The second pX product p27 chi-III of HTLV-1 is required for gag gene expression.

The human T-cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1) contains a unique pX region, which encodes the gene products p40 chi, p27 chi-III and p21 chi-III. p40 chi is required for transcriptional trans-activation, whereas p27 chi-III and p21 chi-III have no such function. Transfection of pX expression plasmids containing different combinations for the three gene products into cells integrated with HTLV-1 proviruses defective in pX expression revealed that both p40 chi and p27 chi-III are required for expression of the gag protein and accumulation of gag mRNA. These observations suggest that the pX product p40 chi activates transcription and p27 chi-III controls the level of gag mRNA by post-transcriptional modulation.