Download MendeleyCryoET structures of immature HIV Gag reveal six-helix bundle.
Mendonca, L., Sun, D., Ning, J., Liu, J., Kotecha, A., Olek, M., Frosio, T., Fu, X., Himes, B.A., Kleinpeter, A.B., Freed, E.O., Zhou, J., Aiken, C., Zhang, P.(2021) Commun Biol 4: 481-481
- PubMed: 33863979
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01999-1
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
7ASH, 7ASL - PubMed Abstract:
Gag is the HIV structural precursor protein which is cleaved by viral protease to produce mature infectious viruses. Gag is a polyprotein composed of MA (matrix), CA (capsid), SP1, NC (nucleocapsid), SP2 and p6 domains. SP1, together with the last eight residues of CA, have been hypothesized to form a six-helix bundle responsible for the higher-order multimerization of Gag necessary for HIV particle assembly. However, the structure of the complete six-helix bundle has been elusive. Here, we determined the structures of both Gag in vitro assemblies and Gag viral-like particles (VLPs) to 4.2 Å and 4.5 Å resolutions using cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging by emClarity. A single amino acid mutation (T8I) in SP1 stabilizes the six-helix bundle, allowing to discern the entire CA-SP1 helix connecting to the NC domain. These structures provide a blueprint for future development of small molecule inhibitors that can lock SP1 in a stable helical conformation, interfere with virus maturation, and thus block HIV-1 infection.
Organizational Affiliation:
Electron Bio-Imaging Centre, Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, UK.
