode of antigen priming may influence the long-term CD4+ T cell memory states, influencing TCR repertoire diversity, functional differentiation and tissue-homing potential, years after the initial immune response.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2026

A cross-modal generative model for incomplete and degradedprostate MRI with multicentre clinical validation

Missing or degraded sequences can limit prostate multiparametric MRI. We developed MSCNet, a sequence-conditioned cross-modal generative framework for reconstructing unavailable contrasts and restoring degraded acquisitions. Across ten completion tasks, task-specific MSCNet achieved mean structural similarity of 0.818 versus 0.798 for the strongest task-matched comparators; matched-capacity analyses showed larger differences in lesion fidelity and boundary preservation. In a blinded 1,000-case reader study, overall image quality met the prespecified non-inferiority criterion for DWI, ADC and T2W completion, but not T1W. In a separate 200-case diagnostic assessment, AUCs for clinically significant cancer were 0.860 with acquired images, 0.841 with MSCNet and 0.797 with baseline-generated images. A locked 186-case three-hospital cohort supported multicentre transportability. These retrospective results support quality-controlled cross-modal reconstruction as an adjunct to acquired prostate MRI.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2026

Plasma titration provides a physical ruler for cross-platform proteomics

Plasma proteomics is expanding across platforms and cohorts, and integrating these data for AI demands comparability at the protein level, not merely concordant associations1,2. Affinity and MS platforms use distinct probes (antibodies, aptamers, or peptides) and signal readouts, yielding contradictory cross-platform results3,4. Without a known quantitative truth, we cannot distinguish biology from measurement distortion, leaving no gold standard for integration. Here we introduce Plasmix--a plasma reference suite with predefined male:female ratios (M, 1:0; Y, 3:1; P, 1:1; X, 1:3; F, 0:1)--and show that preserving this quantitative titration gradient, not just technical repeatability, predicts cross-platform concordance and identifies protein measurements suitable for integration. Profiling Plasmix across five platforms (Olink, SomaScan, NULISA, AAgAtlas, and MS-DIA) and 12 protocols across 17 batches, we found discordance is dominated by signal generation, not sample identity, and platforms distort signals in a protein-specific manner. Crucially, proteins retaining the titration response showed stronger agreement in an independent cohort; anchoring to the Plasmix midpoint (P) via sample-to-reference ratios reduced distortions, extending harmonizable coverage by 10-20%. Plasmix thus provides a physical ruler to benchmark accuracy, identifying genuinely integrable measurements before pooling datasets or training AI models--a critical bottleneck for plasma proteomics.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2026

ERK signaling integrates multiple mechanisms to drive cortical evolutionary expansion

A critical first step in human evolutionary divergence from chimpanzees and other primates is the production of greatly increased numbers of cortical pyramidal neurons during development and over evolutionary time. This expansion underpins the enlarged human cerebral cortex and, consequently, higher-order cognition and consciousness. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving this progressive increase in cortical neuron number remain incompletely understood. Here we show that elevated ERK signaling in human cortical radial glia (RGs), relative to mouse RGs, arises from evolutionary changes in the developmental expression of existing shared genes. Using the Emx1-Cre line to overexpress MEK1DD, a constitutively active mutant of rat MAP2K1, we found that enhanced ERK signaling in mouse cortical RGs upregulates cAMP-PKA signaling, along with promoting self-renewal, expanding the RG pool, and accelerating cell cycle progression. Conversely, overexpression of PKA signaling in mouse cortical RGs via in utero electroporation of constitutively active PRKACA mutants (L206R or W196G) reduces ERK activity, prolongs the cell cycle, suppresses SHH-SMO and YAP/TAZ pathway activity, and blocks ependymal gliogenesis. Together, our results demonstrate that ERK and PKA signaling in cortical RGs engage a dynamic balance of synergistic and antagonistic interactions. This interplay couples evolutionarily enhanced ERK and PKA activities to increased cortical RG numbers, prolonged cell cycle progression, and an extended neurogenic period, which collectively culminate in a marked increase in neuronal production. We conclude that heightened ERK pathway activity in cortical RGs serves as a central driver of progressive neocortical expansion across mammalian evolution. Significance StatementThe human brains extraordinary cognitive abilities stem from a dramatic increase in cortical neuron numbers during evolution. This study reveals that enhanced ERK signaling in human cortical radial glia neural stem cells, relative to other primates, is a key driver of this expansion. By manipulating this pathway in mice, we demonstrate that ERK coordinates multiple mechanisms--including self-renewal, cell cycle acceleration, and a dynamic interplay with PKA signaling--to boost neuronal output. These findings identify a core molecular axis underlying mammalian cortical evolution and provide a framework for understanding how the human cortex acquired its unique size and, consequently, its remarkable complexity.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2026

Reconstructing sequence-grammar trajectories enables interpretable and tunable cis- regulatory element design

Designing synthetic cis-regulatory elements (CREs) with cell-type-specific activity remains challenging, and optimization is usually treated as a black box, obscuring how regulatory grammar emerges and why design trajectories fail. Here, we present GO-CRE (Guided Optimization of Cis-Regulatory Elements), which combines efficient sequence generation, predictor-guided reinforcement learning, and trajectory-level interpretation. GO-CRE reconstructs iterative sequence changes in a shared sequence-grammar landscape and identifies coordinated update programs corresponding to search, commitment, and optimization. Productive trajectories in HepG2 and K562 progressively acquired cell-type-associated grammar, whereas SK-N-SH trajectories remained confined to local basins. In HepG2, trajectory analysis revealed a low-complexity polyG trap; introducing a polyG penalty redirected optimization toward HNF/FOXA-associated features. Final designs retained sequence diversity while converging on cell-type-associated motif patterns. Lentiviral MPRA validated cell-type-specific activity in K562 and HepG2 and showed higher average activity of HepG2 designs than endogenous CREs. Together, these findings establish sequence-grammar trajectory reconstruction as a basis for interpretable and tunable synthetic CRE design.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2026

Electrophysiological features of signals recorded from white matter

Intracranial neurophysiology studies have typically ignored signals from electrodes located in white matter (WM), assuming that their information content is artifactual or related to nearby gray matter (GM). Here, we tested the electrophysiological and functional features of signals recorded from different WM locations. Signals were recorded from 19 patients undergoing intracranial monitoring for drug-resistant epilepsy by means of stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG). Each sEEG electrode was classified into WM or GM based on the surrounding tissue. We obtained recordings from a total of 1,717 sEEG electrode contacts, 36% in WM, while the patients were in awake resting state (5 minutes). For each sEEG electrode, we employed a model-based spectral decomposition to separate periodic and aperiodic components, and we computed signal complexity metrics. For a subset of participants, we computed WM structural information from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and we evaluated functional signals during a cognitive control task. Our results show that signals recorded from WM have different spectral features and higher complexity than GM. Complexity correlates positively with fractional anisotropy, and modulations related to behavior during the task were detected in WM. Overall, this indicates that WM signals carry information that may reflect signal propagation across WM fiber tracts.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

A gapless telomere-to-telomere reference genome of Ostreococcus tauri RCC4221 with expanded annotation of medium-sized ncRNAs

Marine photosynthetic microbes contribute substantially to global primary production, yet many algal lineages still lack reference genomes with the continuity and annotation quality required for fine-scale structural, regulatory and comparative analyses. Ostreococcus tauri, one of the smallest known free-living photosynthetic eukaryotes, has been a model marine picoeukaryote for over two decades. Despite successive improvements to its historical reference genome, previous assemblies retained hundreds of gaps and incomplete genes, hampering high-resolution genomic analyses. Here, we present O. tauri RCC4221 genome version 2026, a telomere-to-telomere assembly of all 20 chromosomes spanning 13.34 Mb with no gaps. This assembly combines PacBio long-read sequencing, Illumina short-read polishing, correction of unresolved regions guided by independent Nanopore-based assemblies. The updated reference supports a curated annotation comprising 7,683 protein-coding genes, 48 tRNA genes, 3 rRNA operons, 116 medium-sized noncoding RNAs, one signal recognition particle RNA and 138 small nucleolar RNAs. It also improves gene-model integrity and recovers candidate coding loci absent from the 2014 reference. Structural analyses resolved the organization of the two atypical low-GC chromosome 2 and 19 that contain duplicated regions that were collapsed or misrepresented in previous assemblies. Finally, bisulfite sequencing and PacBio SMRT sequencing revealed a dual DNA methylation landscape, with CG-context cytosine methylation concentrated in gene bodies and N6-methyladenosine (m6A) enriched at the start codon. The updated O. tauri 2026 assembly provides a complete and curated reference resource for chromosome biology, comparative genomics, epigenomics and RNA biology in a model marine picoeukaryote.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2026

Fast and Accurate Photon-Transport Modeling based on Foundation-Model-Encoded Implicit Neural Surrogate towards Optimized Near-Infrared Brain Stimulation

Clinical treatment planning for near-infrared (NIR) neuromodulation requires patient-specific dosimetry to optimize light fluence (LF) delivery to cortical targets. The gold-standard Monte Carlo photon-transport forward solver is accurate but computationally expensive and non-differentiable for personalized inverse design across subjects. Here, we present PhomiNeuro, a foundation-model-encoded differentiable surrogate for time-resolved LF modeling and pathology-guided inverse design. A pretrained 3D medical imaging foundation model (VISTA3D) was domain-adapted to 285 training head models annotated with optical properties, and then coupled to an implicit neural representation (INR) that predicts LF at arbitrary spatiotemporal coordinates. Regularized by a time-dependent diffusion-equation residual, it demonstrated superior fidelity in 84 held-out participants, and ablations identified VISTA3D-derived anatomical priors as dominant and physics regularization as complementary. PhomiNeuro enables fast and robust queries of LF and its gradients with respect to illumination parameters for targets guided by individual structural magnetic resonance imaging and amyloid positron emission tomography, achieving 466-fold per-iteration speedup and 167-fold end-to-end optimization speedup. Explanatory analyses of LF delivery variability, including sex differences and amyloid status, identified structural variations as the primary drivers. These results position PhomiNeuro as a highly extensible translational framework toward personalized treatment planning and digital twin development in precision neuromodulation.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2026

Buffered sweat microfluidics with AI-enabled translation for clinically actionable blood urea estimation and renal risk stratification

Kidney-function assessment relies on blood urea as a clinically informative metabolic marker; however, its dependence on venipuncture and centralised laboratory testing limits high-frequency monitoring and delays timely clinical intervention. Here, we report an integrated platform combining a wearable buffered microfluidic patch with a physiology-informed, data-driven calibration framework for real-time, non-invasive estimation of blood urea from microlitre-scale sweat volumes (4.79 L). By precisely regulating the release kinetics of internal buffer salts, the device stabilises the local reaction microenvironment, mitigating variability in sweat pH and flow to ensure reproducible measurement. The resulting signals are processed through an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled analysis pipeline that integrates sweat urea with patient-specific physiological information to generate clinically interpretable outputs. In multicentre studies, sweat urea shows a strong association with blood urea across diverse cohorts, but with nonlinear and time-lagged relationships that limit direct use. The AI-enabled calibration model compensates for these effects, enabling high-fidelity estimation of blood urea (r = 0.945 versus gold-standard measurements) at clinically relevant concordance levels. The platform further identifies kidney injury with 89.1% accuracy and stratifies disease severity with 83.2% accuracy. Notably, these results demonstrate that the integration of physicochemical stabilisation and AI-enabled data-driven translation establishes sweat as a clinically actionable surrogate for renal monitoring, supporting population-level estimation and highlighting the potential for personalised longitudinal assessment, and enabling a scalable, non-invasive strategy for high-frequency kidney disease management.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2026

Distinct Neural Systems Supporting Afferent and Efferent Autonomic Activity

Numerous studies have reported brain correlates of autonomic activity. However, ambiguity exists regarding whether those correlates reflect receiving or sending out autonomic signals. Additionally, little is known about how emotion and aging interact with brain-autonomic coordination. Based on time-varying heart rate variability (HRV) and blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) data (N = 104 younger; N = 51 older adults), we found insular and cingulate activity was negatively correlated with HRV during emotion regulation. We further examined the afferent and efferent nature of HRV-BOLD correlations during rest (N = 102 younger; N = 51 older adults). Functionally afferent regions where decreases in HRV were associated with subsequently increased BOLD activity included the posterior insula, postcentral gyrus and frontal pole. Functionally efferent regions where increased activity was associated with subsequently increased HRV included the anterior insula and cingulate. Information appeared to flow in one direction as the afferent regions activity Granger-predicted the efferent regions activity. Together, our findings suggest a feedback loop where decreased HRV increases the afferent regions activity, which activates the efferent regions, leading to increased HRV. Aging seems to affect this system; the efferent and afferent regions scarcely overlapped for younger adults, but did overlap for older adults.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

OGG1-Binding to Oxidized Guanine Base in Viral DNA Overcomes Epstein-Barr Virus Latency

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) establishes lifelong latency in human cells and can periodically reactivate, contributing to several cancers. However, the molecular mechanisms that disrupt EBV latency, particularly those driven by oxidative stress, require further investigation. In this study, we provide evidence that oxidative DNA damage, particularly the formation of 8-oxoguanine and its repair enzyme OGG1, is involved in EBV reactivation. We demonstrated that OGG1 is recruited to EBV regulatory regions under oxidative stress conditions and is associated with the transcriptional activation of immediate-early and early lytic genes. Further experiments showed that pharmacological inhibition of OGG1 DNA binding significantly suppressed EBV lytic gene expression, supporting a functional role for OGG1 in viral reactivation. Mechanistically, our findings suggest that OGG1 may contribute to EBV lytic activation through a noncanonical mechanism independent of its glycosylase activity. These findings provide insight into how EBV may exploit host oxidative DNA damage responses to facilitate latency disruption and suggest that targeting OGG1 may offer a potential strategy to limit EBV reactivation and EBV-associated diseases. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=120 SRC="FIGDIR/small/728896v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (26K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@7866a7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@9b5f35org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@87a87aorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@461005_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG The model illustrates how oxidative DNA damage promotes Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lytic reactivation through host base excision repair machineryReactive oxygen species (ROS) may induce oxidative modification of guanine to 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoGua) in latent EBV genomes, potentially contributing to OGG1 recruitment to viral regulatory regions. OGG1 binding facilitates the transcriptional activation of immediate-early and early lytic genes, likely through transcription factor recruitment, thereby contributing to the transition from latency to lytic replication. Pharmacological inhibition of OGG1-DNA interaction suppresses this process, highlighting OGG1 as a potential therapeutic target. 8-oxoGua, 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine; OGG1, 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase-1. Significance StatementO_LIidentifies a potential mechanism by which ROS-induced oxidative DNA base damage and OGG1 recruitment within the EBV genome may contribute to viral reactivation from latency. C_LIO_LIsuggests that oxidative DNA repair intermediates may serve as regulatory platforms for viral gene expression. C_LIO_LIprovides pharmacological evidence supporting OGG1 as a potential therapeutic target for suppressing EBV reactivation. C_LI

microbiology↗