Figure 2
Destabilization of the TAR hairpin affects viral gene expression. (A) C33A cells were transfected with the original (TARm) and TAR-deleted HIV-rtTA variants (mutants A, B and AB) and cultured with dox. The CA-p24 level in the culture supernatant was determined after 48 hours. Average values obtained in three transfections are shown, with the error bars indicating the standard deviation. (B) HeLa X1/6 cells were transfected with the HIV-rtTA variants and the intracellular luciferase level, which reflects rtTA production, was measured after culturing with dox for 48 h. Average values (with standard deviations) are shown for four experiments. (C) Northern blot analysis of the RNA isolated from transfected C33A cells. The position of the 18S and 28S rRNA bands, and the unspliced (9 kb), single spliced (4 kb) and double spliced (2 kb) viral transcript classes are indicated. RNAs with an unexpected size are indicated with a grey triangle. The transcripts that are exclusively observed for the A and B mutants are indicated with an open triangle.