Molecular Coevolution of Nuclear and Nucleolar Localization Signals inside the Basic Domain of HIV-1 Tat.

ABSTRACT: During evolution, viruses had to adapt to an increasingly complex environment of eukaryotic cells. Viral proteins that need to enter the cell nucleus or associate with nucleoli possess nuclear localization signals (NLSs) and nucleolar localization signals (NoLSs) for nuclear and nucleolar accumulation, respectively. As viral proteins are relatively small, acquisition of novel sequences seems to be a more complicated task for viruses than for eukaryotes. Here, we carried out a comprehensive analysis of the basic domain (BD) of HIV-1 Tat to show how viral proteins might evolve with NLSs and NoLSs without an increase in protein size. The HIV-1 Tat BD is involved in several functions, the most important being the transactivation of viral transcription. The BD also functions as an NLS, although

SUBMITTER: Kurnaeva MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8754208 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature