title: Rabbit endogenous retrovirus-H encodes a functional protease.
abstract: Recent studies have revealed that 'human retrovirus-5' sequences found in human samples belong to a rabbit endogenous retrovirus family named RERV-H. A part of the gag-pro region of the RERV-H genome was amplified by PCR from DNA in human samples and several forms of RERV-H protease were expressed in bacteria. The RERV-H protease was able to cleave itself from a precursor protein and was also able to cleave the RERV-H Gag polyprotein precursor in vitro whereas a form of the protease with a mutation engineered into the active site was inactive. Potential N- and C-terminal autocleavage sites were characterized. The RERV-H protease was sensitive to pepstatin A, showing it to be an aspartic protease. Moreover, it was strongly inhibited by PYVPheStaAMT, a pseudopeptide inhibitor specific for Mason-Pfizer monkey virus and avian myeloblastosis-associated virus. A structural model of the RERV-H protease was constructed that, together with the activity data, confirms that this is a retroviral aspartic protease.
authors.affiliation: Wohl Virion Centre, Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK.
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Voisset
authors.affiliation: Wohl Virion Centre, Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK.
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Research, Chester Beatty Laboratories, London, UK.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carne
authors.affiliation: Wohl Virion Centre, Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kellam
authors.affiliation: Wohl Virion Centre, Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Griffiths
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011817:Rabbits; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D010450:Endopeptidases; D016282:Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases