scholarly journals Maintenance of the Gag/Gag-Pol Ratio Is Important for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 RNA Dimerization and Viral Infectivity

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 1834-1841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Shehu-Xhilaga ◽  
Suzanne M. Crowe ◽  
Johnson Mak

ABSTRACT Production of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag-Pol precursor protein results from a −1 ribosomal frameshifting event. In infected cells, this generates Gag and Gag-Pol in a ratio that is estimated to be 20:1, a ratio that is conserved among retroviruses. To examine the impact of this ratio on HIV-1 replication and viral assembly, we altered the Gag/Gag-Pol ratio in virus-producing cells by cotransfecting HIV-1 proviral DNA with an HIV-1 Gag-Pol expression vector. Two versions of the Gag-Pol expression vector were used; one contains an active protease [PR(+)], and the other contains an inactive protease [PR(−)]. In an attempt to produce viral particles with Gag/Gag-Pol ratios ranging from 20:21 to 20:1 (wild type), 293T cells were cotransfected with various ratios of wild-type proviral DNA and proviral DNA from either Gag-Pol expression vector. Viral particles derived from cells with altered Gag/Gag-Pol ratios via overexpression of PR(−) Gag-Pol showed a ratio-dependent defect in their virion protein profiles. However, the defects in virion infectivity were independent of the nature of the Gag-Pol expression vector, i.e., PR(+) or PR(−). Based on equivalent input of reverse transcriptase activity, we estimated that HIV-1 infectivity was reduced 250- to 1,000-fold when the Gag/Gag-Pol ratio in the virion-producing cells was altered from 20:1 to 20:21. Although virion RNA packaging was not affected by altering Gag/Gag-Pol ratios, changing the ratio from 20:1 to 20:21 progressively reduced virion RNA dimer stability. The impact of the Gag/Gag-Pol ratio on virion RNA dimerization was amplified when the Gag-Pol PR(−) expression vector was expressed in virion-producing cells. Virions produced from cells expressing Gag and Gag-Pol PR(−) in a 20:21 ratio contained mainly monomeric RNA. Our observations provide the first direct evidence that, in addition to proteolytic processing, the ratio of Gag/Gag-Pol proteins is also important for RNA dimerization and that stable RNA dimers are not required for encapsidation of genomic RNA in HIV-1.

2007 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamoru Fujiwara ◽  
Junko Tanuma ◽  
Hirokazu Koizumi ◽  
Yuka Kawashima ◽  
Kazutaka Honda ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT There is much evidence that in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals, strong cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated immune pressure results in the selection of HIV-1 mutants that have escaped from wild-type-specific CTLs. If escape mutant-specific CTLs are not elicited in new hosts sharing donor HLA molecules, the transmission of these mutants results in the accumulation of escape mutants in the population. However, whether escape mutant-specific CTLs are definitively not elicited in new hosts sharing donor HLA molecules still remains unclear. A previous study showed that a Y-to-F substitution at the second position (2F) of the Nef138-10 epitope is significantly detected in HLA-A*2402+ hemophilic donors. Presently, we confirmed that this 2F mutant was an escape mutant by demonstrating strong and weak abilities of Nef138-10-specific CTL clones to suppress replication of the wild-type and 2F mutant viruses, respectively. We demonstrated the existence of the 2F-specific CTLs in three new hosts who had been primarily infected with the 2F mutant. The 2F-specific CTL clones suppressed the replication of both wild-type and mutant viruses. However, the abilities of these clones to suppress replication of the 2F virus were much weaker than those of wild-type-specific and the 2F-specific ones to suppress replication of the wild-type virus. These findings indicate that the 2F mutant is conserved in HIV-1-infected donors having HLA-A*2402, because the 2F-specific CTLs failed to completely suppress the 2F mutant replication and effectively prevented viral reversion in new hosts carrying HLA-A*2402.


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.


1999 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gadi Borkow ◽  
Dominique Arion ◽  
Mark A. Wainberg ◽  
Michael A. Parniak

ABSTRACT N-[4-Chloro-3-(3-methyl-2-butenyloxy)phenyl]-2-methyl-3-furancarbothioamide (UC781) is an exceptionally potent nonnucleoside inhibitor of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase. We found that a 1:1 molar combination of UC781 and 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine (AZT) showed high-level synergy in inhibiting the replication of AZT-resistant virus, implying that UC781 can restore antiviral activity to AZT against AZT-resistant HIV-1. Neither the nevirapine plus AZT nor the 2′,5′-bis-O-(t-butyldimethylsilyl)-3′-spiro-5"-(4"-amino-1",2"-oxathiole-2",2"-dioxide plus AZT combinations had this effect. Studies with purified HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (from a wild type and an AZT-resistant mutant) showed that UC781 was a potent inhibitor of the pyrophosphorolytic cleavage of nucleotides from the 3′ end of the DNA polymerization primer, a process that we have proposed to be critical for the phenotypic expression of AZT resistance. Combinations of UC781 plus AZT did not act in synergy to inhibit the replication of either wild-type virus or UC781-resistant HIV-1. Importantly, the time to the development of viral resistance to combinations of UC781 plus AZT is significantly delayed compared to the time to the development of resistance to either drug alone.


2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 2701-2708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirotomo Nakata ◽  
Masayuki Amano ◽  
Yasuhiro Koh ◽  
Eiichi Kodama ◽  
Guangwei Yang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We examined the intracytoplasmic anabolism and kinetics of antiviral activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) of a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, 4′-ethynyl-2-fluoro-2′-deoxyadenosine (EFdA), which has potent activity against wild-type and multidrug-resistant HIV-1 strains. When CEM cells were exposed to 0.1 μM [3H]EFdA or [3H]3′-azido-2′,3′-dideoxythymidine (AZT) for 6 h, the intracellular EFdA-triphosphate (TP) level was 91.6 pmol/109 cells, while that of AZT was 396.5 pmol/109 cells. When CEM cells were exposed to 10 μM [3H]EFdA, the amount of EFdA-TP increased by 22-fold (2,090 pmol/109 cells), while the amount of [3H]AZT-TP increased only moderately by 2.4-fold (970 pmol/109 cells). The intracellular half-life values of EFdA-TP and AZT-TP were ∼17 and ∼3 h, respectively. When MT-4 cells were cultured with 0.01 μM EFdA for 24 h, thoroughly washed to remove EFdA, further cultured without EFdA for various periods of time, exposed to HIV-1NL4-3, and cultured for an additional 5 days, the protection values were 75 and 47%, respectively, after 24 and 48 h with no drug incubation, while those with 1 μM AZT were 55 and 9.2%, respectively. The 50% inhibitory concentration values of EFdA-TP against human polymerases α, β, and γ were >100 μM, >100 μM, and 10 μM, respectively, while those of ddA-TP were >100 μM, 0.2 μM, and 0.2 μM, respectively. These data warrant further development of EFdA as a potential therapeutic agent for those patients who harbor wild-type HIV-1 and/or multidrug-resistant variants.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (23) ◽  
pp. 11055-11066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Åsa Öhagen ◽  
Dana Gabuzda

ABSTRACT The Vif protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is important for virion infectivity. Previous studies have shown thatvif-defective virions exhibit structural abnormalities in the virus core and are defective in the ability to complete proviral DNA synthesis in acutely infected cells. We developed novel assays to assess the relative stability of the core in HIV-1 virions. Using these assays, we examined the role of Vif in the stability of the HIV-1 core. The integrity of the core was examined following virion permeabilization or removal of the lipid envelope and treatment with various triggers, including S100 cytosol, deoxynucleoside triphosphates, detergents, NaCl, and buffers of different pH to mimic aspects of the uncoating and disassembly process which occurs after virus entry but preceding or during reverse transcription.vif mutant cores were more sensitive to disruption by all triggers tested than wild-type cores, as determined by endogenous reverse transcriptase (RT) assays, biochemical analyses, and electron microscopy. RT and the p7 nucleocapsid protein were released more readily from vif mutant virions than from wild-type virions, suggesting that the internal nucleocapsid is less stably packaged in the absence of Vif. Purified cores could be isolated from wild-type but not vif mutant virions by sedimentation through detergent-treated gradients. These results demonstrate that Vif increases the stability of virion cores. This may permit efficient viral DNA synthesis by preventing premature degradation or disassembly of viral nucleoprotein complexes during early events after virus entry.


2004 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 1463-1469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Brown ◽  
Shaghayegh Moghaddam ◽  
Thomas Kawano ◽  
Cecilia Cheng-Mayer

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Nef protein has been shown to accelerate viral growth kinetics in primary human T-lymphocytes and macrophages; however, the specific function(s) of Nef responsible for this phenotype in macrophages is unknown. To address this issue, mutants of a molecularly cloned macrophage-tropic isolate, HIV-1SF162, were generated expressing single point mutations that abrogate the ability of Nef to interact with cellular kinases or mediate CD4 down-regulation. Infection of primary monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) with these mutant viruses revealed that residues in the PXXP motif contribute to efficient replication. Interestingly, viruses expressing alleles of Nef defective in CD4 down-modulation activity retain wild-type levels of infectivity in single-round assays but exhibited delayed replication kinetics and grew to lower titres compared to the wild-type virus in MDM. These data suggest that efficient HIV-1 replication is dependent on the ability of Nef to interact with cellular kinases and remove CD4 from the surface of infected macrophages.


2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 4546-4554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reynel Cancio ◽  
Romano Silvestri ◽  
Rino Ragno ◽  
Marino Artico ◽  
Gabriella De Martino ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Indolyl aryl sulfone (IAS) nonnucleoside inhibitors have been shown to potently inhibit the growth of wild-type and drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), but their exact mechanism of action has not been elucidated yet. Here, we describe the mechanism of inhibition of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) by selected IAS derivatives. Our results showed that, depending on the substitutions introduced in the IAS common pharmacophore, these compounds can be made selective for different enzyme-substrate complexes. Moreover, we showed that the molecular basis for this selectivity was a different association rate of the drug to a particular enzymatic form along the reaction pathway. By comparing the activities of the different compounds against wild-type RT and the nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-resistant mutant Lys103Asn, it was possible to hypothesize, on the basis of their mechanism of action, a rationale for the design of drugs which could overcome the steric barrier imposed by the Lys103Asn mutation.


1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1454-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Balzarini ◽  
W G Brouwer ◽  
D C Dao ◽  
E M Osika ◽  
E De Clercq

A large variety of carboxanilide and thiocarboxanilide derivatives in which the original oxathiin or aliphatic moieties present in the prototype compounds UC84 and UC38 were replaced by an (un) substituted furanyl, thienyl, phenyl, or pyrrole entity have been evaluated for activity against wild-type human immunodeficiency virus type 1 strain IIIB [HIV-1 (IIIB)] and a series of mutant virus strains derived thereof. The mutant viruses contained either the Leu-100-->Ile, Lys-103-->Asn, Val-106-->Ala, Glu-138-->Lys, Tyr-181-->Cys, or Tyr-188-->Leu mutation in their reverse transcriptase. Several 3-(2-methylfuranyl)- and 3-(2-methylthienyl)-thiocarboxanilide ester, (thio)ether, and oxime ether derivatives showed exquisitely potent antiviral activity against wild-type HIV-1 (50% effective concentration, 0.009 to 0.021 microM). The pentenylethers of the 2-methylfuranyl and 2-methylthienyl derivatives (i.e., 313, N-[4-chloro-3-(3-methyl-2-butenyloxy)phenyl]- 2-methyl-3-furancarbothioamide or UC-781, and 314, N-[4-chloro-3-(3-methyl-2-butenyloxy)phenyl] -2-methyl-3-thiophenecarbothioamide or UC-82) proved virtually equally inhibitory for wild-type and the Ile-100, Ala-106, and Lys-138 mutant virus strains (50% effective concentration, 0.015 to 0.021 microM). Their inhibitory effect against the Asn-103 and Cys-181 reverse transcriptase mutant virus strains was decreased only four- to sevenfold compared with wildtype virus. UC-781 and UC-82 should be considered potential candidate drugs for the treatment of HIV-1-infected individuals.


2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1761-1769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Smith ◽  
Peter R. Meyer ◽  
Deshratn Asthana ◽  
Margarita R. Ashman ◽  
Walter A. Scott

ABSTRACT Treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected patients with 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine (AZT) selects for mutant forms of viral reverse transcriptase (RT) with increased ability to remove chain-terminating nucleotides from blocked DNA chains. We tested various cell extracts for the presence of endogenous acceptor substrates for this reaction. Cell extracts incubated with HIV-1 RT and [32P]ddAMP-terminated DNA primer/template gave rise to 32P-labeled adenosine 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′,5′′′−P1,P4-tetraphosphate (Ap4ddA), ddATP, Gp4ddA, and Ap3ddA, corresponding to the transfer of [32P]ddAMP to ATP, PPi, GTP, and ADP, respectively. Incubation with [32P]AZT monophosphate (AZTMP)-terminated primer/template gave rise to the analogous 32P-labeled AZT derivatives. Based on the rates of formation of the specific excision products, ATP and PPi levels were determined: ATP was present at 1.3 to 2.2 mM in H9 cells, macrophages, and unstimulated CD4+ or CD8+ T cells, while PPi was present at 7 to 15 μM. Under these conditions, the ATP-dependent reaction predominated, and excision by the AZT-resistant mutant RT was more efficient than wild type RT. Activated CD4+ or CD8+ T cells contained 1.4 to 2.7 mM ATP and 55 to 79 μM PPi. These cellular PPi concentrations are lower than previously reported; nonetheless, the PPi-dependent reaction predominated in extracts from activated T cells, and excision by mutant and wild-type RT occurred with similar efficiency. While PPi-dependent excision may contribute to AZT resistance in vivo, it is likely that selection of AZT-resistant mutants occurs primarily in an environment where the ATP-dependent reaction predominates.


2004 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 992-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten L. White ◽  
James M. Chen ◽  
Nicolas A. Margot ◽  
Terri Wrin ◽  
Christos J. Petropoulos ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Two amino acids inserted between residues 69 and 70 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) are rare mutations that may develop in viruses containing multiple thymidine analog (zidovudine [AZT], stavudine)-associated mutations and that confer high-level resistance to all currently approved chain-terminating nucleoside and nucleotide RT inhibitors (NRTIs). The two known mechanisms of resistance to NRTIs are decreased incorporation and increased excision. The mechanism used by RT insertion mutants has not been described for tenofovir (TFV), a recently approved agent in this class. A patient-derived HIV-1 strain (strain FS-SSS) that contained an insertion mutation in a background of additional resistance mutations M41L, L74V, L210W, and T215Y was obtained. A second virus (strain FS) was derived from FS-SSS. In strain FS the insertion and T69S were reverted but the other resistance mutations were retained. The FS virus showed strong resistance to AZT but low-level changes in susceptibilities to other NRTIs and TFV. The FS-SSS virus showed reduced susceptibilities to all NRTIs including TFV. Steady-state kinetics demonstrated that the relative binding or incorporation of TFV was slightly decreased for FS-SSS RT compared to those for wild-type RT. However, significant ATP-mediated excision of TFV was detected for both mutant RT enzymes and followed the order FS-SSS RT > FS RT > wild-type RT. The presence of physiological concentrations of the +1 nucleotide inhibited TFV excision by the wild-type RT and slightly inhibited excision by the FS RT, whereas the level of excision by the FS-SSS RT remained high. Computer modeling suggests that the increased mobility of the β3-β4 loop may contribute to the high-level and broad NRTI resistance caused by the T69 insertion mutation.


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