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Characterization of the internal promoter of human T‐cell leukemia virus type I
Author(s) -
Ariumi Yasuo,
Shimotohno Kunitada,
Noda Makoto,
Hatanaka Masakazu
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)00051-9
Subject(s) - provirus , long terminal repeat , promoter , gene , biology , start codon , microbiology and biotechnology , dna , regulatory sequence , genetics , regulation of gene expression , gene expression , messenger rna , genome
The HTLV‐I provirus contains two different promoters: the classical retroviral promoter in the 5′ long terminal repeat (LTR) and our previously identified second promoter in the pol gene just upstream of the ATG codon of the tax gene. Here, we demonstrated that the internal promoter expresses the gene for Tax but not Rex. As the deletion of upstream of the transcriptional initiation site (nt 5130) caused down‐regulation of the promoter activity, we termed the region HTLV‐I internal regulatory element (HIRE). We found a cellular sequence‐specific DNA binding protein which binds to HIRE. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the 3′LTR regulates Tax expression from the internal promoter. These findings may shed light on a novel mechanism for gene expression in complex retroviruses of the HTLV family.