Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 3: complete nucleotide sequence and characterization of the human tax3 protein.

ABSTRACT: We and others have recently uncovered the existence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 3 (HTLV-3), the third member of the HTLV family. We have now sequenced the full-length HTLV-3Pyl43 provirus. As expected, HTLV-3Pyl43 contains open reading frames corresponding to the gag, pol, env, tax, and rex genes. Interestingly, its long terminal repeat (LTR) includes only two Tax-responsive elements, as is the case for type 3 simian T-cell lymphotropic viruses (STLV-3). Phylogenetic analyses reveal that HTLV-3Pyl43 is closely related to central African STLV-3. Unexpectedly, the proximal pX region of HTLV-3Pyl43 lacks 366 bp compared to its STLV-3 counterpart. Because of this deletion, the previously described RorfII sequence is lacking. At the amino acid level, Tax3Pyl43 displays strong simila

SUBMITTER: Calattini S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1617244 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature