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Journal of Virology, August 2001, p. 6835-6840, Vol. 75, No. 15
AIDS Pathogenesis Research Unit, Macfarlane
Burnet Centre for Medical Research, Fairfield, Victoria
3078,1 and Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus
Research Centre, Royal Children's Hospital, Herston, Queensland
4029,2 Australia
Received 18 January 2001/Accepted 12 April 2001
The intracellular trafficking and subsequent incorporation of
Gag-Pol into human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) remains poorly
defined. Gag-Pol is encoded by the same mRNA as Gag and is generated by
ribosomal frameshifting. The multimerization of Gag and Gag-Pol is an
essential step in the formation of infectious viral particles. In this
study, we examined whether the interaction between Gag and Gag-Pol is
initiated during protein translation in order to facilitate the
trafficking and subsequent packaging of Gag-Pol into the virion. A
conditional cotransfection system was developed in which virion
formation required the coexpression of two HIV-1-based plasmids, one
that produces both Gag and Gag-Pol and one that only produces Gag-Pol.
The Gag-Pol proteins were either immunotagged with a His epitope or
functionally tagged with a mutation (K65R) in reverse transcriptase
that is associated with drug resistance. Gag-Pol packaging was assessed
to determine whether the Gag-Pol incorporated into the virion was
preferentially packaged from the plasmid that expressed both Gag and
Gag-Pol or whether it could be packaged from either plasmid. Our data show that translation of Gag and Gag-Pol from the same mRNA is not
critical for virion packaging of the Gag-Pol polyprotein or for viral function.
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.15.6835-6840.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Gag-Pol Supplied in trans Is Efficiently
Packaged and Supports Viral Function in Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Type 1
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Macfarlane
Burnet Centre for Medical Research, P.O. Box 254, Fairfield, Victoria, Australia 3078. Phone: 61 3 9282 2217. Fax: 61 3 9482 6152. E-mail: mak{at}burnet.edu.au.
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