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Cotranscriptional Chromatin Remodeling by Small RNA Species: An HTLV-1 Perspective
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Cotranscriptional Chromatin Remodeling by Small RNA Species: An HTLV-1 Perspective

Nishat Aliya, Saifur Rahman, Zafar K. Khan and Pooja Jain
Leukemia research and treatment, v 2012
01 Jan 2012
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/984754
PMID: 23213554
url
https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/984754View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Cell type specificity of human T cell leukemia virus 1 has been proposed as a possible reason for differential viral outcome in primary target cells versus secondary. Through chromatin remodeling, the HTLV-1 transactivator protein Tax interacts with cellular factors at the chromosomally integrated viral promoter to activate downstream genes and control viral transcription. RNA interference is the host innate defense mechanism mediated by short RNA species (siRNA or miRNA) that regulate gene expression. There exists a close collaborative functioning of cellular transcription factors with miRNA in order to regulate the expression of a number of eukaryotic genes including those involved in suppression of cell growth, induction of apoptosis, as well as repressing viral replication and propagation. In addition, it has been suggested that retroviral latency is influenced by chromatin alterations brought about by miRNA. Since Tax requires the assembly of transcriptional cofactors to carry out viral gene expression, there might be a close association between miRNA influencing chromatin alterations and Tax-mediated LTR activation. Herein we explore the possible interplay between HTLV-1 infection and miRNA pathways resulting in chromatin reorganization as one of the mechanisms determining HTLV-1 cell specificity and viral fate in different cell types.

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