Structural Plasticity of RRE Stem-Loop II Modulates Nuclear Export of HIV-1 RNA.

ABSTRACT: The Rev Response Element (RRE) forms an oligomeric complex with the viral protein Rev to facilitate the nuclear export of intron-retaining viral RNAs during the late phase of HIV-1 infection. However, our structural understanding of this crucial virological process remains limited. In this study, we determined several crystal structures of an intact RRE stem-loop II in two distinct conformations, performed negative-staining electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations, and revealed that this three-way junction RNA exhibits remarkable structural plasticity. Through in vitro Rev-binding and in vivo Rev-activity assays using various stem-loop II mutants designed to favor one of the conformers, we demonstrated that the structural plasticity of stem-loop II modulates Rev

SUBMITTER: Ojha M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11888186 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature