title: Effects of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transframe protein p6* mutations on viral protease-mediated Gag processing.
abstract: The proteolytic processing of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) particles mediated by the viral pol-encoded protease (PR) is essential for viral infectivity. The pol coding sequence partially overlaps with the gag coding sequence and is translated as a Gag-Pol polyprotein precursor. Within Gag-Pol, the C-terminal p6(gag) domain is replaced by a transframe peptide referred to as p6*, which separates the Gag nucleocapsid domain from PR. Several previous in vitro studies have ascribed a PR-suppression regulatory function to p6*. Here, it was demonstrated that an HIV-1 Gag-Pol lacking p6* is efficiently incorporated into virions when coexpressed with HIV-1 Gag precursor. However, the released virions are not processed appropriately and show a greatly reduced viral infectivity. This suggests that the p6* is indispensable during the process of PR-mediated virus particle maturation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.|Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsu-Chen
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201 Section 2 Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 11217, Taiwan.|Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Fu-Der
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: AIDS Prevention and Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.|Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Ming Arthur
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Research and Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201 Section 2 Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 11217, Taiwan.|Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chin-Tien
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D015685:Fusion Proteins, gag-pol / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015750:Genes, gag; D015751:Genes, pol; D016333:HIV Protease / Q000378:metabolism*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D019065:Virus Assembly; D054301:gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D015685:Fusion Proteins, gag-pol; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D054301:gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C083002:p6 gag protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D016333:HIV Protease