Human cyclin T1, a component of the P-TEFb kinase complex, was originally identified through its biochemical interaction with the Tat transactivator protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Current understanding suggests that binding of Tat to P-TEFb is required to promote efficient transcriptional elongation of viral RNAs. However, the dynamics and the subnuclear localization of this process are still largely unexplored in vivo. Here we exploit high resolution fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to visualize and quantitatively analyze the direct interaction between Tat and cyclin T1 inside the cells. We observed that cyclin T1 resides in specific subnuclear foci which are in close contact with nuclear speckles and that Tat determines its redistribution outside of these compartments. Consistent with this observation, strong FRET was observed between the two proteins both in the cytoplasm and in regions of the nucleus outside of cyclin T1 foci and overlapping with Tat localization. These results are consistent with a model by which Tat recruits cyclin T1 outside of the nuclear compartments where the protein resides to promote transcriptional activation.The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) 1 transactivator protein Tat is a small polypeptide (86 -101 amino acids, according to the viral strains) essential for efficient transcription of viral genes. The protein is a highly unusual transcription factor since, at the HIV LTR promoter, it interacts with a cis-acting RNA element (trans-activation-responsive region, TAR) present at the 5Ј-end of each viral transcript (1).Through this interaction, Tat activates HIV-1 transcription by promoting the assembly of transcriptionally active complexes at the LTR by multiple protein-protein interactions (for a recent review, see Ref. 2). Over the last few years a number of cellular proteins have been reported to interact with Tat and to mediate or modulate its activity. These include general transcription factors, among which TBP, TAFII250, TFIIB, TFIIH (3-7); RNA polymerase II (8); transcription factor Sp1 (9); the transcriptional co-activators and histone acetyltransferases p300/CBP and P/CAF (10 -12); and the cyclin subunit of the positive transcription elongation factor complex (P-TEFb), cyclin T1 (13-16).The finding that Tat biochemically and functionally interacts with several cellular proteins raises some fundamental questions. Does Tat directly interact with its partners inside live cells? Which is the subcellular compartment of these interactions? Are they occurring simultaneously or consecutively? Some of these questions can be successfully addressed by taking advantage of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements (17), allowing investigation of direct interaction of proteins labeled with optically matched fluorophores. FRET exploits radiationless energy transfer driven by dipole-dipole interaction occurring from a fluorophore (the donor) in the excited state to another fluorophore (the acceptor) when in close proximity...