title: Sequences intervening between the core packaging determinants are dispensable for maintaining the packaging potential and propagation of feline immunodeficiency virus transfer vector RNAs.
abstract: The packaging determinants of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) consist of two discontinuous core regions, extending from R to approximately 150 bp of the 5' untranslated region and the first approximately 100 bp of gag. However, the role of sequences intervening between the core regions in packaging has not been clear. A mutational analysis was conducted to determine whether the intervening sequences played a role in FIV RNA packaging, using an in vivo packaging assay complemented with semiquantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. Our analyses reveal that the intervening sequences are dispensable not only for vector RNA packaging but also for propagation, confirming the discontinuous nature of the FIV packaging signal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Farah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mustafa
authors.forename: Akela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghazawi
authors.forename: Preethi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jayanth
authors.forename: Pretty Susan
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Phillip
authors.forename: Jahabar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Tahir A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Rizvi
mesh_terms: D005822:Genetic Vectors; D016089:Immunodeficiency Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D019065:Virus Assembly
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral