HIV-1 transcription: activation mediated by acetylation of Tat

Acetylation of HIV-1 Tat stimulates transcriptional elongation by dissociating Tat from TAR, a transactivation response RNA element in nascent HIV-1 transcripts. In the March issue of Molecular Cell, Mujtaba et al. show that the bromodomain of PCAF acetylase specifically binds to acetylated Tat and leads to dissociation of Tat from TAR.