title: Determination of the HIV-1 gp41 fusogenic core conformation modeled by synthetic peptides: applicable for identification of HIV-1 fusion inhibitors.
abstract: Triggered by receptor binding of gp120, the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp41 changes its conformation to a fusogenic six-helix bundle structure. In the present study, this core conformation modeled by the peptides derived from the gp41 N- and C-terminal heptad repeat regions was determined by fluorescence native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and size exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Two previously described small molecule HIV-1 fusion inhibitors significantly blocked the six-helix bundle formation. It suggests that these biophysical techniques can be used in a novel way to study the conformational change of gp41 during virus entry into cells and to identify HIV-1 fusion inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, New York, NY 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Shuwen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Shibo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000737:chemistry*; D023581:HIV Fusion Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019151:Peptide Library; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary
chemical_list: D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41; D023581:HIV Fusion Inhibitors; D019151:Peptide Library