Tyrosine phosphorylation as a possible regulatory mechanism in the expression of human immunodeficiency virus genes

Abstract

Phosphorylation of proteins on serine, threonine and tyrosine is one of the significant regulatory mechanisms in gene expression and post-translational modifications in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Protein tyrosine phosphorylation in particular is implicated in cell proliferation, differentiation and certain pathological modifications including transformation. The overall protein tyrosine phosphorylation is modulated by protein tyrosine kinases (PTK) and protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTP). There are several viruses known to contain PTK and PTPs. A computer-based protein sequence search using the FAST P programme was used to investigate whether, theoretically, a sequence for a putative protein tyrosine phosphatase is present in the genomic sequence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A conserved motif GXGXXG characteristic of both PTK and PTP was found at the 5′ LTR region of the HIV genome. Interesting sequence similarities with regulatory proteins of other retroviruses, viz. VPx of HIV-2 and X-protein of HTLV-1, and some transforming proteins were also observed. The implication of the possible phosphorylation event in association with the HIV regulatory proteins tat, rev and nef in AIDS-related malignancies is discussed.