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Journal of Virology, November 1998, p. 9061-9068, Vol. 72, No. 11
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

A Bipartite Membrane-Binding Signal in the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Matrix Protein Is Required for the Proteolytic Processing of Gag Precursors in a Cell Type-Dependent Manner

Young-Min Lee, Chun-Juan Tian, and Xiao-Fang Yu*

Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205

Received 11 June 1998/Accepted 13 July 1998

It is unclear whether proteolytic processing of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag protein is dependent on virus assembly at the plasma membrane. Mutations that prevent myristylation of HIV-1 Gag proteins have been shown to block virus assembly and release from the plasma membrane of COS cells but do not prevent processing of Gag proteins. In contrast, in HeLa cells similar mutations abolished processing of Gag proteins as well as virus production. We have now addressed this issue with CD4+ T cells, which are natural target cells of HIV-1. In these cells, myristylation of Gag proteins was required for proteolytic processing of Gag proteins and production of extracellular viral particles. This result was not due to a lack of expression of the viral protease in the form of a Gag-Pol precursor or a lack of interaction between unmyristylated Gag and Gag-Pol precursors. The processing defect of unmyristylated Gag was partially rescued ex vivo by coexpression with wild-type myristylated Gag proteins in HeLa cells. The cell type-dependent processing of HIV-1 Gag precursors was also observed when another part of the plasma membrane binding signal, a polybasic region in the matrix protein, was mutated. The processing of unmyristylated Gag precursors was inhibited in COS cells by HIV-1 protease inhibitors. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that the processing of HIV-1 Gag precursors in CD4+ T cells occurs normally at the plasma membrane during viral morphogenesis. The intracellular environment of COS cells presumably allows activation of the viral protease and proteolytic processing of HIV-1 Gag proteins in the absence of plasma membrane binding.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Room E4012, 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205. Phone: (410) 955-3768. Fax: (410) 614-8263. E-mail: xfyu{at}jhsph.edu.

Journal of Virology, November 1998, p. 9061-9068, Vol. 72, No. 11
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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