Disparate effects of two herpesviruses immediate-early gene trans-activators on the HIV-1 LTR

• Published in: Virology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 173; no. 2; pp. 750 - 754
• Main Authors: Markovitz, David M., Kenney, Shannon, Kamine, James, Smith, Marilyn S., Davis, Michelle, Huang, Eng-Shang, Rosen, Craig, Pagano, Joseph S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 1989
• Subjects: Epstein-Barr virus
• ISSN: 0042-6822; 1096-0341
• DOI: 10.1016/0042-6822(89)90591-6

The BMLF1 region of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome and the immediate-early (IE) region of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) both encode proteins which can trans-activate heterologous promoter/chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) constructs, including a human immunodeficiency virus type-1 promoter/CAT construct. We demonstrate here that this trans-activation by the EBV BMLF1 gene product, which we have previously shown to be largely post-transcriptional, is reporter gene dependent. In contrast, trans-activation by the HCMV-IE gene product(s), previously shown to be mediated at the RNA level, is seen regardless of whether CAT, human growth hormone, or β-galactosidase is used as the reporter gene. Mutational analysis revealed no specific cis-acting sequences within the HIV-1 promoter which were required for trans-activation by the HCMV-IE gene product(s).