Semmes O J, Jeang K T
Molecular Virology Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
J Virol. 1996 Sep;70(9):6347-57. doi: 10.1128/JVI.70.9.6347-6357.1996.
Tax, the virally encoded activator of the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 long terminal repeats, regulates the expression of many cellular genes. This protein has been implicated in transformation events leading to the development of adult T-cell leukemia. Because subcellular localization contributes importantly to protein function, we determined the compartment(s) within the cell in which Tax is found. Using confocal microscopy, we found that Tax localizes to subnuclear domains which overlap with structures previously identified as interchromatin granules or spliceosomal speckles. These Tax speckled structures are coincident with a subset of nuclear transcriptional hot spots. Disruption of the Tax speckled structures by heat shock revealed the existence of different populations of Tax. One population of Tax is tightly associated with nuclear speckles. A second population exists outside of the speckles and is transcriptionally active for some promoters.
Tax是人类1型T细胞白血病病毒长末端重复序列的病毒编码激活因子,可调节许多细胞基因的表达。该蛋白与导致成人T细胞白血病发生的转化事件有关。由于亚细胞定位对蛋白质功能起着重要作用,我们确定了细胞内发现Tax的区室。利用共聚焦显微镜,我们发现Tax定位于与先前鉴定为染色质间颗粒或剪接体斑点的结构重叠的亚核区域。这些Tax斑点结构与一部分核转录热点重合。热休克破坏Tax斑点结构揭示了不同群体Tax的存在。一群Tax与核斑点紧密相关。另一群存在于斑点之外,对某些启动子具有转录活性。