title: HIV-1 modulates the tRNA pool to improve translation efficiency.
abstract: Despite its poorly adapted codon usage, HIV-1 replicates and is expressed extremely well in human host cells. HIV-1 has recently been shown to package non-lysyl transfer RNAs (tRNAs) in addition to the tRNA(Lys) needed for priming reverse transcription and integration of the HIV-1 genome. By comparing the codon usage of HIV-1 genes with that of its human host, we found that tRNAs decoding codons that are highly used by HIV-1 but avoided by its host are overrepresented in HIV-1 virions. In particular, tRNAs decoding A-ending codons, required for the expression of HIV's A-rich genome, are highly enriched. Because the affinity of Gag-Pol for all tRNAs is nonspecific, HIV packaging is most likely passive and reflects the tRNA pool at the time of viral particle formation. Codon usage of HIV-1 early genes is similar to that of highly expressed host genes, but codon usage of HIV-1 late genes was better adapted to the selectively enriched tRNA pool, suggesting that alterations in the tRNA pool are induced late in viral infection. If HIV-1 genes are adapting to an altered tRNA pool, codon adaptation of HIV-1 may be better than previously thought.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Weringh
authors.forename: Manon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ragonnet-Cronin
authors.forename: Erinija
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pranckeviciene
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pavon-Eternod
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kleiman
authors.forename: Xuhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000378:metabolism; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019065:Virus Assembly / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D012343:RNA, Transfer