Ubiquitination of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Tax Modulates Its Activity

Ubiquitination of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 tax modulates its activity.

Jean-Marie Peloponese (1) , Hidekatsu Iha , Venkat Yedavalli , Akiko Miyazato , Yan Li (2) , Kerstin Haller , Monsef Benkirane (3) , Kuan-Teh Jeang (4)

1 IRIM - Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier
2 Claremont Graduate University [Claremont, CA ]
3 IGH - Institut de génétique humaine
4 Molecular Virology Section, Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) encodes a 40-kDa Tax phosphoprotein. Tax is a transcriptional activator which modulates expression of the viral long terminal repeat and transcription of many cellular genes. Because Tax is a critical HTLV-1 factor which mediates viral transformation of T cells during the genesis of adult T-cell leukemia, it is important to understand the processes which can activate or inactivate Tax function. Here, we report that ubiquitination of Tax is a posttranscriptional mechanism which regulates Tax function. We show that ubiquitination does not target Tax for degradation by the proteasome. Rather, ubiquitin addition modifies Tax in a proteasome-independent manner from an active to a less-active transcriptional form.

Domaines: Virologie

Jean-Marie Peloponese, Hidekatsu Iha, Venkat Yedavalli, Akiko Miyazato, Yan Li, et al.. Ubiquitination of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Tax Modulates Its Activity. Journal of Virology, 2004, 78 (21), pp.11686-11695. ⟨10.1128/JVI.78.21.11686-11695.2004⟩. ⟨hal-02137895⟩