The SET complex acts as a barrier to autointegration of HIV-1.

ABSTRACT: Retroviruses and retrotransposons are vulnerable to a suicidal pathway known as autointegration, which occurs when the 3'-ends of the reverse transcript are activated by integrase and then attack sites within the viral DNA. Retroelements have diverse strategies for suppressing autointegration, but how HIV-1 protects itself from autointegration is not well-understood. Here we show that knocking down any of the components of the SET complex, an endoplasmic reticulum-associated complex that contains 3 DNases (the base excision repair endonuclease APE1, 5'-3' exonuclease TREX1, and endonuclease NM23-H1), inhibits HIV-1 and HIV-2/SIV, but not MLV or ASV, infection. Inhibition occurs at a step in the viral life cycle after reverse transcription but before chromosomal integration. Antibodies to S

SUBMITTER: Yan N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2644782 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature