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. 1992 Jul;66(7):4540–4545. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.7.4540-4545.1992

Dominant-negative mutants are clustered in a domain of the human T-cell leukemia virus type I Rex protein: implications for trans dominance.

I Weichselbraun 1, J Berger 1, M Dobrovnik 1, H Bogerd 1, R Grassmann 1, W C Greene 1, J Hauber 1, E Böhnlein 1
PMCID: PMC241265  PMID: 1602559

Abstract

The 27-kDa Rex trans-acting protein appears to be essential for replication of human T-cell leukemia virus type I. Mutations introduced outside of the Rex RNA-binding domain-nucleolar localization signal display either wild-type activity or, conversely, yield dominant-negative proteins. We generated missense mutations in a particular domain of the Rex protein (amino acid residues 54 to 69) which is characterized by a cluster of dominant-negative mutants. Our results indicate that amino acids 57 to 67 are critically important for Rex function mediated through the RxRE cis-acting RNA sequence. Within this domain, only amino acids 61 to 63 could be mutated without loss of function. All other missense and deletion mutants yielded dominant-negative proteins. In vitro RNA-binding studies performed with glutathione S-transferase-Rex fusion proteins demonstrated that all of the mutant Rex proteins interacted specifically with RxRE RNA. Analysis of chimeric Rex-Rev proteins suggests that this Rex domain is important for oligomerization.

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Selected References

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