Short report
HIV-1 Tat interaction with Dicer: requirement for RNA
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* Corresponding author: Kuan-Teh Jeang kj7e@nih.gov
Molecular Virology Section, Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0460, USA
Retrovirology 2006, 3:95 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-3-95
Published: 20 December 2006Abstract
Dicer is an RNase III which processes two classes of cellular small RNAs: the microRNAs (miRNA) and short interfering RNAs (siRNA). Previously, we observed that over-expressed HIV-1 Tat protein can suppress the processing of small RNAs inside cells. Here, we have investigated the requirements for Tat interaction with Dicer. We report that Tat-Dicer interaction depends on RNA, requires the helicase domain of Dicer, and is independent of Tat's transactivation domain.