title: Inhibition of HIV-1 replication in viral mutants with altered TAR RNA stem structures.
abstract: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Tat-mediated trans-activation requires the structural integrity of TAR RNA and the cooperative interaction of human host cell proteins. The TAR domain, minimally required for tat response, includes the Tat binding pyrimidine bulge, the TAR RNA upper stem, and the loop sequences. However, little is known about the significance of the 5'-stem structure of TAR in the regulation of viral growth. We designed viral mutations, specifically in the TAR RNA lower stem structure, and studied their effects on the kinetics of viral growth in T-lymphocyte cell lines and in activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Mutations that destabilized the lower TAR stem structure inhibited viral growth to various degrees in different CD4+ T-cells. These results suggest that the structural integrity of the lower stem structure of TAR plays an important role in viral growth, presumably by binding to specific host cell proteins that stabilize Tat-TAR interactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemisty and Molecular Biology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rounseville
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Agbottah
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Rabson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002460:Cell Line; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000378:metabolism; D016325:HIV Long Terminal Repeat / Q000235:genetics*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014779:Virus Replication; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D000099253:Trans-Activation Responsive RNA-Binding Protein
chemical_list: D015696:Gene Products, tat; D012367:RNA, Viral; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D000099253:Trans-Activation Responsive RNA-Binding Protein