HIV-1 Tat

Full Name: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat

BACKGROUND: The viral protein Tat (trans-activator of transcription) modulates the activity of the viral promoter. Tat recognizes a short-stem loop structure, known as the transactivation response element (TAR), located at the 5’ terminus of the viral transcript. Tat binding activates the transcription complex that assembles onto the viral promoter, leading to a strong increase in viral transcripts. Tat is a small basic protein coded by two exons whose length varies between 99 and 103 amino acids with the predominant form being 101 residues. Despite the virus’ high mutation rate, Tat is relatively well conserved in all primate lentiviruses.

Synonyms: HIV-1 Tat; p14; Tat