Conservation of tRNA mimicry in the 5'-untranslated region of distinct HIV-1 subtypes.

ABSTRACT: Human tRNA^Lys3 serves as the primer for reverse transcription in human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) and anneals to the complementary primer binding site (PBS) in the genome. All tRNA^Lys isoacceptors interact with human lysyl-tRNA synthetase (hLysRS) and are selectively packaged into virions. tRNA^Lys3 must be released from hLysRS in order to anneal to the PBS, and this process is proposed to be facilitated by the interaction of hLysRS with a tRNA-like element (TLE) first identified in the HIV-1 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of the subtype B NL4-3 virus. However, a significant subset of HIV-1 strains represented by the MAL isolate possess a different secondary structure in this region of the genome. Thus, to establish the conservation of this mecha

SUBMITTER: Comandur R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5689005 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature