Vpr protein

Function

Vpr protein (Vpr) or viral protein R is a 96 amino acid protein which encoded by the human Immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Vpr has several roles in the progression of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) disease, including regulation the HIV-1 pre-integration complex (Pre-integration_complex in Wikipedia ) nuclear import and virus replication in non-dividing macrophages^[1]. Moreover, Vpr prevents mitosis of dividing infect cells by blockade at G2 phase, when the viral promoter is more active, and induced apoptosis of these cells in G1 and M phase. Both the activities of cell cycle arrest and induce apoptosis has proven to be independence by mutations that can cause only one of these affects^[2].

Disease

HIV-1 retrovirus is the cause of AIDS disease. HIV-1 is a RNA virus which copy its genome to the host-cell genome in infect cells. HIV-1 infects activated CD4 immune cells and macrophages. When the disease is expressing in carriers, the progressive depletion of CD4 T cells causes immunodeficiency. For more details about AIDS disease see AIDS in Wikipedia

For details about another HIV-1 components and its replication pathway see HIV and accessory proteins.

Conservation

Vpr is highly conserved in HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), similar retrovirus which infects non-human primates^[3]. In addition, all primate lentiviruses has vpr gene whose protein product has highly conserved motifs. HIV-2 and SIVsm lentiviruses have additionally gene - vpx. In these lentiviruses, vpr and vpx executes together the roles which HIV-1 vpr perform. Vpr and Vpx has low conservation between them.