Premium
In vitro dimerization of HIV‐2 leader RNA in the absence of PuGGAPuA motifs
Author(s) -
Berkhout Ben,
Essink Belinda B. Oude,
Schoneveld Ilse
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.7.1.8422965
Subject(s) - rna , in vitro , genome , reverse transcriptase , dimer , biology , transcription (linguistics) , genetics , nucleotide , open reading frame , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , peptide sequence , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry
Retroviral particles contain a dimeric genome consisting of two full‐length, noncovalently linked RNA molecules. Linkage of the two genomes is thought to be critical for a productive reverse transcription reaction and may increase genetic recombination rates. The molecular nature of the dimer linkage structure (DLS) is poorly understood. It was recently shown that in vitro synthesized retroviral transcripts can dimerize in the absence of protein factors. We studied in vitro dimerization of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV‐2) RNA. Specific dimerization of HIV‐2 RNAs was observed upon incubation at 37°C in high‐salt buffer. Previously, physical and biochemical studies have mapped dimer linkage structures in retroviral leader RNA close to the gag open reading frame. In this study, we found efficient dimerization of HIV‐2 RNAs containing only the 5′ terminal 255 nucleotides of the leader RNA. Therefore, it seems likely that multiple dimerization signals are present in retroviral leader RNA. The implications for genome dimerization and genome packaging are discussed.— Berkhout, B., Oude Essink, B. B., Schoneveld, I. In vitro dimerization of HIV‐2 leader RNA in the absence of PuGGAPuA motifs. FASEB J. 7: 181‐187; 1993.