Skip to main content

Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1989 Dec;86(23):9544–9548. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.23.9544

Lack of a negative influence on viral growth by the nef gene of human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

S Kim 1, K Ikeuchi 1, R Byrn 1, J Groopman 1, D Baltimore 1
PMCID: PMC298533  PMID: 2687883

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) contains an open reading frame called nef at the 3' end of its genome. The nef gene product has been reported to down-regulate viral growth by suppressing viral transcription through interaction with the long terminal repeat region. We have compared two isogenic HIV-1 (HIV-1-WI3) strains, one of which lacks nef expression, and found little difference between them in in vitro growth. We tested effects on viral entry, DNA synthesis, and RNA expression by measuring HIV-specific low molecular weight DNA and RNA after infection. The qualitative and quantitative aspects of DNA and RNA synthesis were comparable between the nef+ and nef- strains. The effects on viral growth were also examined by following changes in reverse transcriptase activity during the course of infection. The presence of the nef gene product failed to slow viral growth in several different cell types tested, including the human T-lymphocyte cell lines H9 and CEM-SS, human primary T cells enriched for CD4+ cells, and human monocytic cell lines U-937 and THP-1. On the contrary, the nef+ strain grew more efficiently in some cell types than the nef- strain. The same results were obtained with nef+ and nef- strains of a different virus, HIV-1-432, whose Nef had been reported to have a negative effect on viral growth. Our data suggest that the Nef protein does not act as a negative factor, at least in the experimental systems employed in our studies.

Full text

PDF
9544

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Ahmad N., Venkatesan S. Nef protein of HIV-1 is a transcriptional repressor of HIV-1 LTR. Science. 1988 Sep 16;241(4872):1481–1485. doi: 10.1126/science.3262235. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Fisher A. G., Ratner L., Mitsuya H., Marselle L. M., Harper M. E., Broder S., Gallo R. C., Wong-Staal F. Infectious mutants of HTLV-III with changes in the 3' region and markedly reduced cytopathic effects. Science. 1986 Aug 8;233(4764):655–659. doi: 10.1126/science.3014663. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gallo R., Wong-Staal F., Montagnier L., Haseltine W. A., Yoshida M. HIV/HTLV gene nomenclature. Nature. 1988 Jun 9;333(6173):504–504. doi: 10.1038/333504a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gurley R. J., Ikeuchi K., Byrn R. A., Anderson K., Groopman J. E. CD4+ lymphocyte function with early human immunodeficiency virus infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Mar;86(6):1993–1997. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.6.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Guy B., Kieny M. P., Riviere Y., Le Peuch C., Dott K., Girard M., Montagnier L., Lecocq J. P. HIV F/3' orf encodes a phosphorylated GTP-binding protein resembling an oncogene product. Nature. 1987 Nov 19;330(6145):266–269. doi: 10.1038/330266a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hammes S. R., Dixon E. P., Malim M. H., Cullen B. R., Greene W. C. Nef protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1: evidence against its role as a transcriptional inhibitor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Dec;86(23):9549–9553. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.23.9549. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Haseltine W. A. Replication and pathogenesis of the AIDS virus. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 1988;1(3):217–240. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ho D. D., Schooley R. T., Rota T. R., Kaplan J. C., Flynn T., Salahuddin S. Z., Gonda M. A., Hirsch M. S. HTLV-III in the semen and blood of a healthy homosexual man. Science. 1984 Oct 26;226(4673):451–453. doi: 10.1126/science.6208608. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. 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]
  10. Lemischka I. R., Farmer S., Racaniello V. R., Sharp P. A. Nucleotide sequence and evolution of a mammalian alpha-tubulin messenger RNA. J Mol Biol. 1981 Sep 5;151(1):101–120. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90223-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Luciw P. A., Cheng-Mayer C., Levy J. A. Mutational analysis of the human immunodeficiency virus: the orf-B region down-regulates virus replication. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Mar;84(5):1434–1438. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.5.1434. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. 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]
  13. Nara P. L., Hatch W. C., Dunlop N. M., Robey W. G., Arthur L. O., Gonda M. A., Fischinger P. J. Simple, rapid, quantitative, syncytium-forming microassay for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus neutralizing antibody. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1987 Fall;3(3):283–302. doi: 10.1089/aid.1987.3.283. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Niederman T. M., Thielan B. J., Ratner L. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 negative factor is a transcriptional silencer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Feb;86(4):1128–1132. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.4.1128. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Poiesz B. J., Ruscetti F. W., Gazdar A. F., Bunn P. A., Minna J. D., Gallo R. C. Detection and isolation of type C retrovirus particles from fresh and cultured lymphocytes of a patient with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Dec;77(12):7415–7419. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.12.7415. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Popovic M., Sarngadharan M. G., Read E., Gallo R. C. Detection, isolation, and continuous production of cytopathic retroviruses (HTLV-III) from patients with AIDS and pre-AIDS. Science. 1984 May 4;224(4648):497–500. doi: 10.1126/science.6200935. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ratner L., Haseltine W., Patarca R., Livak K. J., Starcich B., Josephs S. F., Doran E. R., Rafalski J. A., Whitehorn E. A., Baumeister K. Complete nucleotide sequence of the AIDS virus, HTLV-III. Nature. 1985 Jan 24;313(6000):277–284. doi: 10.1038/313277a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sundström C., Nilsson K. Establishment and characterization of a human histiocytic lymphoma cell line (U-937). Int J Cancer. 1976 May 15;17(5):565–577. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910170504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Terwilliger E., Sodroski J. G., Rosen C. A., Haseltine W. A. Effects of mutations within the 3' orf open reading frame region of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III/LAV) on replication and cytopathogenicity. J Virol. 1986 Nov;60(2):754–760. doi: 10.1128/jvi.60.2.754-760.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Tsuchiya S., Yamabe M., Yamaguchi Y., Kobayashi Y., Konno T., Tada K. Establishment and characterization of a human acute monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1). Int J Cancer. 1980 Aug;26(2):171–176. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910260208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Vujcic L. K., Shepp D. H., Klutch M., Wells M. A., Hendry R. M., Wittek A. E., Krilov L., Quinnan G. V., Jr Use of a sensitive neutralization assay to measure the prevalence of antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus. J Infect Dis. 1988 May;157(5):1047–1050. doi: 10.1093/infdis/157.5.1047. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wain-Hobson S., Sonigo P., Danos O., Cole S., Alizon M. Nucleotide sequence of the AIDS virus, LAV. Cell. 1985 Jan;40(1):9–17. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90303-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES