Point mutants of Moloney murine leukemia virus that fail to package viral RNA: evidence for specific RNA recognition by a "zinc finger-like" protein sequence - PubMed (original) (raw)

Point mutants of Moloney murine leukemia virus that fail to package viral RNA: evidence for specific RNA recognition by a "zinc finger-like" protein sequence

R J Gorelick et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Nov.

Abstract

All retroviruses encode a nucleic acid-binding or nucleocapsid protein that is believed to be associated with RNA in the virion. Further, all retroviral nucleocapsid proteins contain either one or two copies of the sequence Cys-Xaa2-Cys-Xaa4-His-Xaa4-Cys. The conservation of this sequence suggested that it is important for virus replication, and its resemblance to the "zinc-finger" sequences found in eukaryotic transcription factors raised the possibility that it recognizes specific sequences in viral RNA during retrovirus assembly. We used oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis to generate a series of mutations in the nucleocapsid protein-coding region of Moloney murine leukemia virus. These mutations changed single amino acids, including each of the cysteines, to serine. The mutant viral genomes direct the synthesis of virus particles; these particles lack detectable viral RNA but do contain significant levels of cellular RNAs. Thus it appears that the mutations have destroyed the ability of the viral proteins to specifically package viral RNA during virus assembly. We propose that the conserved sequence in retroviral nucleocapsid proteins functions in RNA sequence recognition and suggest that it is evolutionarily related to the zinc fingers that recognize specific sequences in double-stranded DNA.

PubMed Disclaimer

Cited by

Expression, purification, and functional characterization of soluble recombinant full-length simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Pr55Gag.
Pillai VN, Ali LM, Prabhu SG, Krishnan A, Tariq S, Mustafa F, Rizvi TA. Pillai VN, et al. Heliyon. 2023 Jan 10;9(1):e12892. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e12892. eCollection 2023 Jan. Heliyon. 2023. PMID: 36685375 Free PMC article.
The HIV-1 Gag Protein Displays Extensive Functional and Structural Roles in Virus Replication and Infectivity.
Marie V, Gordon ML. Marie V, et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 8;23(14):7569. doi: 10.3390/ijms23147569. Int J Mol Sci. 2022. PMID: 35886917 Free PMC article. Review.
Across the Hall from Pioneers.
Rein A. Rein A. Viruses. 2021 Mar 16;13(3):491. doi: 10.3390/v13030491. Viruses. 2021. PMID: 33809689 Free PMC article.
NMR Studies of Retroviral Genome Packaging.
Boyd PS, Brown JB, Brown JD, Catazaro J, Chaudry I, Ding P, Dong X, Marchant J, O'Hern CT, Singh K, Swanson C, Summers MF, Yasin S. Boyd PS, et al. Viruses. 2020 Sep 30;12(10):1115. doi: 10.3390/v12101115. Viruses. 2020. PMID: 33008123 Free PMC article. Review.
Phylogenetic Analysis of South African Bovine Leukaemia Virus (BLV) Isolates.
Suzuki A, Chapman R, Douglass N, Carulei O, van Rensburg J, Williamson AL. Suzuki A, et al. Viruses. 2020 Aug 17;12(8):898. doi: 10.3390/v12080898. Viruses. 2020. PMID: 32824449 Free PMC article.

References

1. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1987 Jul 8;907(2):93-123 - PubMed
1. J Virol. 1987 May;61(5):1639-46 - PubMed
1. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Apr;8(4):1684-96 - PubMed
1. J Exp Med. 1954 Feb;99(2):167-82 - PubMed
1. Virology. 1987 Oct;160(2):518-22 - PubMed

Point mutants of Moloney murine leukemia virus that fail to package viral RNA: evidence for specific RNA recognition by a "zinc finger-like" protein sequence - PubMed (original) (raw)