Mutual functional antagonism of the simian virus 40 T antigen and the hepatitis B virus trans activator.

The hepatitis B virus X protein (pX) trans activates transcription of a wide variety of viral and cellular genes, apparently by interacting with multiple cellular transcription factors. It has been shown previously that the simian virus 40 early-region gene products (large-T and small-t antigens) prevent trans activation by pX. We show here that this phenomenon can be ascribed solely to the large-T antigen and that T antigen binds to pX in vitro. Mapping studies reveal that the region of large-T antigen around residues 125 and 126 is critical for this binding and also for the ability of T antigen to prevent trans activation by pX. Furthermore, pX in turn interferes with two of the known functions of T antigen, transcriptional trans activation and simian virus 40 DNA replication. We propose that pX and T antigen inactivate each other by forming a nonfunctional complex in vivo.