Upregulation of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Antisense Transcription by the Viral Tax Protein

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Benoit Barbeau (Creator)

Marilene Halin (Creator)

Sebastien Landry (Creator)

Isabelle Lemasson (Creator)

Jean-Michel Mesnard (Creator)

Amandine Vargas (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Several studies have recently demonstrated the existence of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) antisense transcripts which allow the synthesis of the newly described HBZ protein. Although previous reports have been aimed at understanding the potential role of the HBZ protein in HTLV-1 pathogenesis little is known as to how this viral gene is regulated. Here using our K30-3 asLuc reporter construct we show that the viral Tax protein upregulates antisense transcription through its action on the TRE sequences located in the 3 long terminal repeat. Generation of stable clones in 293T cells demonstrated that Tax-induced HBZ expression is importantly influenced by the integration site in the host genome. The cellular DNA context could thus affect the level of HBZ mRNA expression in infected cells. Originally published Journal of Virology Vol. 83 No. 4 Feb 2009

Additional Information

Publication

Other

Journal of Virology. 83:4(February 2009) p. 2048-2054.

Language: English

Date: 2011

Keywords

HTLV-1, HBZ protein, antisense transcripts

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