title: Analysis of bovine foamy virus btas mRNA transcripts during persistent infection.
abstract: Foamy virus (FV) is an unconventional retrovirus that possesses a complex genome and a special mechanism for gene expression regulation. The genome encodes transcriptional protein Tas which is found to regulate both the internal promoter (IP) and the long terminal repeat promoter (LTR). However, the detailed mechanism of Tas-mediated gene expression remains unknown. In this study, we provided the first evidence for the temporal production and utilization of four different bovine foamy virus (BFV) btas mRNAs during persistent infection. These four forms of btas mRNA transcripts initiated either at BFV LTR or IP and spliced or unspliced have a differential ability to activate BFV promoters. Furthermore, by developing an MS2 translational operator/coat protein combined system to track mRNA exportation from the nucleus and distribution throughout the cytoplasm, we observed that the IP spliced transcript could be exported into the cytoplasm more efficiently than unspliced transcripts. These findings provide evidence for the hypothesis that the functional interplay of both promoters contributes to the temporal pattern of BFV transcription and suggest that a post-transcriptional regulation exist in BFV replication.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology (Ministry of Education) and Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics (Tianjin), College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qimin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yunqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiao
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D017398:Alternative Splicing; D002460:Cell Line; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D006801:Humans; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D016092:Spumavirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins