title: Functional comparison of the Rev trans-activators encoded by different primate immunodeficiency virus species.
abstract: The known primate lentiviruses can be divided into two subgroups consisting of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates and the related HIV type 2 (HIV-2) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) isolates. HIV-1 has been shown to encode a post-transcriptional trans-activator of viral structural gene expression, termed Rev, that is essential for viral replication in culture. Here, we demonstrate that HIV-2 and SIVmac also encode functional Rev proteins. As in the case of HIV-1, these Rev trans-activators are shown to induce the cytoplasmic expression of the unspliced viral transcripts that encode the viral structural proteins. Unexpectedly, the Rev proteins of HIV-2 and SIVmac proved incapable of activating the cytoplasmic expression of unspliced HIV-1 transcripts, whereas HIV-1 Rev was fully functional in the HIV-2/SIV system. This nonreciprocal complementation may imply a direct role for Rev in mediating the recognition of its viral RNA target sequence.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Malim
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Böhnlein
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fenrick
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Maizel
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Cullen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015694:Gene Products, rev / Q000235:genetics*; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics*; D014162:Transfection; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D054321:rev Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D015694:Gene Products, rev; D012367:RNA, Viral; D015534:Trans-Activators; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins; D054321:rev Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus