Conserved functional organization of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and visna virus Rev proteins.
Visna virus encodes a posttranscriptional regulatory protein that is functionally analogous to the Rev trans activator of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Here, we demonstrate that the known functional organization of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev trans activator is shared by the distantly related visna virus Rev protein. In particular, both Rev proteins contain an N-terminal domain marked by a highly basic core motif that determines RNA sequence specificity, as well as a second C-terminal domain containing an essential leucine-rich motif that functions as an activation domain. Chimeric proteins consisting of the binding domain of one Rev protein fused to the activation domain of the other were fully functional in the viral sequence context cognate for the binding domain. We also describe derivatives of visna virus Rev bearing a defective activation domain that displayed a trans-dominant negative phenotype in transfected cells. These visna virus Rev mutants may prove useful in the derivation of transgenic animals resistant to this agriculturally important retroviral pathogen.
Tiley
L S
LS
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710.
Malim
M H
MH
Cullen
B R
BR
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D015694:Gene Products, rev / Q000502:physiology*; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D016350:Leucine Zippers; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D013045:Species Specificity; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000502:physiology*; D014790:Visna-maedi virus / Q000502:physiology*; D054321:rev Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
D015694:Gene Products, rev; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D054321:rev Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus