In order to study the influence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tat gene on the expression of cellular genes, this gene has been inserted into the retroviral vector, pGV1, under the transcriptional control of the HIV long terminal repeat (LTR). The recombinant plasmid was transfected into psiAM cells to produce an ecotropic viral stock. This virus was used to infect psiAM cells to induce G418-resistant colonies. Presently, these colonies are being purified and tested for the production of amphotropic helper- free retrovirus. These viruses will be used to infect human lymphoid cells to establish cell lines constitutively expressing the tat gene. Such lines will be useful for the identification of cellular genes whose expression is controlled by the tat gene.
