Publication Date:
1987-02-20
Description:
Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) types I and II are unusual among replication-competent retroviruses in that they contain a fourth gene (chi) necessary for replication. The chi gene product, p chi, transcriptionally transactivates the viral long repeat (LTR), and is thus a positive regulator. To investigate p chi transactivation, sequences from the U3 regions of the LTRs of HTLV-I and -II were inserted into the Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV) LTR by recombinant DNA techniques. Transient expression assays of the chimeric LTRs indicated that the HTLV sequences conferred to the M-MuLV LTR responsiveness to HTLV p chi protein. M-MuLV enhancers were not required for function of the chimeric LTRs. Infectious recombinant M-MuLVs containing chimeric LTRs were also generated. These viruses showed higher infectivity when assayed in mouse cells expressing HTLV-II p chi protein compared to normal mouse cells. Thus the HTLV sequences were able to confer p chi responsiveness to infectious M-MuLV. The generation of a virus dependent on a transactivating protein for its replication has implications for the evolution of the human T-cell leukemia viruses.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kitado, H -- Chen, I S -- Shah, N P -- Cann, A J -- Shimotohno, K -- Fan, H -- CA32454/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA32455/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA38597/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1987 Feb 20;235(4791):901-4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3027896" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
DNA, Viral/*genetics
;
Deltaretrovirus/*genetics
;
Enhancer Elements, Genetic
;
Gene Expression Regulation
;
Moloney murine leukemia virus/*genetics
;
Promoter Regions, Genetic
;
Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
;
Retroviridae Proteins/*genetics
;
Trans-Activators
;
Transcription Factors/*genetics
;
Transcription, Genetic
;
*Virus Replication
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
