RESUMEN
HIV-1 packages two copies of its gRNA into virions via an interaction with the viral structural protein Gag. Both copies and their native RNA structure are essential for virion infectivity. The precise stepwise nature of the packaging process has not been resolved. This is largely due to a prior lack of structural techniques that follow RNA structural changes within an RNA-protein complex. Here, we apply the in-gel SHAPE (selective 2'OH acylation analysed by primer extension) technique to study the initiation of HIV-1 packaging, examining the interaction between the packaging signal RNA and the Gag polyprotein, and compare it with that of the NC domain of Gag alone. Our results imply interactions between Gag and monomeric packaging signal RNA in switching the RNA conformation into a dimerisation-competent structure, and show that the Gag-dimer complex then continues to stabilise. These data provide a novel insight into how HIV-1 regulates the translation and packaging of its genome.
Asunto(s)
Infecciones por VIH/virología , VIH-1/fisiología , Ensamble de Virus , Genoma Viral , VIH-1/química , VIH-1/genética , Humanos , Conformación de Ácido Nucleico , ARN Viral/química , ARN Viral/genética , ARN Viral/metabolismo , Productos del Gen gag del Virus de la Inmunodeficiencia Humana/genética , Productos del Gen gag del Virus de la Inmunodeficiencia Humana/metabolismoRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The multiple roles of both viral and cellular RNAs have become increasingly apparent in recent years, and techniques to model them have become significantly more powerful, enabling faster and more accurate visualization of RNA structures. MAIN BODY: Techniques such as SHAPE (selective 2'OH acylation analysed by primer extension) have revolutionized the field, and have been used to examine RNAs belonging to many and diverse retroviruses. Secondary structure probing reagents such as these have been aided by the development of faster methods of analysis either via capillary or next-generation sequencing, allowing the analysis of entire genomes, and of retroviral RNA structures within virions. Techniques to model the three-dimensional structures of these large RNAs have also recently developed. CONCLUSIONS: The flexibility of retroviral RNAs, both structural and functional, is clear from the results of these new experimental techniques. Retroviral RNA structures and structural changes control many stages of the lifecycle, and both the RNA structures themselves and their interactions with ligands are potential new drug targets. In addition, our growing understanding of retroviral RNA structures is aiding our knowledge of cellular RNA form and function.