Histone H2A monoubiquitylation and p38-MAPKs regulate immediate-early gene-like reactivation of latent retrovirus HTLV-1.

ABSTRACT: It is not understood how the human T cell leukemia virus human T-lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV-1), a retrovirus, regulates the in vivo balance between transcriptional latency and reactivation. The HTLV-1 proviral plus-strand is typically transcriptionally silent in freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from infected individuals, but after short-term ex vivo culture, there is a strong, spontaneous burst of proviral plus-strand transcription. Here, we demonstrate that proviral reactivation in freshly isolated, naturally infected primary CD4+ T cells has 3 key attributes characteristic of an immediate-early gene. Plus-strand transcription is p38-MAPK dependent and is not inhibited by protein synthesis inhibitors. Ubiquitylation of histone H2A (H2AK119ub1), a signature of polycomb r

SUBMITTER: Kulkarni A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6237452 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature