Trans-activation response element (TAR)

Trans-activation response element (TAR)
Predicted secondary structure and sequence conservation of mir-TAR
Identifiers
Symbol mir-TAR
Alt. Symbols TAR
Rfam RF00250
Other data
RNA type Gene; miRNA
Domain(s) Viruses
GO 0035068 0035195
SO 0000233 0001244

The HIV trans-activation response (TAR) element is an RNA element which is known to be required for the trans-activation of the viral promoter and for virus replication. The TAR hairpin acts as a binding site for the Tat protein and this interaction stimulates the activity of the long terminal repeat promoter.[1]

Further analysis has shown that TAR is a pre-microRNA that produces mature microRNAs from both strands of the TAR stem-loop.[2] These miRNAs are thought to prevent infected cells from under-going apoptosis by down-regulating the genes ERCC1 and IER3.[3]

References

  1. ^ Kulinski, T; Olejniczak M, Huthoff H, Bielecki L, Pachulska-Wieczorek K, Das AT, Berkhout B, Adamiak RW (2003). "The apical loop of the HIV-1 TAR RNA hairpin is stabilized by a cross-loop base pair". J Biol Chem 278 (40): 38892–38901. doi:10.1074/jbc.M301939200. PMID 12882959. 
  2. ^ Ouellet DL, Plante I, Landry P, et al (April 2008). "Identification of functional microRNAs released through asymmetrical processing of HIV-1 TAR element". Nucleic Acids Res. 36 (7): 2353–65. doi:10.1093/nar/gkn076. PMC 2367715. PMID 18299284. http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=18299284. 
  3. ^ Klase Z, Winograd R, Davis J, et al (2009). "HIV-1 TAR miRNA protects against apoptosis by altering cellular gene expression". Retrovirology 6: 18. doi:10.1186/1742-4690-6-18. PMC 2654423. PMID 19220914. http://www.retrovirology.com/content/6//18. 

External links