The role of Vif oligomerization and RNA chaperone activity in HIV-1 replication.
The viral infectivity factor (Vif) is essential for the productive infection and dissemination of HIV-1 in non-permissive cells that involve most natural HIV-1 target cells. Vif counteracts the packaging of two cellular cytidine deaminases named APOBEC3G (A3G) and A3F by diverse mechanisms including the recruitment of an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex and the proteasomal degradation of A3G/A3F, the inhibition of A3G mRNA translation or by a direct competition mechanism. In addition, Vif appears to be an active partner of the late steps of viral replication by participating in virus assembly and Gag processing, thus regulating the final stage of virion formation notably genomic RNA dimerization and by inhibiting the initiation of reverse transcription. Vif is a small pleiotropic protein with multiple domains, and recent studies highlighted the importance of Vif conformation and flexibility in counteracting A3G and in binding RNA. In this review, we will focus on the oligomerization and RNA chaperone properties of Vif and show that the intrinsic disordered nature of some Vif domains could play an important role in virus assembly and replication. Experimental evidence demonstrating the RNA chaperone activity of Vif will be presented.
Architecture et Réactivité de l'ARN, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, 15 rue René Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg, France.
Julien
J
Batisse
Santiago
S
Guerrero
Serena
S
Bernacchi
Dona
D
Sleiman
Caroline
C
Gabus
Jean-Luc
JL
Darlix
Roland
R
Marquet
Carine
C
Tisné
Jean-Christophe
JC
Paillart
D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000378:metabolism*; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D012357:RNA, Transfer, Lys / Q000378:metabolism*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism*; D019065:Virus Assembly; D054320:vif Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000378:metabolism*
D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D012357:RNA, Transfer, Lys; D012367:RNA, Viral; D054320:vif Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C514847:vif protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1