title: Expression of the HTLV-I tax transactivator in yeast: correlation between phenotypic alterations and tax function in higher eukaryotes.
abstract: The transcriptional activator protein (Tax) from human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 was expressed in yeast using several different promoters in several strains: In all instances, expression of Tax resulted in very strong aggregation of the yeast cells. This phenotype appears to be identical by all criteria tested to the flocculation phenotype of the dominant mutation flo 1. Of most significance, mutations in Tax that affect transactivation of the IL-2R alpha regulatory sequences, but retain their ability to activate the viral long terminal repeat also fail to yield the aggregation phenotype. Based on these findings, expression of Tax in yeast may prove to be a simple primordial system for examining the regulatory mechanisms and cellular functions involved in regulation of gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., Nutley, NJ 07110.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tomchak
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ruben
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rosen
mesh_terms: D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015151:Immunoblotting; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D016356:Gene Products, tax