SUBCELLULAR-DISTRIBUTION OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 REV AND COLOCALIZATION OF REV WITH RNA SPLICING FACTORS IN A SPECKLED PATTERN IN THE NUCLEOPLASM

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Rev (regulator of viri on protein expression) protein exemplifies a new type of posttranscrip tional regulation. One main function of Rev is to increase the cytopla smic expression of unspliced and incompletely spliced retroviral mRNAs from which viral structural proteins are made. In that way, Rev is es sential in order to complete the retroviral life cycle. The biology of Rev in the host cell has remained elusive. In this study, a complex d istribution of Rev in single cells was found. Rev was found in the cyt oplasm, in a perinuclear zone, in the nucleoplasm, and in the nucleoli . In the nucleoplasm, Rev colocalized in a speckled pattern with host cell factors known to assemble on nascent transcripts. Those factors a re involved in the processing of heterogeneous RNA to spliced mRNA in the nucleoplasm of all cells. The distribution of Rev was dependent on ly on Rev and host cell interactions, since neither the Rev target RNA nor other HIV proteins were expressed in the cells. Rev was found in the same subcellular compartments of cells treated for extended period s with cycloheximide, an inhibitor of protein synthesis. This finding implies that Rev shuttles continuously between cytoplasmic and nucleop lasmic compartments, The results suggest a potential role for Rev both in the RNA-splicing process and in the nucleocytoplasmic transport of Rev-dependent HIV mRNA.