ChemInform Abstract: The HIV-1 Reverse Transcription (RT) Process as Target for RT Inhibitors

ChemInform ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (20) ◽  
pp. no-no
Author(s):  
Heidi Jonckbeere ◽  
Jozef Anne ◽  
Erik De Clercq
2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 838-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Abram ◽  
Manuel Tsiang ◽  
Kirsten L. White ◽  
Christian Callebaut ◽  
Michael D. Miller

ABSTRACTDuring HIV-1 reverse transcription, there are increasing opportunities for nucleos(t)ide (NRTI) or nonnucleoside (NNRTI) reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors to stop elongation of the nascent viral DNA (vDNA). In addition, RT inhibitors appear to influence the kinetics of vDNA synthesis differently. While cell-free kinetic inhibition constants have provided detailed mechanistic insight, these assays are dependent on experimental conditions that may not mimic the cellular milieu. Here we describe a novel cell-based strategy to provide a measure of the intrinsic inhibition efficiencies of clinically relevant RT inhibitors on a per-stop-site basis. To better compare inhibition efficiencies among HIV-1 RT inhibitors that can stop reverse transcription at any number of different stop sites, their basic probability,p, of getting stopped at any potential stop site was determined. A relationship between qPCR-derived 50% effective inhibitory concentrations (EC50s) and this basic probability enabled determination ofpby successive approximation. On a per-stop-site basis, tenofovir (TFV) exhibited 1.4-fold-greater inhibition efficiency than emtricitabine (FTC), and as a class, both NRTIs exhibited an 8- to 11-fold greater efficiency than efavirenz (EFV). However, as more potential stops sites were considered, the probability of reverse transcription failing to reach the end of the template approached equivalence between both classes of RT inhibitors. Overall, this novel strategy provides a quantitative measure of the intrinsic inhibition efficiencies of RT inhibitors in the natural cellular milieu and thus may further understanding of drug efficacy. This approach also has applicability for understanding the impact of viral polymerase-based inhibitors (alone or in combination) in other virus systems.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (8) ◽  
pp. 6700-6707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yudong Quan ◽  
Liwei Rong ◽  
Chen Liang ◽  
Mark A. Wainberg

ABSTRACT We have recently reported that the in vitro inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcription by inhibitors of reverse transcriptase (RT) occurred most efficiently when the expected DNA products of RT reactions were long (Quan et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 26:5692–5698, 1998). Here, we have used a quantitative PCR to analyze HIV-1 reverse transcription within acutely infected cells treated with RT inhibitors. We found that levels of minus-strand strong-stop DNA [(−)ssDNA] formed in acutely infected MT2 cells were only slightly reduced if cells were infected with viruses that had been generated in the presence of either azidothymidine or nevirapine (5 μM) and maintained in the presence of this drug throughout the viral adsorption period and thereafter. Control experiments in which virus inoculation of cells was performed at 4°C, followed directly by cell extraction, showed that less than 1% of total (−)ssDNA within acutely infected cells was attributable to its presence within adsorbed virions. In contrast, synthesis of intermediate-length reverse-transcribed DNA products decreased gradually as viral DNA strand elongation took place in the presence of either of these inhibitors. This establishes that nucleoside and nonnucleoside RT inhibitors can exert similar temporal impacts in regard to inhibition of viral DNA synthesis. Generation of full-length viral DNA, as expected, was almost completely blocked in the presence of these antiviral drugs. These results provide insight into the fact that high concentrations of drugs are often needed to yield inhibitory effects in cell-free RT assays performed with short templates, whereas relatively low drug concentrations are often strongly inhibitory in cellular systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Martinat ◽  
Arthur Cormier ◽  
Joëlle Tobaly-Tapiero ◽  
Noé Palmic ◽  
Nicoletta Casartelli ◽  
...  

AbstractSAMHD1 is a cellular triphosphohydrolase (dNTPase) proposed to inhibit HIV-1 reverse transcription in non-cycling immune cells by limiting the supply of the dNTP substrates. Yet, phosphorylation of T592 downregulates SAMHD1 antiviral activity, but not its dNTPase function, implying that additional mechanisms contribute to viral restriction. Here, we show that SAMHD1 is SUMOylated on residue K595, a modification that relies on the presence of a proximal SUMO-interacting motif (SIM). Loss of K595 SUMOylation suppresses the restriction activity of SAMHD1, even in the context of the constitutively active phospho-ablative T592A mutant but has no impact on dNTP depletion. Conversely, the artificial fusion of SUMO2 to a non-SUMOylatable inactive SAMHD1 variant restores its antiviral function, a phenotype that is reversed by the phosphomimetic T592E mutation. Collectively, our observations clearly establish that lack of T592 phosphorylation cannot fully account for the restriction activity of SAMHD1. We find that SUMOylation of K595 is required to stimulate a dNTPase-independent antiviral activity in non-cycling immune cells, an effect that is antagonized by cyclin/CDK-dependent phosphorylation of T592 in cycling cells.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty Ha ◽  
Kevin P. Larsen ◽  
Jingji Zhang ◽  
Ziao Fu ◽  
Elizabeth Montabana ◽  
...  

AbstractReverse transcription of the HIV-1 viral RNA genome (vRNA) is an integral step in virus replication. Upon viral entry, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) initiates from a host tRNALys3 primer bound to the vRNA genome and is the target of key antivirals, such as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). Initiation proceeds slowly with discrete pausing events along the vRNA template. Despite prior medium-resolution structural characterization of reverse transcriptase initiation complexes (RTICs), higher-resolution structures of the RTIC are needed to understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie initiation. Here we report cryo-EM structures of the core RTIC, RTIC–nevirapine, and RTIC–efavirenz complexes at 2.8, 3.1, and 2.9 Å, respectively. In combination with biochemical studies, these data suggest a basis for rapid dissociation kinetics of RT from the vRNA–tRNALys3 initiation complex and reveal a specific structural mechanism of nucleic acid conformational stabilization during initiation. Finally, our results show that NNRTIs inhibit the RTIC and exacerbate discrete pausing during early reverse transcription.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Thomas Gremminger ◽  
Zhenwei Song ◽  
Juan Ji ◽  
Avery Foster ◽  
Kexin Weng ◽  
...  

The reverse transcription of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) initiates upon annealing of the 3′-18-nt of tRNALys3 onto the primer binding site (PBS) in viral RNA (vRNA). Additional intermolecular interactions between tRNALys3 and vRNA have been reported, but their functions remain unclear. Here, we show that abolishing one potential interaction, the A-rich loop: tRNALys3 anticodon interaction in the HIV-1 MAL strain, led to a decrease in viral infectivity and reduced the synthesis of reverse transcription products in newly infected cells. In vitro biophysical and functional experiments revealed that disruption of the extended interaction resulted in an increased affinity for reverse transcriptase (RT) and enhanced primer extension efficiency. In the absence of deoxyribose nucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs), vRNA was degraded by the RNaseH activity of RT, and the degradation rate was slower in the complex with the extended interaction. Consistently, the loss of vRNA integrity was detected in virions containing A-rich loop mutations. Similar results were observed in the HIV-1 NL4.3 strain, and we show that the nucleocapsid (NC) protein is necessary to promote the extended vRNA: tRNALys3 interactions in vitro. In summary, our data revealed that the additional intermolecular interaction between tRNALys3 and vRNA is likely a conserved mechanism among various HIV-1 strains and protects the vRNA from RNaseH degradation in mature virions.


Methods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samreen Falak ◽  
Rainer Macdonald ◽  
Eloise J. Busby ◽  
Denise M.O'Sullivan ◽  
Mojca Milavec ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 2772-2781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhijun Zhang ◽  
Michelle Walker ◽  
Wen Xu ◽  
Jae Hoon Shim ◽  
Jean-Luc Girardet ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Mutations in and around the catalytic site of the reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are associated with resistance to nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTIs), whereas changes in the hydrophobic pocket of the RT are attributed to nonnucleoside RT inhibitor (NNRTI) resistance. In this study, we report a novel series of nonnucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1, exemplified by VRX-329747 and VRX-413638, which inhibit both NNRTI- and NRTI-resistant HIV-1 isolates. Enzymatic studies indicated that these compounds are HIV-1 RT inhibitors. Surprisingly, however, following prolonged (6 months) tissue culture selection, this series of nonnucleoside inhibitors did not select NNRTI-resistant mutations in HIV-1 RT. Rather, four mutations (M41L, A62T/V, V118I, and M184V) known to cause resistance to NRTIs and two additional novel mutations (S68N and G112S) adjacent to the catalytic site of the enzyme were selected. Although the M184V mutation appears to be the initial mutation to establish resistance, this mutation alone confers only a two- to fourfold decrease in susceptibility to VRX-329747 and VRX-413638. At least two additional mutations must accumulate for significant resistance. Moreover, while VRX-329747-selected viruses are resistant to lamivudine and emtricitabine due to the M184V mutation, they remain susceptible to zidovudine, stavudine, dideoxyinosine, abacavir, tenofovir, and efavirenz. These results directly demonstrate that VRX-329747 and VRX-413638 are novel nonnucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 RT with the potential to augment current therapies.


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