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Updated: Feb 1, 2026

Pairwise Growth Competition Assay for Determining the Replication Fitness of Human Immunodeficiency Viruses
Published on: May 4, 2015
Latent viruses can cause disease by disrupting the competition for the limiting factor p300/CBP
1The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD), 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-3665, Valley Cottage, New York City, NY 10989 USA.
Abstract:
CBP and p300 are histone acetyltransferase coactivators that control the transcription of numerous genes in humans, viruses, and other organisms. Although two separate genes encode CBP and p300, they share a 61% sequence identity, and they are often mentioned together as p300/CBP. Zhou et al. showed that under hypoxic conditions, HIF1α and the tumor suppressor p53 compete for binding to the limiting p300/CBP coactivator. Jethanandani & Kramer showed that δEF1 and MYOD genes compete for the limited amount of p300/CBP in the cell. Bhattacharyya et al. showed that the limiting availability of p300/CBP in the cell serves as a checkpoint for HIF1α activity. Here, we use the microcompetition model to explain how latent viruses with a specific viral cis-regulatory element in their promoter/enhancer can disrupt this competition, causing diseases such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and obesity.
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