Regulation of Adenovirus E2 Transcription Unit

Abstract

The ability of viruses to take over the synthetic machinery of the host cells they invade for their own survival affords an ideal setting to look at the intricacies of ongoing regulation of macromolecular events and enables one to address specific questions concerning gene regulation. Genetic studies with animal viruses have provided detailed insights into the structure and function of the viral genome and the gene products it encodes. Viral mutants provide a means of probing the genetic and biochemical phenomena occurring in infected cells. Adenoviruses are members of DNA tumor virus family and are widespread in nature. Although about 40 different serotypes of human adenoviruses have been identified, adenovirus (Ad2) and Ad5 are the most well studied. The relatively small size (36 kilo bases) of its genome and the ease with which it can be grown to high titers in cultured cells have made the adenoviruses particularly attractive for experimentation. Early promoters of human adenoviruses provide excellent model systems to study transcriptional regulation. In adenovirus-infected human cells, six early viral promoters are coordinately regulated, and their efficient transcription is dependant on the large E1A protein which consists of 289 amino acids (Flint and Shenk 1989). The upstream DNA sequence elements that are required for basal E1A-independent transcription of these promoters have been identified. A number of cellular transcription factors that interact with these elements in a sequence-dependent fashion have been identified and cloned.KeywordsActivate Transcription FactorTransient Transfection AssayReporter VirusTATA MotifCellular Transcription FactorThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.