The HIV-1 Antisense Protein ASP Is a Transmembrane Protein of the Cell Surface and an Integral Protein of the Viral Envelope.

ABSTRACT: The negative strand of HIV-1 encodes a highly hydrophobic antisense protein (ASP) with no known homologs. The presence of humoral and cellular immune responses to ASP in HIV-1 patients indicates that ASP is expressed in vivo, but its role in HIV-1 replication remains unknown. We investigated ASP expression in multiple chronically infected myeloid and lymphoid cell lines using an anti-ASP monoclonal antibody (324.6) in combination with flow cytometry and microscopy approaches. At baseline and in the absence of stimuli, ASP shows polarized subnuclear distribution, preferentially in areas with low content of suppressive epigenetic marks. However, following treatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), ASP translocates to the cytoplasm and is detectable on the cell surface, even

SUBMITTER: Affram Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6803264 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature