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Journal of Virology, April 1999, p. 3477-3483, Vol. 73, No. 4
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
R Region Sequences in the Long Terminal Repeat of a
Murine Retrovirus Specifically Increase Expression of
Unspliced RNAs
Alla M.
Trubetskoy,
Sharon A.
Okenquist,
and
Jack
Lenz*
Department of Molecular Genetics, Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461
Received 11 August 1998/Accepted 19 December 1998
A stem-loop structure at the 5' end of the R region of the long
terminal repeat (LTR) of the murine leukemia virus SL3 and other type C
mammalian retroviruses is important for maximum levels of expression of
a reporter gene under the control of the viral LTR. This element,
termed the R region stem-loop (RSL), has a small effect on
transcriptional initiation and no effect on RNA polymerase
processivity. Its major effect is on posttranscriptional processing of
LTR-driven transcripts. Here we tested whether the RSL affected the
production of RNAs from a full-length SL3 genome. Mutation of the RSL
in the 5' LTR of SL3 reduced the cytoplasmic levels of full-length
viral transcripts but not those of spliced, env mRNA
transcripts. Thus, the RSL specifically affected the cytoplasmic levels
of the unspliced viral RNA. To test further whether the effect was
specific for unspliced transcripts, a system was devised in which the
expression of a reporter gene under the control of the viral LTR was
tested in the presence or absence of an intron. Mutation of the RSL
resulted in only about a twofold decline in the level of reporter gene
expression when the transcripts contained an intron. However, when the
intron was removed, mutation of the RSL reduced expression of the
reporter gene about 10- to 60-fold in various cell lines. The secondary
structure of the RSL was essential for its activity on the intronless
transcript. Thus, the RSL appears to be important for the cytoplasmic
accumulation of unspliced viral RNA and unspliced RNA from chimeric
transcription units under the control of the viral LTR.
*
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.

Present address: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Tarrytown, NY
10591.
Journal of Virology, April 1999, p. 3477-3483, Vol. 73, No. 4
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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