Retrovirus-specific packaging of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases with cognate primer tRNAs.
The tRNAs used to prime reverse transcription in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), and Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MuLV) are, tRNA(Trp), and tRNA(Pro), respectively. Using antibodies to the three cognate human aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, we found that only lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysRS) is present in HIV-1, only tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS) is present in RSV, and neither these two synthetases nor prolyl-tRNA synthetase (ProRS) is present in Mo-MuLV. LysRS and TrpRS are present in HIV-1 and RSV at approximately 25 and 12 molecules/virion, respectively. These results support the hypothesis that, in HIV-1 and RSV, the cognate aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase may be used as the signal for targeting the selective packaging of primer tRNAs into retroviruses. The absence of ProRS in Mo-MuLV is consistent with reports that selective packaging of tRNA(Pro) in this virus is less important for achieving optimum annealing of the primer to Mo-MuLV genomic RNA.
Cen
Shan
S
Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill AIDS Center, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, 3755 Cote Ste-Catherine Road, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1E2.
Javanbakht
Hassan
H
Kim
Sunghoon
S
Shiba
Kiyotaka
K
Craven
Rebecca
R
Rein
Alan
A
Ewalt
Karla
K
Schimmel
Paul
P
Musier-Forsyth
Karin
K
Kleiman
Lawrence
L
D016475:3T3 Cells; D000604:Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001358:Avian Sarcoma Viruses / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000502:physiology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008970:Molecular Weight; D008979:Moloney murine leukemia virus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000502:physiology; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000502:physiology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D019065:Virus Assembly
D012367:RNA, Viral; D012343:RNA, Transfer; D000604:Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases