Translation of equine infectious anemia virus bicistronic tat-rev mRNA requires leaky ribosome scanning of the tat CTG initiation codon
Year: 1993
Type: article
Abstract: We have examined the translational regulation of the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) bicistronic tat-rev mRNA. Site-directed mutagenesis of the tat leader region followed by expression of the tat-rev cDNA both in vitro and in transiently transfected cells established that tat translation is initiated exclusively at a CTG codon. Increasing the efficiency of tat translation by altering the CTG initiator to ATG resulted in a dramatic decrease in translation of the downstream (rev) cistron, indicating that leaky scanning of the tat CTG initiation codon permitted translation of the downstream rev cistron. Since the tat leader sequences precede the major EIAV splice donor and are therefore present at the 5' termini of both spliced and unspliced viral mRNAs, the expression of all EIAV structural and regulatory proteins is dependent on leaky scanning of the tat initiator.
Source: Journal of Virology
Authors: R Carroll, D Derse
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1687233479