%0 Journal Article %A Mameli, Giuseppe %A Deshmane, Satish L. %A Ghafouri, Mohammad %A Cui, Jianqi %A Simbiri, Kenneth %A Khalili, Kamel %A Mukerjee, Ruma %A Dolei, Antonina %A Amini, Shohreh %A Sawaya, Bassel E. %T C/EBPβ regulates human immunodeficiency virus 1 gene expression through its association with cdk9 %D 2007 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 88 %N 2 %P 631-640 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.82487-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X Transcriptional regulation of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is a complex event that requires the cooperative action of both viral (e.g. Tat) and cellular (e.g. C/EBPβ, NF-κB) factors. The HIV-1 Tat protein recruits the human positive transcription elongation factor P-TEFb, consisting of cdk9 and cyclin T1, to the HIV-1 transactivation response (TAR) region. In the absence of TAR, Tat activates the HIV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR) through its association with several cellular factors including C/EBPβ. C/EBPβ is a member of the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein family of transcription factors and has been shown to be a critical transcriptional regulator of HIV-1 LTR. We examined whether Tat–C/EBPβ association requires the presence of the P-TEFb complex. Using immunoprecipitation followed by Western blot, we demonstrated that C/EBPβ–cyclin T1 association requires the presence of cdk9. Further, due to its instability, cdk9 was unable to physically interact with C/EBPβ in the absence of cyclin T1 or Tat. Using kinase assays, we demonstrated that cdk9, but not a cdk9 dominant-negative mutant (cdk9-dn), phosphorylates C/EBPβ. Our functional data show that co-transfection of C/EBPβ and cdk9 leads to an increase in HIV-1 gene expression when compared to C/EBPβ alone. Addition of C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) inhibits C/EBPβ transcriptional activity in the presence and absence of cdk9 and causes a delay in HIV-1 replication in T-cells. Together, our data suggest that Tat–C/EBPβ association is mediated through cdk9, and that phosphorylated C/EBPβ may influence AIDS progression by increasing expression of HIV-1 genes. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.82487-0