title: Class II integrase mutants with changes in putative nuclear localization signals are primarily blocked at a postnuclear entry step of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication.
abstract: Integrase has been implicated in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) nuclear import. Integrase analyses, however, can be complicated by the pleiotropic nature of mutations: whereas class I mutants are integration defective, class II mutants display additional assembly and/or reverse transcription defects. We previously determined that HIV-1(V165A), originally reported as defective for nuclear import, was a class II mutant. Here we analyzed mutants containing changes in other putative nuclear localization signals, including (186)KRK(188)/(211)KELQKQITK(219) and Cys-130. Previous work established HIV-1(K186Q), HIV-1(Q214L/Q216L), and HIV-1(C130G) as replication defective, but phenotypic classification was unclear and nuclear import in nondividing cells was not addressed. Consistent with previous reports, most of the bipartite mutants studied here were replication defective. These mutants as well as HIV-1(V165A) synthesized reduced cDNA levels, but a normal fraction of mutant cDNA localized to dividing and nondividing cell nuclei. Somewhat surprisingly, recombinant class II mutant proteins were catalytically active, and class II Vpr-integrase fusion proteins efficiently complemented class I mutant virus. Since a class I Vpr-integrase mutant efficiently complemented class II mutant viruses under conditions in which class II Vpr-integrases failed to function, we conclude that classes I and II define two distinct complementation groups and suggest that class II mutants are primarily defective at a postnuclear entry step of HIV-1 replication. HIV-1(C130G) was also defective for reverse transcription, but Vpr-integrase(C130G) did not efficiently complement class I mutant HIV-1. Since HIV-1(C130A) grew like the wild type, we conclude that Cys-130 is not essential for replication and speculate that perturbation of integrase structure contributed to the pleiotropic HIV-1(C130G) phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney St., Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Limón
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Devroe
authors.forename: Pamela A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Silver
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cherepanov
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engelman
mesh_terms: D021581:Active Transport, Cell Nucleus; D002384:Catalysis; D016336:Gene Products, vpr / Q000502:physiology; D019427:HIV Integrase / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D019913:Nuclear Localization Signals; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014779:Virus Replication; D054325:vpr Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D016336:Gene Products, vpr; D019913:Nuclear Localization Signals; D054325:vpr Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D019427:HIV Integrase