title: Expression of the human foamy virus bel-1 transactivator in insect cells.
abstract: The human foamy virus (HFV) bel-1 transactivator protein was expressed in insect cells by a recombinant baculovirus. For the generation of the recombinant baculovirus, Acbel-1, the bel-1 gene of an HFV mutant was used, that bears truncations in the bel-1 overlapping bel-2 open reading frame. Acbel-1 infected Sf9 cells produced high amounts of recombinant protein of the same electrophoretic mobility (36 kD) as bel-1 expressed in mammalian cells. The baculovirus expressed bel-1 protein was readily identified by a polyclonal rabbit serum directed against bel-1 in immunoblot assay. As in mammalian cells, bel-1 was predominantly localized to the nucleus of Acbel-1 infected insect cells. The baculovirus expressed bel-1 protein will be of use to determine the action of this novel viral transactivator more precisely.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology and Immunobiology, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bräutigam
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rethwilm
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D007313:Insecta / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D016092:Spumavirus / Q000235:genetics*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; C074061:bel1 protein, Human foamy virus