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Journal of Virology, March 1999, p. 2143-2152, Vol. 73, No. 3
Department of Molecular Genetics, Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
10461,1 and
Tulane University School
of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana 701122
Received 20 August 1998/Accepted 2 December 1998
The transcriptional enhancer of the lymphomagenic mouse retrovirus
SL3 contains a binding site for the transcription factor core binding
factor (CBF; also called AML1, PEBP2, and SEF1). The SL3 CBF binding
site is called the core. It differs from the core of the weakly
lymphomagenic mouse retrovirus Akv by one nucleotide (the sequences are
TGTGGTTAA and TGTGGTCAA, respectively). A mutant virus called SAA that was identical to SL3 except that its core was
mutated to the Akv sequence was only moderately attenuated for
lymphomagenicity. In most SAA-infected mice, tumor proviruses contained
either reversions of the original mutation or one of two novel core
sequences. In 20% of the SAA-infected mice, tumor proviruses retained
the original SAA/Akv core mutation but acquired one of two additional
mutations (underlined), TGCGGTCAA or
TGTGGTCTA, that generated core elements called
So and T*, respectively. We tested whether the novel base changes in
the So and T* cores were suppressor mutations. SL3 mutants that
contained So or T* cores in place of the wild-type sequence were
generated. These viruses induced T-cell lymphomas in mice more quickly
than SAA. Therefore, the mutations in the So and T* cores are indeed
second-site suppressor mutations. The suppressor mutations increased
CBF binding in vitro and transcriptional activity of the viral long
terminal repeats (LTRs) in T lymphocytes to levels comparable to those
of SL3. Thus, CBF binding was increased by any of three different
nucleotide changes within the sequence of the SAA core. Increased CBF
binding resulted in increased LTR transcriptional activity in T cells and in increased viral lymphomagenicity.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Suppressor Mutations within the Core Binding
Factor (CBF/AML1) Binding Site of a T-Cell Lymphomagenic
Retrovirus
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461. Phone: (718) 430-3715. Fax: (718) 430-8778. E-mail: lenz{at}aecom.yu.edu.
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