title: Equine infectious anemia virus Tat is a predominantly helical protein.
abstract: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy revealed features of the secondary structure of the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) Tat protein in solution. We could show that this protein, which is required in the replication cycle of lentiviruses, forms a predominantly helical structure in trifluoroethanol/water (40% by vol.) solution. In particular, the basic RNA-binding region and the adjacent core domain, which are highly conserved among lentiviral Tat proteins, show helix-type secondary structure under these conditions. Our observations, in concert with recent biochemical data from other laboratories, suggest that the core sequence region and the basic sequence region form interdependent structural domains, both possibly necessary for correct RNA binding.
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Biopolymere, Universität Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sticht
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Willbold
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ejchart
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosin-Arbesfeld
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gazit
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yaniv
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rösch
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004860:Infectious Anemia Virus, Equine / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015696:Gene Products, tat; D012313:RNA