title: Functional relation between HTLV-II x and adenovirus E1A proteins in transcriptional activation.
abstract: The mechanism of cellular transformation by the human T-cell leukemia viruses (HTLV) is thought to involve a novel gene known as the x gene. This gene is essential for HTLV replication and acts by enhancing transcription from the HTLV long terminal repeat. The HTLV x gene product may also cause aberrant transcription of normal cellular genes, resulting in transformation of the infected cells. Although there is no evidence as yet for such a mechanism, it was shown that the HTLV-II x gene product can activate transcription from adenovirus E1A-dependent early promoters and therefore has the potential to activate cellular genes. It was also shown that the adenovirus and herpes pseudorabies immediate early proteins activate expression from the HTLV-I and HTLV-II long terminal repeats, though at lower levels than with the x gene product. These findings indicate possible common mechanisms of action for transcription-regulatory genes of distinct viruses.
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D017977:Deltaretrovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D004720:Endonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D006367:HeLa Cells; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human; D006801:Humans; D009876:Operon; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015719:Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects*; D014162:Transfection; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D004720:Endonucleases; D015719:Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases