What is Rev protein in the HIV genome and why is it important in the HIV life cycle? Solution The two most important regulatory factors for HIV (human immuno deficiency virus) gene expression are, “Tat and Rev.” REV is a phosphoprotein present in the nucleus or nucleolus. It binds to the RRE and functions to promote the nuclear export, functional activation of RRE containing viral mRNAs and stabilization. In lentiviruses, it is the most functionally conserved regulatory protein..