The carboxy-terminal transcription enhancement region of the human spumaretrovirus transactivator contains discrete determinants of the activator function.

The bel1 gene of human spumaretrovirus (HSRV) encodes a 300-amino-acid nuclear protein termed Bel1 that is a potent activator of transcription from the cognate long terminal repeat (LTR). Bel1 can also efficiently activate the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) LTR. We have previously shown that the amino-terminal 227-residue region (minimal activator region) of Bel1 can activate the HSRV LTR at low levels and that two distinct domains within the carboxy-terminal 73 residues, from residues 255 to 266 and 272 to 300, that bear little sequence homology can independently enhance the activity of the minimal activator domain (L. K. Venkatesh, C. Yang, P. A. Theodorakis, and G. Chinnadurai, J. Virol. 67:161-169, 1993). We now report on the further characterization of these two transcriptional enhancement regions. Mutational analysis of the region comprising residues 255 to 266 indicates that a cluster of leucine residues is critical to the function of this region. Also, residues 273 to 287, which are identical in sequence to a 15-amino-acid segment near the carboxy terminus of the simian foamy virus transcriptional activator Taf, can independently enhance the activity of the minimal activator region. To delineate the region(s) of Bel1 that could function autonomously as an activator domain, we tested the activity of chimeric proteins comprising either wild-type or functionally defective forms of Bel1 fused to the DNA binding domain, Gal4(1-147), of the yeast transcriptional activator Gal4 on a synthetic promoter comprising Gal4 DNA binding sites linked to the adenovirus E1B TATA box (minimal promoter). Gal4-Bel1 was found to activate basal transcription from the E1B TATA box at least 35-fold, and the region responsible for this activation function was localized to the carboxy-terminal 73 amino acids. When the transcriptional enhancement regions were tested for autonomous activator function as Gal4(1-147) chimeras, residues 272 to 300, but not 255 to 266, were found to activate transcription efficiently when targeted to the E1B TATA motif and also to HSRV and HIV-1 LTRs. The highly conserved region between amino acids 273 and 287 alone was found to activate transcription efficiently when targeted to the HSRV LTR but not to the E1B TATA box or the HIV-1 LTR. Thus, our results demonstrate that the carboxy-terminal 29-amino-acid region (residues 272 to 300) contributes to Bel1 transactivation by functioning as an autonomous activator of TATA motif-directed transcription in a manner similar to that of other modular transcriptional activators.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)