Insights on the role of nucleic acid/protein interactions in chaperoned nucleic acid rearrangements of HIV-1 reverse transcription.

ABSTRACT: HIV-1 reverse transcription requires several nucleic acid rearrangement steps that are "chaperoned" by the nucleocapsid protein (NC), including minus-strand transfer, in which the DNA transactivation response element (TAR) is annealed to the complementary TAR RNA region of the viral genome. These various rearrangement processes occur in NC bound complexes of specific RNA and DNA structures. A major barrier to the investigation of these processes in vitro has been the diversity and heterogeneity of the observed nucleic acid/protein assemblies, ranging from small complexes of only one or two nucleic acid molecules all the way up to large-scale aggregates comprised of thousands of NC and nucleic acid molecules. Herein, we use a flow chamber approach involving rapid NC/nucleic acid mixing to s

SUBMITTER: Liu HW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1828707 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature