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Journal of Virology, July 1999, p. 5431-5437, Vol. 73, No. 7
Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Samsung
Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Korea,1
and Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at
Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 352942
Received 19 January 1999/Accepted 24 March 1999
Retroviral capsid assembly can occur by either of two distinct
morphogenic processes: in type C viruses, the capsid assembles and buds
at the plasma membrane, while in type B and D viruses, the capsid
assembles within the cytoplasm and is then transported to the plasma
membrane for budding. We have previously reported that a
single-amino-acid substitution of a tryptophan for an arginine in the
matrix protein (MA) of Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) converts its
capsid assembly from that of a type D retrovirus to that of the type C
viruses (S. S. Rhee and E. Hunter, Cell 63:77-86, 1990). Here we
identify a region of 18 amino acids within the MA of MPMV that is
responsible for type D-specific morphogenesis. Insertion of these 18 amino acids into the MA of type C Moloney murine leukemia virus causes
it to assemble an immature capsid in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, fusion
of the MPMV MA to the green fluorescent protein resulted in altered
intracellular targeting and a punctate accumulation of the fusion
protein in the cytoplasm. These 18 amino acids, which are necessary and
sufficient to target retroviral Gag polyproteins to defined sites in
the cytoplasm, appear to define a novel mammalian cytoplasmic
targeting/retention signal.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Identification of a Cytoplasmic Targeting/Retention
Signal in a Retroviral Gag Polyprotein
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of
Molecular Virology, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Kangnam-Ku, Ilwon-Dong 50, Seoul 135-230, Korea. Phone: 82-2-3410-3632. Fax: 82-2-3410-3649. E-mail: ssrhee{at}smc.samsung.co.kr.
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