1f23: Difference between revisions

[[Image:1f23.gif|left|200px]]<br /><applet load="1f23" size="350" color="white" frame="true" align="right" spinBox="true"  

The envelope glycoprotein of HIV-1 consists of the surface subunit gp120 and the transmembrane subunit gp41. Binding of gp120 to target cell receptors induces a conformational change in gp41, which then mediates the fusion of viral and cellular membranes. A buried isoleucine (Ile573) in a central trimeric coiled coil within the fusion-active gp41 ectodomain core is thought to favor this conformational activation. The role of Ile573 in determining the structure and function of the gp120-gp41 complex was investigated by mutating this residue to threonine, a nonconservative substitution in HIV-1 that occurs naturally in SIV. While the introduction of Thr573 markedly destabilized the gp41 core, the three-dimensional structure of the mutant trimer of hairpins was very similar to that of the wild-type molecule. A new hydrogen-bonding interaction between the buried Thr573 and Thr569 residues appears to allow formation of the trimer-of-hairpins structure at physiological temperature. The mutant envelope glycoprotein expressed in 293T cells and incorporated within pseudotyped virions displayed only a moderate reduction in syncytium-inducing capacity and virus infectivity, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the proper folding of the gp41 core underlies the membrane fusion properties of the gp120-gp41 complex. An understanding of the gp41 activation process may suggest novel strategies for vaccine and antiviral drug development.

1F23 is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_protein Single protein] structure of sequence from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_immunodeficiency_virus_1 Human immunodeficiency virus 1]. Full crystallographic information is available from [http://oca.weizmann.ac.il/oca-bin/ocashort?id=1F23 OCA].  

[[Category: Nunberg, J H.]]

''Page seeded by [http://oca.weizmann.ac.il/oca OCA ] on Thu Feb 21 12:33:56 2008''