trans activation of an immediate-early frog virus 3 promoter by a virion protein.

We investigated the protein and DNA sequence requirements for the expression of an immediate-early frog virus 3 (FV3) gene, infected-cell RNA (ICR) 169. We used a plasmid containing the 78 nucleotides 5' to the transcription start site of ICR-169 placed upstream from the coding sequence for the bacterial enzyme chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT). This construction, when introduced by CaPO4-mediated transfection into various eucaryotic cell lines, promoted CAT synthesis only if the transfected cells were subsequently infected with FV3. Dot-blot hybridization of RNA extracted from transfected, FV3-infected cells with a radioactive CAT probe showed that the induction of CAT synthesis by FV3 was at the level of transcription. When transfected cells were infected with FV3 in the presence of cycloheximide, induction of CAT-specific RNA still occurred, demonstrating that a virion protein was responsible for the trans activation. FV3-induced CAT synthesis was inhibited by alpha-amanitin in wild-type Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells but not in CHO cells with an alpha-amanitin-resistant RNA polymerase II. The results suggest that a virion protein alters either the DNA template or the host polymerase to allow transcription from immediate-early FV3 promoters.