Use of vaccinia virus vectors to study the synthesis, intracellular localization, and action of the human immunodeficiency virus trans-activator protein.

A recombinant vaccinia virus that expresses the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) trans-activator (tat) gene was constructed. The tat polypeptide migrated anomalously with an apparent molecular mass of 14 kDa on a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel and reacted with polyclonal anti-tat serum. The tat protein was localized predominantly in the cell nucleus despite the absence of other HIV proteins or intranuclear HIV DNA. Additional recombinant vaccinia viruses that contain the Escherichia coli chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene under control of an early vaccinia promoter were constructed. Insertion of the HIV trans-activator-responsive (tar) sequence at the precise start of the CAT mRNA decreased CAT expression slightly. Trans-activation of vaccinia virus-encoded tarCAT failed to occur when CV-1 or HeLa cells were coinfected with the recombinant vaccinia virus expressing tat or when a HeLa cell line containing stably integrated copies of tat was used for infection, indicating the absence of transcriptional or translational effects under these conditions.