Figure 1

Mapping of the potential antisense RNAs transcribed from the HIV-1 proviral DNA. (A) A schematic diagram of the pME18S-asHIV plasmid. The antisense strand of HIV-1_NL4–3 DNA was inserted downstream of the SRα promoter. (B) Results of Northern blot analysis for the detection of the RNAs from pME18S-asHIV. HEK293T cells were transfected with pME18S-asHIV or a mock vector, pME18S. Total RNA samples isolated from these cells were analyzed with region-specific probes described in A (p1–p5). GAPDH RNA was used as a loading control. The arrows described below are the positions of potential transcripts I–IV as described in the results. ‘Mock’ stands for the RNA sample extracted from cells transfected with a mock vector. ‘As’ stands for RNA samples extracted from cells transfected with pME18S-asHIV. (C) The summary of the transcription patterns in pME18S-asHIV-transfected cells. Spliced variants derived from antisense HIV-1 were identified by RT-PCR, and termination sites were determined by the 3′ RACE methods described in Additional file 1: Figure S1 and Additional file 2: Figure S2. Nucleotide numbering corresponds to the sense strand of HIV-1_NL4–3-DNA.