title: Transactivation induced by human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV III) maps to a viral sequence encoding 58 amino acids and lacks tissue specificity.
abstract: The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) retrovirus, HTLV-III/LAV, encodes a transacting factor which directly or indirectly stimulates the expression of genes linked to its LTR. To further dissect this phenomenon, we have cotransfected a biologically active molecular clone of HTLV-III and a recombinant plasmid containing an indicator gene, the bacterial gene for chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), under the control of the HTLV-III LTR. Amplified CAT activity was detected in both lymphoid cells and fibroblasts from a number of species in the presence of the proviral DNA. Deletion experiments confirm the previous assignment of the gene required for transactivation to a region immediately 5' to the envelope gene, and further narrow down the critical functional domain to a coding sequence of 58 codons.
mesh_terms: D000123:Acetyltransferases / Q000096:biosynthesis; D001483:Base Sequence; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase; D017977:Deltaretrovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005814:Genes, Viral; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000123:Acetyltransferases; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase