The alpha-chemokine SDF-1 binds CXCR4, a coreceptor for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), and inhibits viral entry mediated by this receptor. Since chemokines are potent chemoattractants and activators of leukocytes, we examined whether the stimulation of HIV target cells by SDF-1 affects the replication of virus with different tropisms. We observed that SDF-1 inhibited the entry of X4 strains and increased the infectivity of particles bearing either a CCR5-tropic HIV-1 envelope or a vesicular stomatitis virus G envelope. In contrast to the inhibitory effect of SDF-1 on X4 strains, which is at the level of entry, the stimulatory effect does not involve envelope-receptor interactions or proviral DNA synthesis. Rather, we observed an increased ability of Tat to transactivate the HIV-1 long terminal repeat in the presence of the chemokine. Therefore, the effects of SDF-1 on the HIV-1 life cycle can be multiple and opposite, including both an inhibition of viral entry and a stimulation of proviral gene expression.