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J. Virol., 09 1996, 6347-6357, Vol 70, No. 9
OJ Semmes and KT Jeang
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.
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology
Localization of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 tax to subnuclear compartments that overlap with interchromatin speckles
Molecular Virology Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
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