Viruses (Sep 2020)

Overview of the Nucleic-Acid Binding Properties of the HIV-1 Nucleocapsid Protein in Its Different Maturation States

  • Assia Mouhand,
  • Marco Pasi,
  • Marjorie Catala,
  • Loussiné Zargarian,
  • Anissa Belfetmi,
  • Pierre Barraud,
  • Olivier Mauffret,
  • Carine Tisné

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v12101109
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 10
p. 1109

Abstract

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HIV-1 Gag polyprotein orchestrates the assembly of viral particles. Its C-terminus consists of the nucleocapsid (NC) domain that interacts with nucleic acids, and p1 and p6, two unstructured regions, p6 containing the motifs to bind ALIX, the cellular ESCRT factor TSG101 and the viral protein Vpr. The processing of Gag by the viral protease subsequently liberates NCp15 (NC-p1-p6), NCp9 (NC-p1) and NCp7, NCp7 displaying the optimal chaperone activity of nucleic acids. This review focuses on the nucleic acid binding properties of the NC domain in the different maturation states during the HIV-1 viral cycle.

Keywords