title: Mutations in capsid major homology region affect assembly and membrane affinity of HIV-1 Gag.
abstract: We introduced mutations into the HIV-1 major homology region (MHR; capsids 153-172) and adjacent C-terminal region to analyze their effects on virus-like particle (VLP) assembly, membrane affinity, and the multimerization of the Gag structural protein. Results indicate that alanine substitutions at K158, F168 or E175 significantly diminished VLP production. All assembly-defective Gag mutants had markedly reduced membrane-binding capacities, but results from a velocity sedimentation analysis suggest that most of the membrane-bound Gag proteins were present, primarily in a higher-order multimerized form. The membrane-binding capacity of the K158A, F168A, and E175A Gag proteins increased sharply upon removal of the MA globular domain. While demonstrating improved multimerization capability, the two MA-deleted versions of F168A and E175A did not show marked improvement in VLP production, presumably due to a defect in association with the raft-like membrane domain. However, K158A bound to detergent-resistant raft-like membrane; this was accompanied by noticeably improved VLP production following MA removal. Our results suggest that the HIV-1 MHR and adjacent downstream region facilitate multimerization and tight Gag packing. Enhanced Gag multimerization may help expose the membrane-binding domain and thus improve Gag membrane binding, thereby promoting Gag multimerization into higher-order assembly products.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Fen
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Shiu-Mei
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Kuo-Jung
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chin-Tien
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D011498:Protein Precursors