title: Viral hijacking of mitochondrial lysyl-tRNA synthetase.
abstract: The primer for reverse transcription of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) genome is tRNA3(Lys). During assembly of HIV-1 particles, tRNA3(Lys) is taken up from the host cell along with lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysRS), the tRNA binding protein that specifically aminoacylates the different tRNA(Lys) isoacceptors. In humans, the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial species of LysRS are encoded by a single gene by means of alternative splicing. Here, we show that polyclonal antibodies directed to the full-length cytoplasmic enzyme equally recognized the two enzyme species. We raised antibodies against synthetic peptides that allowed discrimination between the two enzymes and found that mitochondrial LysRS is the only cellular source of LysRS detected in the virions. These results open new routes for understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the specific packaging of tRNA3(Lys) into viral particles.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Enzymologie et Biochimie Structurales, CNRS, 1 Avenue de la Terrasse, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaminska
authors.forename: Vyacheslav
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Shalak
authors.forename: Mathilde
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Francin
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirande
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000906:Antibodies; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008250:Lysine-tRNA Ligase / Q000378:metabolism*; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D048348:Reverse Transcription / Q000502:physiology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014771:Virion / Q000378:metabolism; D019065:Virus Assembly
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D008250:Lysine-tRNA Ligase