Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1992 Jun;66(6):3609–3615. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.6.3609-3615.1992

Structural and functional analysis of the visna virus Rev-response element.

L S Tiley 1, B R Cullen 1
PMCID: PMC241143  PMID: 1316470

Abstract

The distantly related lentiviruses human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and visna virus each encode a posttranscriptional regulatory protein, termed Rev, that is critical for expression of the viral structural proteins. We genetically mapped the cis-acting target sequence for visna virus Rev, the visna virus Rev-response element or RRE-V, to a complex 176-nucleotide RNA stem-loop structure that coincides with sequences encoding the N terminus of the transmembrane component of envelope. The computer-predicted structure of the RRE-V was validated by in vitro analysis of structure-specific RNase cleavage patterns. The visna virus Rev protein was shown to interact specifically with the genetically defined RRE-V in vitro but was unable to bind the HIV-1 RRE. Similarly, HIV-1 Rev was also unable to bind the RRE-V specifically. We therefore conclude that the HIV-1 and visna virus Rev proteins, while functionally analogous, nevertheless display distinct RNA sequence specificities. These findings provide a biochemical explanation for the observation that these two viral regulatory proteins are functional only in the homologous viral system.

Full text

PDF
3609

Images in this article

3610Image
on p.3610
3611Image
on p.3611
3611Image
on p.3611
3611Image
on p.3611
3613Image
on p.3613

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bartel D. P., Zapp M. L., Green M. R., Szostak J. W. HIV-1 Rev regulation involves recognition of non-Watson-Crick base pairs in viral RNA. Cell. 1991 Nov 1;67(3):529–536. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90527-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cullen B. R. Human immunodeficiency virus as a prototypic complex retrovirus. J Virol. 1991 Mar;65(3):1053–1056. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.3.1053-1056.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cullen B. R. The HIV-1 Tat protein: an RNA sequence-specific processivity factor? Cell. 1990 Nov 16;63(4):655–657. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90129-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cullen B. R. Use of eukaryotic expression technology in the functional analysis of cloned genes. Methods Enzymol. 1987;152:684–704. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)52074-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Daly T. J., Cook K. S., Gray G. S., Maione T. E., Rusche J. R. Specific binding of HIV-1 recombinant Rev protein to the Rev-responsive element in vitro. Nature. 1989 Dec 14;342(6251):816–819. doi: 10.1038/342816a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Davis J. L., Molineaux S., Clements J. E. Visna virus exhibits a complex transcriptional pattern: one aspect of gene expression shared with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome retrovirus. J Virol. 1987 May;61(5):1325–1331. doi: 10.1128/jvi.61.5.1325-1331.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fauci A. S. The human immunodeficiency virus: infectivity and mechanisms of pathogenesis. Science. 1988 Feb 5;239(4840):617–622. doi: 10.1126/science.3277274. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Feinberg M. B., Jarrett R. F., Aldovini A., Gallo R. C., Wong-Staal F. HTLV-III expression and production involve complex regulation at the levels of splicing and translation of viral RNA. Cell. 1986 Sep 12;46(6):807–817. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90062-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Felber B. K., Hadzopoulou-Cladaras M., Cladaras C., Copeland T., Pavlakis G. N. rev protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 affects the stability and transport of the viral mRNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Mar;86(5):1495–1499. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.5.1495. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Haase A. T. Pathogenesis of lentivirus infections. Nature. 1986 Jul 10;322(6075):130–136. doi: 10.1038/322130a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Heaphy S., Finch J. T., Gait M. J., Karn J., Singh M. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 regulator of virion expression, rev, forms nucleoprotein filaments after binding to a purine-rich "bubble" located within the rev-responsive region of viral mRNAs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Aug 15;88(16):7366–7370. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.16.7366. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hess J. L., Small J. A., Clements J. E. Sequences in the visna virus long terminal repeat that control transcriptional activity and respond to viral trans-activation: involvement of AP-1 sites in basal activity and trans-activation. J Virol. 1989 Jul;63(7):3001–3015. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.7.3001-3015.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hope T. J., Bond B. L., McDonald D., Klein N. P., Parslow T. G. Effector domains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev and human T-cell leukemia virus type I Rex are functionally interchangeable and share an essential peptide motif. J Virol. 1991 Nov;65(11):6001–6007. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.11.6001-6007.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ivey-Hoyle M., Rosenberg M. Rev-dependent expression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp160 in Drosophila melanogaster cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Dec;10(12):6152–6159. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.12.6152. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kim S. Y., Byrn R., Groopman J., Baltimore D. Temporal aspects of DNA and RNA synthesis during human immunodeficiency virus infection: evidence for differential gene expression. J Virol. 1989 Sep;63(9):3708–3713. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.9.3708-3713.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kiyomasu T., Miyazawa T., Furuya T., Shibata R., Sakai H., Sakuragi J., Fukasawa M., Maki N., Hasegawa A., Mikami T. Identification of feline immunodeficiency virus rev gene activity. J Virol. 1991 Aug;65(8):4539–4542. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.8.4539-4542.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kjems J., Brown M., Chang D. D., Sharp P. A. Structural analysis of the interaction between the human immunodeficiency virus Rev protein and the Rev response element. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Feb 1;88(3):683–687. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.3.683. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kjems J., Frankel A. D., Sharp P. A. Specific regulation of mRNA splicing in vitro by a peptide from HIV-1 Rev. Cell. 1991 Oct 4;67(1):169–178. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90580-r. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Lazinski D., Grzadzielska E., Das A. Sequence-specific recognition of RNA hairpins by bacteriophage antiterminators requires a conserved arginine-rich motif. Cell. 1989 Oct 6;59(1):207–218. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90882-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Malim M. H., Böhnlein S., Hauber J., Cullen B. R. Functional dissection of the HIV-1 Rev trans-activator--derivation of a trans-dominant repressor of Rev function. Cell. 1989 Jul 14;58(1):205–214. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90416-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Malim M. H., Cullen B. R. HIV-1 structural gene expression requires the binding of multiple Rev monomers to the viral RRE: implications for HIV-1 latency. Cell. 1991 Apr 19;65(2):241–248. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90158-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Malim M. H., Hauber J., Le S. Y., Maizel J. V., Cullen B. R. The HIV-1 rev trans-activator acts through a structured target sequence to activate nuclear export of unspliced viral mRNA. Nature. 1989 Mar 16;338(6212):254–257. doi: 10.1038/338254a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Malim M. H., McCarn D. F., Tiley L. S., Cullen B. R. Mutational definition of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev activation domain. J Virol. 1991 Aug;65(8):4248–4254. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.8.4248-4254.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Malim M. H., Tiley L. S., McCarn D. F., Rusche J. R., Hauber J., Cullen B. R. HIV-1 structural gene expression requires binding of the Rev trans-activator to its RNA target sequence. Cell. 1990 Feb 23;60(4):675–683. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90670-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Muesing M. A., Smith D. H., Cabradilla C. D., Benton C. V., Lasky L. A., Capon D. J. Nucleic acid structure and expression of the human AIDS/lymphadenopathy retrovirus. Nature. 1985 Feb 7;313(6002):450–458. doi: 10.1038/313450a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Mullis K. B., Faloona F. A. Specific synthesis of DNA in vitro via a polymerase-catalyzed chain reaction. Methods Enzymol. 1987;155:335–350. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)55023-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Olsen H. S., Cochrane A. W., Dillon P. J., Nalin C. M., Rosen C. A. Interaction of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev protein with a structured region in env mRNA is dependent on multimer formation mediated through a basic stretch of amino acids. Genes Dev. 1990 Aug;4(8):1357–1364. doi: 10.1101/gad.4.8.1357. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Saltarelli M., Querat G., Konings D. A., Vigne R., Clements J. E. Nucleotide sequence and transcriptional analysis of molecular clones of CAEV which generate infectious virus. Virology. 1990 Nov;179(1):347–364. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(90)90303-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Smith D. B., Johnson K. S. Single-step purification of polypeptides expressed in Escherichia coli as fusions with glutathione S-transferase. Gene. 1988 Jul 15;67(1):31–40. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(88)90005-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Sodroski J., Goh W. C., Rosen C., Dayton A., Terwilliger E., Haseltine W. A second post-transcriptional trans-activator gene required for HTLV-III replication. Nature. 1986 May 22;321(6068):412–417. doi: 10.1038/321412a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Sonigo P., Alizon M., Staskus K., Klatzmann D., Cole S., Danos O., Retzel E., Tiollais P., Haase A., Wain-Hobson S. Nucleotide sequence of the visna lentivirus: relationship to the AIDS virus. Cell. 1985 Aug;42(1):369–382. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80132-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Stephens R. M., Derse D., Rice N. R. Cloning and characterization of cDNAs encoding equine infectious anemia virus tat and putative Rev proteins. J Virol. 1990 Aug;64(8):3716–3725. doi: 10.1128/jvi.64.8.3716-3725.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Talbott R. L., Sparger E. E., Lovelace K. M., Fitch W. M., Pedersen N. C., Luciw P. A., Elder J. H. Nucleotide sequence and genomic organization of feline immunodeficiency virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Aug;86(15):5743–5747. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.15.5743. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Tiley L. S., Brown P. H., Le S. Y., Maizel J. V., Clements J. E., Cullen B. R. Visna virus encodes a post-transcriptional regulator of viral structural gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Oct;87(19):7497–7501. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.19.7497. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Tiley L. S., Malim M. H., Cullen B. R. Conserved functional organization of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and visna virus Rev proteins. J Virol. 1991 Jul;65(7):3877–3881. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.7.3877-3881.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Tiley L. S., Malim M. H., Tewary H. K., Stockley P. G., Cullen B. R. Identification of a high-affinity RNA-binding site for the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Jan 15;89(2):758–762. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.2.758. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Venkatesh L. K., Chinnadurai G. Mutants in a conserved region near the carboxy-terminus of HIV-1 Rev identify functionally important residues and exhibit a dominant negative phenotype. Virology. 1990 Sep;178(1):327–330. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(90)90414-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Vigne R., Barban V., Quérat G., Mazarin V., Gourdou I., Sauze N. Transcription of visna virus during its lytic cycle: evidence for a sequential early and late gene expression. Virology. 1987 Nov;161(1):218–227. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(87)90188-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Zapp M. L., Hope T. J., Parslow T. G., Green M. R. Oligomerization and RNA binding domains of the type 1 human immunodeficiency virus Rev protein: a dual function for an arginine-rich binding motif. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Sep 1;88(17):7734–7738. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.17.7734. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES