Linker-scanning mutational analysis of the transcriptional activity of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat.

We have compared the relative importance of transcription regulatory regions in the U3 and R regions of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat (LTR) by using linker-scanning mutational analysis. Twenty-six mutant LTR-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) transient expression plasmids were prepared in which consecutive 18-bp regions of wild-type LTR were replaced with an NdeI-XhoI-SalI (NXS) polylinker. The mutant LTR-CAT plasmids were transfected into unstimulated Jurkat cells, Jurkat cells stimulated with phytohemagglutinin and tetradecanoylphorbol acetate, and Jurkat cells which constitutively express the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 trans-activator protein, Tat. Transcriptional activity was measured by analysis of CAT activity. The activities of these mutants identified one major and several minor transcription control elements in addition to previously identified elements. In addition, this fine-structure analysis identified differences in utilization of regulatory regions between unstimulated, stimulated, and Tat-expressing Jurkat cells. A significant regulatory region was indicated by linker-scanning mutations between nucleotides -183 and -130 (relative to the transcription start site, +1). These mutations caused marked decreases in activity of the LTR in unstimulated and especially in stimulated Jurkat cells but had no effect in Tat-expressing Jurkat cells. DNA mobility shift studies comparing probes of wild-type and mutant sequences in the -183 to -130 region indicated that alterations in specific DNA binding correspond to the altered transcriptional activity of the mutants. The effects of mutations in several regulatory regions, in addition to the -183 to -130 region described above, differ between Tat-expressing and -nonexpressing Jurkat cells. For example, the NF-kB sites are necessary for transcription in both Tat-expressing and -nonexpressing cells. However, Tat-expressing Jurkat cells primarily require only the 3'-proximal site, while both stimulated and unstimulated Jurkat cells appear to require both sites. Mutants downstream of the TATA element cause a more significant decrease in activity in Tat-expressing Jurkat cells than in the others. Finally, several mutations in the 5' half of the LTR (-453 to -184) show modest increases in transcription (1.5-fold or less) in unstimulated Jurkat cells only, suggesting possible negative regulatory sites. In summary, our studies have identified a control region (-183 to -130) upstream of the NF-kB sites and have more precisely defined significant differences in the utilization of regulatory regions between unstimulated, stimulated, and Tat-expressing Jurkat cells.