Figure 5.

Activity measurements of heterologous viral and cellular RNA export elements in the HIV-derived reporter construct. The eGFP-mCherry HIV-derived construct was modified to carry a variety of RNA transporting elements (or no element) instead of the RRE seen in Fig. 1. The modified vectors were then transfected into 293T cells and eGFP and mCherry fluorescence was measured. (a) An HIV-derived construct containing an MPMV CTE was tested along with a construct containing no element. The activity of the MPMV CTE construct was set as 100 and the other values were normalized accordingly. *Represents P < 0.05, N = 3, bars represent SEM. (b) HIV-derived constructs containing either one or two copies of the CTE from NXF1 intron 10 were tested along with a construct containing no element. Activity of the dual NXF1 CTE construct was set as 100 and the other values were normalized accordingly. In both (a,b), Nxf1 and Nxt1 were co-expressed plasmids under the control of the CMV-IE promoter. *Represents P < 0.05, N = 2, bars represent SEM. (c) HIV-derived constructs containing single or dual HERV-K RcRE elements or an NL4-3 RRE were co-transfected together with either 0, 50, 100, 200, or 400 ng CMV-Rec plasmid. The activity of the dual RcRE construct in the 400 ng CMV-Rec condition was set as 100 and the other values were normalized accordingly. (d) In a separate experiment, HIV-derived constructs containing single or dual HERV-K RcRE elements were transfected along with 200 ng CMV-Rec plasmid. The activity of the dual RcRE construct was set as 100 and the other values normalized accordingly. *Represents P < 0.05, N = 2, bars represent SEM. GFP = green fluorescent protein, MPMV = Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, CTE = constitutive transport element, RcRE = Rec Response Element from HERV-K.