Identification of the protease cleavage sites in a reconstituted Gag polyprotein of an HERV-K(HML-2) element.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The human genome harbors several largely preserved HERV-K(HML-2) elements. Although this retroviral family comes closest of all known HERVs to producing replication competent virions, mutations acquired during their chromosomal residence have rendered them incapable of expressing infectious particles. This also holds true for the HERV-K113 element that has conserved open reading frames (ORFs) for all its proteins in addition to a functional LTR promoter. Uncertainty concerning the localization and impact of post-insertional mutations has greatly hampered the functional characterization of these ancient retroviruses and their proteins. However, analogous to other betaretroviruses, it is known that HERV-K(HML-2) virions undergo a maturation process during or shortly after

SUBMITTER: George M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3114732 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature