The González-Guerrero Lab
Publications
Genomics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Abstract
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are soilborne microorganisms that form a mutualistic symbiotic association with most land plants. As obligate biotrophs these fungi are unable to complete their life cycle in the absence of the host plant. This symbiosis is increasingly being recognised as an integral and important part of natural ecosystems throughout the word. Because of the incalcitrance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to grow in pure culture and consequently the difficulties in obtaining sufficiently large quantities of fungal material, the analysis of gene products has remained an extremely challenging but unexplored area. Until recently, little was known about the genomics of these fungi and it is only with the advent of powerful molecular techniques that it has been possible to venture research into their genetic makeup. This review surveys the most recent molecular genetics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and their contributions to basic knowledge of the biology of this group of organisms.
HIV-1 Tat inhibits IL-2 gene transcription through qualitative and quantitative alterations of the cooperative Rel/AP1 complex bound to the CD28RE/AP1 composite element of the IL-2 promoter
Abstract
Dysregulation of cytokine secretion plays an important role in AIDS pathogenesis. Here, we demonstrate that expression of HIV-1 Tat protein in Jurkat cells induces a severe impairment of IL-2 but not TNF gene transcription. Interestingly, this inhibition correlates with the effect of the viral protein on the transactivation of the CD28RE/AP1 composite element (−164/−154), but not with that observed on the NFAT/AP1 site of the IL-2 gene promoter, neither with the effect on NF-κB- nor AP1-independent binding sites. Endogenous expression of Tat induced a decrease in the amount of the specific protein complex bound to the CD28RE/AP1 probe after PMA plus calcium ionophore stimulation. This effect was accompanied by qualitative alterations of the AP1 complex. Thus, in wild-type Jurkat cells, c-jun was absent from the complex, whereas in Tat-expressing cells, c-jun was increasingly recruited overtime. By contrast, similar amounts of c-rel and a small amount of NFAT1 were detected both in wild type and in Jurkat Tat+ cells. Furthermore, Tat not only induced the participation of c-jun in the cooperative complex but also a decrease in its transactivation activity alone or in combination with c-rel. Thus, the interaction of Tat with the components of this rel/AP1 cooperative complex seems to induce quantitative and qualitative alterations of this complex as activation progresses, resulting in a decrease of IL-2 gene transcription. Altogether our results suggest the existence of tuned mechanisms that allow the viral protein to specifically affect cooperative interactions between transcription factors.