A new nucleoporin-like protein interacts with both HIV-1 Rev nuclear export signal and CRM-1

The HIV-1 Rev is a shuttling protein required for the nuclear export of unspliced and partially spliced viral mRNA. In this study, we have identified a new Rev-interacting protein, that specifically interacts with the Rev nuclear export signal both in yeast and mammalian cells. This protein has features found in nucleoporins including many phenylalanine-glycine repeats, a very high serine content, a putative zinc finger, and a coiled-coil domain; we thus called it NLP-1 (nucleoporin-like protein 1). In addition, gene expression analysis and wheat germ agglutinin chromatography experiments suggested that NLP-1 is an ubiquitous O-glycosylated nuclear protein. Recently, a cellular factor called CRM-1 has been shown to be an essential nuclear export factor interacting directly with nuclear export signals including the Rev nuclear export signal in a RanGTP-dependent manner. We show here that NLP-1, like the previously described Rev-interacting protein hRIP/Rab and several nucleoporins, also interacts with CRM-1 both in yeast and mammalian cells.