title: Maturation of human immunodeficiency virus particles assembled from the gag precursor protein requires in situ processing by gag-pol protease.
abstract: The vaccinia virus expression system was used to determine the role of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease in viral morphogenesis and maturation. The unprocessed p55 gag precursor polyprotein alone was assembled to form HIV-1 particles which budded from cells. The particles were spherical and immature, containing an electron-dense shell in the particle submembrane; there was no evidence of core formation. Expression of both gag and pol proteins from a recombinant containing the complete gag-pol coding sequences resulted in intracellular processing of gag-pol proteins and the production of mature particles with electron-dense cores characteristic of wild-type HIV virions. To ascertain the role of protein processing in particle maturation, the pol ORF in the gag-pol recombinant was truncated to limit expression of the pol gene to the protease domain. With this recombinant expressing p55 gag and protease, intracellular processing was observed. Some of the resultant particles were partially mature and contained processed gag protein subunits. In contrast, particle maturation was not observed when the HIV-1 protease and p55 gag were coexpressed from separate recombinants, despite evidence of intracellular gag processing. These findings suggest that HIV-1 protease must be an integral component of the full-length gag-pol precursor for optimal processing and virion maturation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: E K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Fuerst
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Orenstein
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Venkatesan
mesh_terms: D015685:Fusion Proteins, gag-pol / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016333:HIV Protease / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D014615:Vaccinia / Q000235:genetics; D014771:Virion / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D015685:Fusion Proteins, gag-pol; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D011498:Protein Precursors; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C059767:p55 gag precursor protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D016333:HIV Protease