Functional conversion from HIV-1 Rev to HTLV-1 Rex by mutation

Abstract

A nucleolar localizing rev gene mutant M10 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1(HIV-1) lost a Rev function completely, instead, gained a Rex activity of human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The obtained compatibility between Rev M10 and Rex with their own nucleolar targeting signal (NOS) suggests a common molecular mechanism of their post-transcriptional regulation, despite no sequence similarities of both proteins and their responsive RNA elements, respectively.