A. Seth et al., ETS FAMILY PROTEINS ACTIVATE TRANSCRIPTION FROM HIV-1 LONG TERMINAL REPEAT, AIDS research and human retroviruses, 9(10), 1993, pp. 1017-1023
ets is a multigene family and its members share a common ETS DNA-bindi
ng domain. ETS proteins activate transcription via binding to a purine
-rich GGAA core sequence located in promoters/enhancers of various gen
es, including several that are transcriptionally active in T cells. Th
e ETS1, ETS2, and ERBG/Hu-FLI-1 gene expression pattern also suggests
a role for these genes in cells of hematopoietic lineage. The HIV-1 LT
R core enhancer contains two 10-base pair direct repeat sequences (lef
t and right) that are required for regulation of HIV-1 mRNA expression
by host transcription factors, including NFkappaB. Two ETS-binding si
tes are present in the core enhancer of all the HIV-1 isolates reporte
d so far. In our studies, we utilized HIV-1 HXB2 and HIV-1 Z2Z6 core e
nhancers because the Z2Z6 strain has a single point mutation flanking
the right ETS-binding site. We demonstrate that the ETS1, ETS2, and ER
GB/Hu-FLI-1 proteins can trans-activate transcription from both the HX
B2 and Z2Z6 core enhancer when linked to a reporter (cat) gene. In add
ition, we show that the DNA binding and trans-activation with the Z2Z6
core enhancer is at least 40-fold higher than that observed with the
HXB2 core enhancer. Further, we provide evidence that the marked incre
ase in binding and trans-activation with Z2Z6 core enhancer sequences
is due to the substitution of a flanking T residue in HXB2 TGGAA) by a
C residue in Z2Z6 (CGGAA) isolate, thus generating an optimal ETS-bin
ding core (CGGAA) sequence.