scholarly journals The N137 and P140 amino acids in the p51 and the P95 amino acid in the p66 subunit of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase are instrumental to maintain catalytic activity and to design new classes of anti-HIV-1 drugs

FEBS Letters ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 579 (11) ◽  
pp. 2294-2300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joeri Auwerx ◽  
Joke Van Nieuwenhove ◽  
Fátima Rodríguez-Barrios ◽  
Sonia de Castro ◽  
Sonsoles Velázquez ◽  
...  
2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Buckheit ◽  
Karen Watson ◽  
Valerie Fliakas-Boltz ◽  
Julie Russell ◽  
Tracy L. Loftus ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We have identified and characterized a potent new nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor (NNRTI) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) that also is active against HIV-2 and which interferes with virus replication by two distinct mechanisms. 1-(3-Cyclopenten-1-yl)methyl-6-(3,5-dimethylbenzoyl)-5-ethyl-2,4-pyrimidinedione (SJ-3366) inhibits HIV-1 replication at concentrations of approximately 1 nM, with a therapeutic index of greater than 4 × 106. The efficacy and toxicity of SJ-3366 are consistent when evaluated with established or fresh human cells, and the compound is equipotent against all strains of HIV-1 evaluated, including syncytium-inducing, non-syncytium-inducing, monocyte/macrophage-tropic, and subtype virus strains. Distinct from other members of the pharmacologic class of NNRTIs, SJ-3366 inhibited laboratory and clinical strains of HIV-2 at a concentration of approximately 150 nM, yielding a therapeutic index of approximately 20,000. Like most NNRTIs, the compound was less active when challenged with HIV-1 strains possessing the Y181C, K103N, and Y188C amino acid changes in the RT and selected for a virus with a Y181C amino acid change in the RT after five tissue culture passages in the presence of the compound. In combination anti-HIV assays with nucleoside and nonnucleoside RT and protease inhibitors, additive interactions occurred with all compounds tested with the exception of dideoxyinosine, with which a synergistic interaction was found. Biochemically, SJ-3366 exhibited aKi value of 3.2 nM, with a mixed mechanism of inhibition against HIV-1 RT, but it did not inhibit HIV-2 RT. SJ-3366 also inhibited the entry of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 into target cells. On the basis of its therapeutic index and multiple mechanisms of anti-HIV action, SJ-3366 represents an exciting new compound for use in HIV-infected individuals.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Ott ◽  
Elena N. Chertova ◽  
Laura K. Busch ◽  
Lori V. Coren ◽  
Tracy D. Gagliardi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The p6Gag protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is produced as the carboxyl-terminal sequence within the Gag polyprotein. The amino acid composition of this protein is high in hydrophilic and polar residues except for a patch of relatively hydrophobic amino acids found in the carboxyl-terminal 16 amino acids. Internal cleavage of p6Gag between Y36 and P37, apparently by the HIV-1 protease, removes this hydrophobic tail region from approximately 30% of the mature p6Gag proteins in HIV-1MN. To investigate the importance of this cleavage and the hydrophobic nature of this portion of p6Gag, site-directed mutations were made at the minor protease cleavage site and within the hydrophobic tail. The results showed that all of the single-amino-acid-replacement mutants exhibited either reduced or undetectable cleavage at the site yet almost all were nearly as infectious as wild-type virus, demonstrating that processing at this site is not important for viral replication. However, one exception, Y36F, was 300-fold as infectious the wild type. In contrast to the single-substitution mutants, a virus with two substitutions in this region of p6Gag, Y36S-L41P, could not infect susceptible cells. Protein analysis showed that while the processing of the Gag precursor was normal, the double mutant did not incorporate Env into virus particles. This mutant could be complemented with surface glycoproteins from vesicular stomatitis virus and murine leukemia virus, showing that the inability to incorporate Env was the lethal defect for the Y36S-L41P virus. However, this mutant was not rescued by an HIV-1 Env with a truncated gp41TM cytoplasmic domain, showing that it is phenotypically different from the previously described MA mutants that do not incorporate their full-length Env proteins. Cotransfection experiments with Y36S-L41P and wild-type proviral DNAs revealed that the mutant Gag dominantly blocked the incorporation of Env by wild-type Gag. These results show that the Y36S-L41P p6Gag mutation dramatically blocks the incorporation of HIV-1 Env, presumably acting late in assembly and early during budding.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 412-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Chamorro ◽  
M-J Camarasa ◽  
M-J Pérez-Pérez ◽  
E de Clercq ◽  
J Balzarini ◽  
...  

Novel derivatives of the potent human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor TSAO-T have been designed, synthesized and tested for their in vitro antiretro-viral activity against HIV. These TSAO-T derivatives have been designed as potential bidentate inhibitors of HIV-1 RT, which combine in their structure the functionality of a non-nucleoside RT inhibitor (TSAO-T) and a bivalent ion-chelating moiety (a β-diketone moiety) linked through an appropriate spacer to the N-3 of thymine of TSAO-T . Some of the new compounds have an anti-HIV-1 activity comparable to that of the parent compound TSAO-T, but display a markedly increased antiviral selectivity. There was a clear relationship between antiviral activity and the length of the spacer group that links the TSAO molecule with the chelating moiety. A shorter spacer invariably resulted in increased antiviral potency. None of the TSAO-T derivatives were endowed with anti-HIV-2 activity.


2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (21) ◽  
pp. 10479-10487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Shankarappa ◽  
Ramdas Chatterjee ◽  
Gerald H. Learn ◽  
Dhruba Neogi ◽  
Ming Ding ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT India is experiencing a rapid spread of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), primarily through heterosexual transmission of subtype C viruses. To delineate the molecular features of HIV-1 circulating in India, we sequenced the V3-V4 region of viralenv from 21 individuals attending an HIV clinic in Calcutta, the most populous city in the eastern part of the country, and analyzed these and the other Indian sequences in the HIV database. Twenty individuals were infected with viruses having a subtype Cenv, and one had viruses with a subtype Aenv. Analyses of 192 subtype C sequences that included one sequence for each subject from this study and from the HIV database revealed that almost all sequences from India, along with a small number from other countries, form a phylogenetically distinct lineage within subtype C, which we designate CIN. Overall, CIN lineage sequences were more closely related to each other (level of diversity, 10.2%) than to subtype C sequences from Botswana, Burundi, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe (range, 15.3 to 20.7%). Of the three positions identified as signature amino acid substitution sites for CIN sequences (K340E, K350A, and G429E), 56% of the CIN sequences contained all three amino acids while 87% of the sequences contained at least two of these substitutions. Among the non-CINsequences, all three amino acids were present in 2%, while 22% contained two or more of these amino acids. These results suggest that much of the current Indian epidemic is descended from a single introduction into the country. Identification of conserved signature amino acid positions could assist epidemiologic tracking and has implications for the development of a vaccine against subtype C HIV-1 in India.


2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (14) ◽  
pp. 7169-7178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Smith ◽  
Donovan J. Anderson ◽  
Bradley D. Preston

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) contains four structural motifs (A, B, C, and D) that are conserved in polymerases from diverse organisms. Motif B interacts with the incoming nucleotide, the template strand, and key active-site residues from other motifs, suggesting that motif B is an important determinant of substrate specificity. To examine the functional role of this region, we performed “random scanning mutagenesis” of 11 motif B residues and screened replication-competent mutants for altered substrate analog sensitivity in culture. Single amino acid replacements throughout the targeted region conferred resistance to lamivudine and/or hypersusceptibility to zidovudine (AZT). Substitutions at residue Q151 increased the sensitivity of HIV-1 to multiple nucleoside analogs, and a subset of these Q151 variants was also hypersusceptible to the pyrophosphate analog phosphonoformic acid (PFA). Other AZT-hypersusceptible mutants were resistant to PFA and are therefore phenotypically similar to PFA-resistant variants selected in vitro and in infected patients. Collectively, these data show that specific amino acid replacements in motif B confer broad-spectrum hypersusceptibility to substrate analog inhibitors. Our results suggest that motif B influences RT-deoxynucleoside triphosphate interactions at multiple steps in the catalytic cycle of polymerization.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (11) ◽  
pp. 5357-5362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hironori Sato ◽  
Yasuhiro Tomita ◽  
Kayo Shibamura ◽  
Teiichiro Shiino ◽  
Tuyoshi Miyakuni ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Changes in the drug susceptibility, gene lineage, and deduced amino acid sequences of the reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype E following 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine (AZT) monotherapy or AZT–2′,3′-dideoxyinosine combination therapy were examined with sequential virus isolates from a single family. The changes were compared to those reported for HIV-1 subtype B, revealing striking similarities in selected phenotype and amino acids independent of differences in the RT backbone sequences that constantly distinguish the two subtypes. Particularly, identical amino acid substitutions were present simultaneously at four different positions (D67N, K70R, T215F, and K219Q) for high-level AZT resistance. These data suggest that HIV-1 subtypes E and B evolve convergently at the phenotypic and amino acid levels when the nucleoside analogue RT inhibitors act as selective forces.


1989 ◽  
Vol 86 (17) ◽  
pp. 6768-6772 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Javaherian ◽  
A J Langlois ◽  
C McDanal ◽  
K L Ross ◽  
L I Eckler ◽  
...  

The principal neutralizing determinant of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is located in the external envelope protein, gp120, and has previously been mapped to a 24-amino acid-long sequence (denoted RP135). We show here that deletion of this sequence renders the envelope unable to elicit neutralizing antibodies. In addition, using synthetic peptide fragments of RP135, we have mapped the neutralizing determinant to 8 amino acids and found that a peptide of this size elicits neutralizing antibodies. This sequence contains a central Gly-Pro-Gly that is generally conserved between different HIV-1 isolates and is flanked by amino acids that differ from isolate to isolate. Antibodies elicited by peptides from one isolate do not neutralize two different isolates, and a hybrid peptide, consisting of amino acid sequences from two isolates, elicits neutralizing antibodies to both isolates. By using a mixture of peptides of this domain or a mixture of such hybrid peptides the type-specificity of the neutralizing antibody response to this determinant can perhaps be overcome.


2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (14) ◽  
pp. 6321-6328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul L. Boyer ◽  
Hong-Qiang Gao ◽  
Patrick K. Clark ◽  
Stefan G. Sarafianos ◽  
Edward Arnold ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT When human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is selected for resistance to 3TC, the methionine normally present at position 184 is replaced by valine or isoleucine. Position 184 is the X of the conserved YXDD motif; positions 185 and 186 form part of the triad of aspartic acids at the polymerase active site. Structural and biochemical analysis of 3TC-resistant HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) led to a model in which a β-branched amino acid at position 184 would act as a steric gate. Normal deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) could still be incorporated; the oxathiolane ring of 3TCTP would clash with the β branch of the amino acid at position 184. This model can also explain 3TC resistance in feline immunodeficiency virus and human hepatitis B virus. However, it has been reported (14) that murine leukemia viruses (MLVs) with valine (the amino acid present in the wild type), isoleucine, alanine, serine, or methionine at the X position of the YXDD motif are all resistant to 3TC. We prepared purified wild-type MLV RT and mutant MLV RTs with methionine, isoleucine, and alanine at the X position. The behavior of these RTs was compared to those of wild-type HIV-1 RT and of HIV-1 RT with alanine at the X position. If alanine is present at the X position, both MLV RT and HIV-1 RT are relatively resistant to 3TCTP in vitro. However, the mutant enzymes were impaired relative to their wild-type counterparts; there appears to be steric hindrance for both 3TCTP and normal dNTPs.


2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (22) ◽  
pp. 12179-12188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Liu ◽  
John McNevin ◽  
Hong Zhao ◽  
Denis M. Tebit ◽  
Ryan M. Troyer ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are strong mediators of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) control, yet HIV-1 frequently mutates to escape CTL recognition. In an analysis of sequences in the Los Alamos HIV-1 database, we show that emerging CTL escape mutations were more often present at lower frequencies than the amino acid(s) that they replaced. Furthermore, epitopes that underwent escape contained amino acid sites of high variability, whereas epitopes persisting at high frequencies lacked highly variable sites. We therefore infer that escape mutations are likely to be associated with weak functional constraints on the viral protein. This was supported by an extensive analysis of one subject for whom all escape mutations within defined CTL epitopes were studied and by an analysis of all reported escape mutations of defined CTL epitopes in the HIV Immunology Database. In one of these defined epitopes, escape mutations involving the substitution of amino acids with lower database frequencies occurred, and the epitope soon reverted back to the sensitive form. We further show that this escape mutation substantially diminished viral fitness in in vitro competition assays. Coincident with the reversion in vivo, we observed the fixation of a mutation 3 amino acids C terminal to the epitope, coincident with the ablation of the corresponding CTL response. The C-terminal mutation did not restore replication fitness reduced by the escape mutation in the epitope and by itself had little effect on replication fitness. Therefore, this C-terminal mutation presumably impaired the processing and presentation of the epitope. Finally, for one persistent epitope, CTL cross-reactivity to a mutant form may have suppressed the mutant to undetected levels, whereas for two other persistent epitopes, each of two mutants showed poor cross-reactivity and appeared in the subject at later time points. Thus, a viral dynamic exists between the advantage of immune escape, peptide cross-reactivity, and the disadvantage of lost replication fitness, with the balance playing an important role in determining whether a CTL epitope will persist or decline during infection.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (16) ◽  
pp. 10718-10729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein ◽  
Federico Gago ◽  
Maria Santoro ◽  
Caterina Gori ◽  
Valentina Svicher ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT To define the extent of sequence conservation in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) in vivo, the first 320 amino acids of RT obtained from 2,236 plasma-derived samples from a well-defined cohort of 1,704 HIV-1-infected individuals (457 drug naïve and 1,247 drug treated) were analyzed and examined in structural terms. In naïve patients, 233 out of these 320 residues (73%) were conserved (<1% variability). The majority of invariant amino acids clustered into defined regions comprising between 5 and 29 consecutive residues. Of the nine longest invariant regions identified, some contained residues and domains critical for enzyme stability and function. In patients treated with RT inhibitors, despite profound drug pressure and the appearance of mutations primarily associated with resistance, 202 amino acids (63%) remained highly conserved and appeared mostly distributed in regions of variable length. This finding suggests that participation of consecutive residues in structural domains is strictly required for cooperative functions and sustainability of HIV-1 RT activity. Besides confirming the conservation of amino acids that are already known to be important for catalytic activity, stability of the heterodimer interface, and/or primer/template binding, the other 62 new invariable residues are now identified and mapped onto the three-dimensional structure of the enzyme. This new knowledge could be of help in the structure-based design of novel resistance-evading drugs.


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