We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
CryoET structures of immature HIV Gag reveal six-helix bundle.
- Authors
Mendonça, Luiza; Sun, Dapeng; Ning, Jiying; Liu, Jiwei; Kotecha, Abhay; Olek, Mateusz; Frosio, Thomas; Fu, Xiaofeng; Himes, Benjamin A.; Kleinpeter, Alex B.; Freed, Eric O.; Zhou, Jing; Aiken, Christopher; Zhang, Peijun
- Abstract
Gag is the HIV structural precursor protein which is cleaved by viral protease to produce mature infectious viruses. Gag is a polyprotein composed of MA (matrix), CA (capsid), SP1, NC (nucleocapsid), SP2 and p6 domains. SP1, together with the last eight residues of CA, have been hypothesized to form a six-helix bundle responsible for the higher-order multimerization of Gag necessary for HIV particle assembly. However, the structure of the complete six-helix bundle has been elusive. Here, we determined the structures of both Gag in vitro assemblies and Gag viral-like particles (VLPs) to 4.2 Å and 4.5 Å resolutions using cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging by emClarity. A single amino acid mutation (T8I) in SP1 stabilizes the six-helix bundle, allowing to discern the entire CA-SP1 helix connecting to the NC domain. These structures provide a blueprint for future development of small molecule inhibitors that can lock SP1 in a stable helical conformation, interfere with virus maturation, and thus block HIV-1 infection. Mendonça et al. determine the structures of both in vitro assemblies of the HIV structural precursor protein Gag and Gag viral-like particles (VLPs) to 4.2 Å and 4.5 Å resolutions, using cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging. This study provides insights into the future development of small molecule inhibitors for HIV-1 infection.
- Subjects
HIV infections; NUCLEOCAPSIDS; SMALL molecules; GENETIC mutation; PROTEIN genetics
- Publication
Communications Biology, 2021, Vol 4, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2399-3642
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s42003-021-01999-1