Trans-activation response element
RNA family
The trans-activation response (TAR) element is an RNA element which is known to be required for the trans-activation of the HIV promoter and for HIV replication. The HIV TAR hairpin is a dynamic structure that acts as a binding site for the Tat protein, and this interaction stimulates the activity of the long terminal repeat promoter.
Further analysis has shown that HIV TAR is a pre-microRNA that produces mature microRNAs from both strands of the TAR stem-loop. These miRNAs are thought to prevent infected cells from undergoing apoptosis by downregulating the genes ERCC1, IER3, CDK9, and Bim.
Human polyomavirus 2 (JC virus) contains a TAR-homologous sequence in its late promoter that is responsive to HIV-1 derived Tat.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Trans-activation response element”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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- RF00250.jpg by Unknown author, Public domain
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