Structural highlights
Function
[POL_FIVPE] During replicative cycle of retroviruses, the reverse-transcribed viral DNA is integrated into the host chromosome by the viral integrase enzyme. RNase H activity is associated with the reverse transcriptase.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
Retroviral DNA integration into the host genome is mediated by nucleoprotein assemblies containing tetramers of viral integrase (IN). Whereas the fully active form of IN comprises a dimer of dimers, the molecular basis of IN multimerization has not been fully characterized. IN has consistently been crystallized in an analogous dimeric form in all crystallographic structures and experimental evidence as to the level of similarity between IN monomeric and dimeric conformations is missing because of the lack of IN monomeric structures. Here we identify Phe187 as a critical dimerization determinant of IN from feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a nonprimate lentivirus that causes AIDS in the natural host, and report, in addition to a canonical dimeric structure of the FIV IN core-domain, a monomeric structure revealing the preservation of the backbone structure between the two multimeric forms and suggest a role for Phe187 in "hinging" the flexible IN dimer.
Identification of phe187 as a crucial dimerization determinant facilitates crystallization of a monomeric retroviral integrase core domain.,Galilee M, Alian A Structure. 2014 Oct 7;22(10):1512-9. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2014.08.001. Epub 2014, Sep 4. PMID:25199694[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Galilee M, Alian A. Identification of phe187 as a crucial dimerization determinant facilitates crystallization of a monomeric retroviral integrase core domain. Structure. 2014 Oct 7;22(10):1512-9. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2014.08.001. Epub 2014, Sep 4. PMID:25199694 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2014.08.001
