Mergia A, Pratt-Lowe E, Shaw KE, Luciw PA; Symposium on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS.
J Med Primatol. 1992 Feb-May; 21: 94 (abstract no. 73).
Department of Medical Pathology, Davis, University of California 95616.
The three subfamilies of retroviruses are oncoviruses, lentiviruses and spumaviruses. The latter, also designated foamy or syncytium-forming viruses, are found in a variety of species, including humans, and are highly cytopathic in tissue culture systems. In the host, spumaviruses appear to establish latency; a clear connection with disease has not yet been established. Recently, the simian foamy virus type-1 (SFV-1), an isolate obtained from rhesus monkey, has been molecularly cloned and the genome completely sequenced (Mergia and Luciw, Virology 1991, in press). In addition to gag, pol and env, the genome of SFV-1 contains two open reading frames (ORFs) at the 3'end of env extending into the leftward long terminal repeat (LTR). The first ORF encodes the transcriptional transactivator (taf) of SFV-1 that functions to strongly augment gene expression directed by the viral LTR (Mergia et al. J. Virol. 65:2903-2909, 1991). To understand the mechanism of transactivation, several deletion mutants of the LTR were constructed to precisely define the target for Taf. Using trasient expression assays, regions between the -1196 to -880 and -403 to -125 (+1 represents the transcription initiation site) were shown to be required for transactivation. Further deletion mutant analysis revealed that the R-U5 region of the LTR reduces transactivation by several fold, indicating that the R-U5 region down regulates gene expression directed by SFV-1 LTR. Current efforts are directed at elucidating the mechanism of transactivation and inhibitory effect of the R-U5 region. These investigations provide a basis for comparing pathogenic and non-pathogenic primate retroviruses and for determining the molecular mechanisms that may account for retroviral latency.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Base Sequence
- Genes, env
- Genes, gag
- Genes, pol
- Humans
- Open Reading Frames
- Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid
- Retroviridae
- Retroviridae Proteins
- Spumavirus
- Terminal Repeat Sequences
- Trans-Activation (Genetics)
- Trans-Activators
- genetics
Other ID:
UI: 102183859
From Meeting Abstracts