M. Creaven et al., Control of the histone-acetyltransferase activity of Tip60 by the HIV-1 transactivator protein, Tat, BIOCHEM, 38(27), 1999, pp. 8826-8830
Tip60, a cellular histone-acetyltransferase, is known to interact with the
HIV-1-encoded transactivator protein, Tat. In this work, we show that the i
nteraction of Tar with Tip60 efficiently inhibits the Tip60 histone-acetylt
ransferase activity. Besides its histone-acetyltransferase activity, Tip60
can undergo an autoacetylation which is not affected by Tat interaction. Ou
r data show that Tip60 does not significantly influence Tat-dependent trans
criptional activation of the S-LTR of HIV, suggesting that its interaction
with Tat affects same intrinsic cellular process. We were then able to iden
tify a cellular gene, Mn-dependent superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD);that has a
Tip60-dependent transcriptional activity. Interestingly, the simultaneous
expression of Tat and Tip60 abolishes the effect of Tip60 on the activity o
f the Mn-SOD promoter. We postulate that the HIV-1 transactivator, Tat, in
targeting Tip60 hinders the expression of cellular genes (such as Mn-SOD) w
hich normally interfere with the efficient replication and propagation of t
he virus.