Transcriptional but not translational regulation of HIV-1 by the tat gene product.
Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1), which causes AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), possesses an essential gene, tat, whose product, acting through the long terminal repeat (LTR) sequences of HIV-1, activates viral genes and replication. The mechanism by which tat trans-activates HIV genes is unclear. Some studies have reported that an increase in messenger RNA accumulation directed by the HIV-1 LTR can explain the action of tat, but others suggest that this increase in mRNA levels can only partially explain trans-activation, and that translational control mechanisms may also be involved. To test those possibilities we have established an efficient adenovirus system for delivering the HIV-1 LTR attached to a reporter gene (chloramphenicol acetyltransferase; CAT) into cells and monitoring its activity. The HIV-1 LTR expressed from this adenovirus responds to trans-activation in a HeLa cell line constitutively expressing the tat protein by increasing the transcription rate of the HIV-1 LTR and the accumulation of mRNA encoding CAT. In this system the translational efficiency of this CAT mRNA in the cell is unaffected by the presence of tat.
Rice
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AP
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York 11724.
Mathews
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MB
D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015696:Gene Products, tat; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006678:HIV / Q000235:genetics*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014779:Virus Replication; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
D015696:Gene Products, tat; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus