Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The EMBO Journal logoLink to The EMBO Journal
. 1988 Oct;7(10):3143–3147. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03181.x

Functional domains required for tat-induced transcriptional activation of the HIV-1 long terminal repeat.

J A Garcia 1, D Harrich 1, L Pearson 1, R Mitsuyasu 1, R B Gaynor 1
PMCID: PMC454704  PMID: 3181132

Abstract

The transcriptional regulation of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type I involves the interaction of both viral and cellular proteins. The viral protein tat is important in increasing the amount of viral steady-state mRNA and may also play a role in regulating the translational efficiency of viral mRNA. To identify distinct functional domains of tat, oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of the tat gene was performed. Point mutations of cysteine residues in three of the four Cys-X-X-Cys sequences in the tat protein resulted in a marked decrease in transcriptional activation of the HIV long terminal repeat. Point mutations which altered the basic C-domain of the protein also resulted in decreases in transcriptional activity, as did a series of mutations that repositioned either the N or C termini of the protein. Conservative mutations of other amino acids in the cysteine-rich or basic regions and in a series of proline residues in the N terminus of the molecule resulted in minimal changes in tat activation. These results suggest that several domains of tat protein are involved in transcriptional activation with the cysteine-rich domain being required for complete activity of the tat protein.

Full text

PDF
3143

Images in this article

3144Image
on p.3144
3145Image
on p.3145

Selected References

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

  1. Arya S. K., Guo C., Josephs S. F., Wong-Staal F. Trans-activator gene of human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III). Science. 1985 Jul 5;229(4708):69–73. doi: 10.1126/science.2990040. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barré-Sinoussi F., Chermann J. C., Rey F., Nugeyre M. T., Chamaret S., Gruest J., Dauguet C., Axler-Blin C., Vézinet-Brun F., Rouzioux C. Isolation of a T-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Science. 1983 May 20;220(4599):868–871. doi: 10.1126/science.6189183. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Berg J. M. Potential metal-binding domains in nucleic acid binding proteins. Science. 1986 Apr 25;232(4749):485–487. doi: 10.1126/science.2421409. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bürglin T. R., De Robertis E. M. The nuclear migration signal of Xenopus laevis nucleoplasmin. EMBO J. 1987 Sep;6(9):2617–2625. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02552.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cullen B. R. Trans-activation of human immunodeficiency virus occurs via a bimodal mechanism. Cell. 1986 Sep 26;46(7):973–982. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90696-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dayton A. I., Sodroski J. G., Rosen C. A., Goh W. C., Haseltine W. A. The trans-activator gene of the human T cell lymphotropic virus type III is required for replication. Cell. 1986 Mar 28;44(6):941–947. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90017-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dinter H., Chiu R., Imagawa M., Karin M., Jones K. A. In vitro activation of the HIV-1 enhancer in extracts from cells treated with a phorbol ester tumor promoter. EMBO J. 1987 Dec 20;6(13):4067–4071. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02752.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Evans R. M., Hollenberg S. M. Zinc fingers: gilt by association. Cell. 1988 Jan 15;52(1):1–3. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90522-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. 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]
  10. Ferguson B., Krippl B., Andrisani O., Jones N., Westphal H., Rosenberg M. E1A 13S and 12S mRNA products made in Escherichia coli both function as nucleus-localized transcription activators but do not directly bind DNA. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Oct;5(10):2653–2661. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.10.2653. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Fisher A. G., Feinberg M. B., Josephs S. F., Harper M. E., Marselle L. M., Reyes G., Gonda M. A., Aldovini A., Debouk C., Gallo R. C. The trans-activator gene of HTLV-III is essential for virus replication. 1986 Mar 27-Apr 2Nature. 320(6060):367–371. doi: 10.1038/320367a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Gallo R. C., Salahuddin S. Z., Popovic M., Shearer G. M., Kaplan M., Haynes B. F., Palker T. J., Redfield R., Oleske J., Safai B. Frequent detection and isolation of cytopathic retroviruses (HTLV-III) from patients with AIDS and at risk for AIDS. Science. 1984 May 4;224(4648):500–503. doi: 10.1126/science.6200936. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Garcia J. A., Wu F. K., Mitsuyasu R., Gaynor R. B. Interactions of cellular proteins involved in the transcriptional regulation of the human immunodeficiency virus. EMBO J. 1987 Dec 1;6(12):3761–3770. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02711.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Gorman C. M., Moffat L. F., Howard B. H. Recombinant genomes which express chloramphenicol acetyltransferase in mammalian cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1982 Sep;2(9):1044–1051. doi: 10.1128/mcb.2.9.1044. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Green M., Loewenstein P. M., Pusztai R., Symington J. S. An adenovirus E1A protein domain activates transcription in vivo and in vitro in the absence of protein synthesis. Cell. 1988 Jun 17;53(6):921–926. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(88)90429-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Green S., Walter P., Kumar V., Krust A., Bornert J. M., Argos P., Chambon P. Human oestrogen receptor cDNA: sequence, expression and homology to v-erb-A. Nature. 1986 Mar 13;320(6058):134–139. doi: 10.1038/320134a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Hauber J., Cullen B. R. Mutational analysis of the trans-activation-responsive region of the human immunodeficiency virus type I long terminal repeat. J Virol. 1988 Mar;62(3):673–679. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.3.673-679.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Hauber J., Perkins A., Heimer E. P., Cullen B. R. Trans-activation of human immunodeficiency virus gene expression is mediated by nuclear events. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Sep;84(18):6364–6368. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.18.6364. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Hochschild A., Irwin N., Ptashne M. Repressor structure and the mechanism of positive control. Cell. 1983 Feb;32(2):319–325. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90451-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Hollenberg S. M., Weinberger C., Ong E. S., Cerelli G., Oro A., Lebo R., Thompson E. B., Rosenfeld M. G., Evans R. M. Primary structure and expression of a functional human glucocorticoid receptor cDNA. Nature. 1985 Dec 19;318(6047):635–641. doi: 10.1038/318635a0. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Hope I. A., Struhl K. Functional dissection of a eukaryotic transcriptional activator protein, GCN4 of yeast. Cell. 1986 Sep 12;46(6):885–894. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90070-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Johnston M., Dover J. Mutations that inactivate a yeast transcriptional regulatory protein cluster in an evolutionarily conserved DNA binding domain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Apr;84(8):2401–2405. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.8.2401. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Johnston M. Genetic evidence that zinc is an essential co-factor in the DNA binding domain of GAL4 protein. Nature. 1987 Jul 23;328(6128):353–355. doi: 10.1038/328353a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Kadonaga J. T., Carner K. R., Masiarz F. R., Tjian R. Isolation of cDNA encoding transcription factor Sp1 and functional analysis of the DNA binding domain. Cell. 1987 Dec 24;51(6):1079–1090. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90594-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Kalderon D., Roberts B. L., Richardson W. D., Smith A. E. A short amino acid sequence able to specify nuclear location. Cell. 1984 Dec;39(3 Pt 2):499–509. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90457-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Kao S. Y., Calman A. F., Luciw P. A., Peterlin B. M. Anti-termination of transcription within the long terminal repeat of HIV-1 by tat gene product. Nature. 1987 Dec 3;330(6147):489–493. doi: 10.1038/330489a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Kaufman J. D., Valandra G., Roderiquez G., Bushar G., Giri C., Norcross M. A. Phorbol ester enhances human immunodeficiency virus-promoted gene expression and acts on a repeated 10-base-pair functional enhancer element. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Oct;7(10):3759–3766. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.10.3759. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Kleinschmidt J. A., Dingwall C., Maier G., Franke W. W. Molecular characterization of a karyophilic, histone-binding protein: cDNA cloning, amino acid sequence and expression of nuclear protein N1/N2 of Xenopus laevis. EMBO J. 1986 Dec 20;5(13):3547–3552. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04681.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Levy J. A., Hoffman A. D., Kramer S. M., Landis J. A., Shimabukuro J. M., Oshiro L. S. Isolation of lymphocytopathic retroviruses from San Francisco patients with AIDS. Science. 1984 Aug 24;225(4664):840–842. doi: 10.1126/science.6206563. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Ma J., Ptashne M. A new class of yeast transcriptional activators. Cell. 1987 Oct 9;51(1):113–119. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90015-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Ma J., Ptashne M. Deletion analysis of GAL4 defines two transcriptional activating segments. Cell. 1987 Mar 13;48(5):847–853. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90081-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Miller J., McLachlan A. D., Klug A. Repetitive zinc-binding domains in the protein transcription factor IIIA from Xenopus oocytes. EMBO J. 1985 Jun;4(6):1609–1614. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03825.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Montell C., Courtois G., Eng C., Berk A. Complete transformation by adenovirus 2 requires both E1A proteins. Cell. 1984 Apr;36(4):951–961. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90045-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Muesing M. A., Smith D. H., Capon D. J. Regulation of mRNA accumulation by a human immunodeficiency virus trans-activator protein. Cell. 1987 Feb 27;48(4):691–701. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90247-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Nabel G., Baltimore D. An inducible transcription factor activates expression of human immunodeficiency virus in T cells. Nature. 1987 Apr 16;326(6114):711–713. doi: 10.1038/326711a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Norman C. New Spy Satellites Urged for Verification: The Senate Intelligence Committee says the INF Treaty can be adequately verified but new systems are required to ensure compliance with a START treaty. Science. 1988 Apr 1;240(4848):20–21. doi: 10.1126/science.240.4848.20. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Peterlin B. M., Luciw P. A., Barr P. J., Walker M. D. Elevated levels of mRNA can account for the trans-activation of human immunodeficiency virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Dec;83(24):9734–9738. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.24.9734. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Richardson W. D., Roberts B. L., Smith A. E. Nuclear location signals in polyoma virus large-T. Cell. 1986 Jan 17;44(1):77–85. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90486-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Rosen C. A., Sodroski J. G., Goh W. C., Dayton A. I., Lippke J., Haseltine W. A. Post-transcriptional regulation accounts for the trans-activation of the human T-lymphotropic virus type III. Nature. 1986 Feb 13;319(6054):555–559. doi: 10.1038/319555a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Rosen C. A., Sodroski J. G., Haseltine W. A. The location of cis-acting regulatory sequences in the human T cell lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III/LAV) long terminal repeat. Cell. 1985 Jul;41(3):813–823. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80062-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Sarngadharan M. G., Popovic M., Bruch L., Schüpbach J., Gallo R. C. Antibodies reactive with human T-lymphotropic retroviruses (HTLV-III) in the serum of patients with AIDS. Science. 1984 May 4;224(4648):506–508. doi: 10.1126/science.6324345. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Seigel L. J., Ratner L., Josephs S. F., Derse D., Feinberg M. B., Reyes G. R., O'Brien S. J., Wong-Staal F. Transactivation induced by human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV III) maps to a viral sequence encoding 58 amino acids and lacks tissue specificity. Virology. 1986 Jan 15;148(1):226–231. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(86)90419-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Siekevitz M., Josephs S. F., Dukovich M., Peffer N., Wong-Staal F., Greene W. C. Activation of the HIV-1 LTR by T cell mitogens and the trans-activator protein of HTLV-I. Science. 1987 Dec 11;238(4833):1575–1578. doi: 10.1126/science.2825351. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. 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]
  45. Sodroski J., Patarca R., Rosen C., Wong-Staal F., Haseltine W. Location of the trans-activating region on the genome of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III. Science. 1985 Jul 5;229(4708):74–77. doi: 10.1126/science.2990041. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Sodroski J., Rosen C., Wong-Staal F., Salahuddin S. Z., Popovic M., Arya S., Gallo R. C., Haseltine W. A. Trans-acting transcriptional regulation of human T-cell leukemia virus type III long terminal repeat. Science. 1985 Jan 11;227(4683):171–173. doi: 10.1126/science.2981427. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Tong-Starksen S. E., Luciw P. A., Peterlin B. M. Human immunodeficiency virus long terminal repeat responds to T-cell activation signals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Oct;84(19):6845–6849. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.19.6845. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Vincent A., Colot H. V., Rosbash M. Sequence and structure of the serendipity locus of Drosophila melanogaster. A densely transcribed region including a blastoderm-specific gene. J Mol Biol. 1985 Nov 5;186(1):149–166. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90265-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Vogt P. K., Bos T. J., Doolittle R. F. Homology between the DNA-binding domain of the GCN4 regulatory protein of yeast and the carboxyl-terminal region of a protein coded for by the oncogene jun. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 May;84(10):3316–3319. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.10.3316. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Wright C. M., Felber B. K., Paskalis H., Pavlakis G. N. Expression and characterization of the trans-activator of HTLV-III/LAV virus. Science. 1986 Nov 21;234(4779):988–992. doi: 10.1126/science.3490693. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Wu F. K., Garcia J. A., Harrich D., Gaynor R. B. Purification of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 enhancer and TAR binding proteins EBP-1 and UBP-1. EMBO J. 1988 Jul;7(7):2117–2130. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03051.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Wu F., Garcia J., Mitsuyasu R., Gaynor R. Alterations in binding characteristics of the human immunodeficiency virus enhancer factor. J Virol. 1988 Jan;62(1):218–225. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.1.218-225.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  53. Wychowski C., Benichou D., Girard M. A domain of SV40 capsid polypeptide VP1 that specifies migration into the cell nucleus. EMBO J. 1986 Oct;5(10):2569–2576. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04536.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The EMBO Journal are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

RESOURCES