Disease relevance of bel2

• One of the characteristic features of spumavirus transcription is the existence of singly spliced bel1 and bel2 mRNAs that alternatively are multiply spliced, thereby generating a complexity comparable to, but different from, that of lentiviruses and from that of other known retroviruses [1].
• For the generation of the recombinant baculovirus, Acbel-1, the bel-1 gene of an HFV mutant was used, that bears truncations in the bel-1 overlapping bel-2 open reading frame [2].

High impact information on bel2

• In contrast, deletions in bel 2 and bel 3 had only minor effects on the ability to transactivate [3].
• Mutagenesis was used to alter the Bel 2 and Bet or to abrogate their expression [4].
• The predominant HSRV protein detected in immunoblots by both Bel 1- and Bel 2-specific antisera had an apparent molecular weight of 56 kDa and corresponds to Bet [5].
• The results showed the presence of both 257 base pair (bp) and 299 bp DNA fragments representing a part of gag and bel-2 sequences, respectively, in all four thymuses [6].

Biological context of bel2

• In the corresponding region of the human foamy virus, three ORFs (bel-1, bel-2, and bel-3) have been identified (R. M. Flugel, A. Rethwilm, B. Maurer, and G. Darai, EMBO J. 6:2077-2084, 1987) [7].

Other interactions of bel2

• Analysis of these mutants reveals that while the bel3 gene is not required for viral replication in vitro, mutations in the bel2 or bet gene decrease cell-free viral transmission approximately 10-fold [8].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of bel2

• Radioimmunoprecipitation analysis of 293T cells transfected with appropriate expression constructs by using antisera specific for the HFV Env, Bel1, and Bel2 proteins, as well as reverse transcription-PCR analysis of HFV-infected cells, demonstrated that this protein is an Env-Bet fusion protein that is secreted into the supernatant [9].
• The functions of the bel 2 and bet genes are unknown and both are dispensable for replication of the prototypic human foamy virus in cell cultures [4].

References