cis-acting regulatory elements in the bovine immunodeficiency virus long terminal repeat.

Functional cis-acting regulatory elements in the bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) long terminal repeat (LTR) were identified by deletion mapping and nuclear protein gel shift analysis using three BIV-infectible cell lines, Cf2Th, BLAC-20, and EREp. Deletion mapping studies indicated that putative NF-kappa B, GRE, AP-4, AP-1, CAAT, and ATF/CRE transcription factor elements positively contribute to LTR-directed gene expression in each cell line both in the presence and absence of the viral transactivator Tat. Sp1 and overlapping AP-3 and retroviral core enhancer elements had variable effects on LTR-directed gene expression depending on cell type and presence or absence of Tat. In addition, a sequence spanning the LTR U5 region and the untranslated viral leader was strongly repressive in all cell lines. Tat transactivated the LTR 25-fold over basal levels in a TAR-dependent manner in Cf2Th cells. In contrast, Tat transactivated the LTR only 2.5-fold over basal levels in EREp and BLAC-20 cells in a TAR-independent manner. Probes for putative NF-kappa B, GRE, Sp1, AP-4, AP-1, overlapping AP-3 and retroviral core enhancer, and juxtaposed CAAT and ATF-CRE elements specifically bound nuclear proteins from these three cell lines and HeLa cells, with the stoichiometry of binding being cell-type dependent. Probes for AP-4, AP-1, and juxtaposed CAAT and ATF/CRE elements exhibited greater protein binding with extracts from virally infected cells than with extracts from uninfected cells, suggesting that viral infection can modulate nuclear factor binding. The present studies indicate that several transcription factor elements in the BIV LTR have functional roles and that cell type can strongly determine the role they play in gene expression.

Bovine immunodeficiency-like virus encodes factors which trans activate the long terminal repeat.

Lentiviruses are known to encode factors which trans activate expression from the viral long terminal repeat (LTR); the primary trans activator is the tat gene product. One of the putative accessory genes (tat) of the bovine immunodeficiency-like virus (BIV) bears sequence similarity to other lentivirus tat genes. This finding suggests that BIV may encode a trans-activating protein capable of stimulating LTR-directed gene expression. To test this hypothesis in vitro, BIV LTR-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene plasmids were constructed and transfected into three cell lines established from canine, bovine, or lapine tissues that are susceptible to BIV infection. The level of BIV LTR-directed CAT gene expression was significantly elevated in BIV-infected cells compared with uninfected cells. The relatively high basal-level expression of BIV LTR-CAT in uninfected canine and bovine cell lines suggests that cellular factors play a role in regulating BIV LTR-directed gene expression. Additionally, by using a clonal canine cell line in which the BIV LTR-CAT plasmid is stably expressed, BIV LTR-directed CAT expression is elevated 15- to 80-fold by cocultivation with BIV-infected cells, supporting the notion that BIV encodes a trans activator. The relative specificity of this viral activation was assessed by coculturing the clonal BIV LTR-CAT cell line with bovine leukemia virus- or bovine syncytial virus-infected cells; these bovine retroviruses increased expression from the BIV LTR only two- to threefold. Thus, BIV LTR regulatory elements in infected cells, like those of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and other lentiviruses, are trans activated, presumably through the action of a Tat-like protein and cellular factors.