Hydrolysis of RNA/DNA hybrids containing nonpolar pyrimidine isosteres defines regions essential for HIV type 1 polypurine tract selection.

ABSTRACT: Both x-ray crystallography and chemical footprinting indicate that bases of the HIV type 1 (HIV-1) polypurine tract (PPT)-containing RNA/DNA hybrid deviate from standard Watson-Crick base pairing. However, the contribution of these structural anomalies to the accuracy of plus-strand primer selection by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase is not immediately clear. To address this issue, DNA templates harboring single and pairwise non-hydrogen-bonding isosteres of cytosine (2-fluoro-4-methylbenzene deoxyribonucleoside) and thymine (2,4-difluoro-5-methylbenzene deoxyribonucleoside) were synthesized and hybridized to PPT-containing RNA primers as a means of locally removing hydrogen bonding and destabilizing paired structure. Cleavage of these hybrids was examined with p66/p51 HIV-1 reverse transcript

SUBMITTER: Rausch JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC208748 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature