Abstract
Simian foamy viruses, members of the spumavirus subfamily of retroviruses, are found in a variety of nonhuman primates and, as yet, remain to be characterized with respect to genetic structure and regulation of viral gene expression. The genome of simian foamy virus type 1 (SFV-1), an isolate from rhesus macaques, has been molecularly cloned, and the role of the viral long terminal repeat (LTR) in transcriptional control has been investigated. The SFV-1 LTR is 1,621 base pairs long, and sequence comparisons with human foamy virus revealed a pattern of clustered homology. A cap site in the LTR was identified by analysis of SFV-1 transcripts i in infected cells. Transient expression assays in cell lines representing several species and different cell types showed that the SFV-1 LTR has low basal activity in uninfected cells, whereas LTR-directed expression is greatly increased in cells infected with SFV-1. This transactivation is mediated by a mechanism involving functions on the LTR at the transcriptional level. on the LTR at the level.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3598-3604 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Virology |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| State | Published - 1990 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology