We have analyzed the transcriptional activity of the human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) LTR promoter in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S.pombe). The ability of a series of 5'-deleted forms of the HIV-1 LTR promoter to direct transcription of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene was studied. We found that the HIV-1 promoter is functional in S.pombe and that deletion of sequences upstream of the NF-kB binding site previously identified to contain the negative regulatory element (NRE) in mammalian cells, resulted in about thirty-fold increase in transcriptional activity. Sequences in the HIV-1 promoter that bind NF-kB were found to be essential for transcriptional activation in S.pombe. In mammalian cells, transactivation of the HIV-1 LTR requires TAR sequences and the viral Tat protein. In fission yeast, Tat failed to transactivate the HIV-1 LTR, suggesting that S.pombe may lack a cellular factor(s) required for the Tat transactivation process.