title: Regulation of gene expression directed by the long terminal repeats of feline leukemia viruses.
abstract: Repetitive structure of enhancer elements in the long terminal repeat (LTR) has been identified in feline leukemia viruses (FeLVs) integrated in lymphoid tumor cells in cats. In this study, promoter activities of the FeLV LTRs were measured in lymphoid and non-lymphoid cell lines in transient expression assays using plasmids containing the viral LTRs linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene. Promoter activity of the LTR with 3 enhancer repeats (pFTLTR) was significantly higher than that of the LTR with 1 enhancer (Glasgow-1 LTR) in feline (FT-1) and human (Jurkat) T-lymphoblastoid cell lines. Promoter activity of the pFTLTR was also significantly higher than that of its mutant (pFTLTR1E) in which 2 of the 3 enhancers were deleted in FT-1 and Jurkat cells. Both of these differences were not observed in a feline fibroblastic cell line (CrFK). Moreover, mutations affecting the consensus motifs for LVb, SV40, NF-1, GRE and FLV-1 resulted in decreased basal activity of the FeLV LTR (pFTLTR1E) in FT-1, Jurkat and CRFK cells. The decrease of the promoter activity was especially remarkable in FT-1 cells. The present study revealed the strong promoter activity of the FeLV LTR with 3 enhancer repeats and its modular enhancer elements positively regulating the transcription in a relatively tissue-specific manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishigaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watari
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goitsuka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsujimoto
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hasegata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002415:Cats; D002460:Cell Line; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D005256:Leukemia Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase