Detection of the HIV-1 minus-strand-encoded antisense protein and its association with autophagy.

ABSTRACT: HIV-1 proteins are synthesized from a single transcript in an unspliced form or following splicing, but the existence of an antisense protein (ASP) expressed from an antisense polyadenylated transcript has been suggested. Difficulties linked to the detection of this protein in mammalian cells led us to codon optimize its cDNA. Codon-optimized ASP was indeed efficiently detected in various transfected cell lines following flow cytometry and confocal microscopy analyses. Western blot analyses also led to the detection of optimized ASP in transfected cells but also provided evidence of its instability and high multimerization potential. ASP was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm in a punctate manner, which was reminiscent of autophagosomes. In agreement with this observation, a significant i

SUBMITTER: Torresilla C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3624327 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature