Detection and initial characterization of protein entities consisting of the HIV glycoprotein cytoplasmic C-terminal domain alone

作者：Pfeiffer Tanya; Ruppert Thomas; Schaal Heiner; Bosch Valerie^*

来源：Virology, 2013, 441(1): 85-94.

DOI：10.1016/j.viro1.2013.03.009

• HIV Env C-terminus
• Novel Env-CT species
• Pyroglutamate modification
• Proteolytic processing
• Spliced mRNA encoding Env-CT

Employing antibodies against the cytoplasmic tail of the HIV-1 glycoprotein (Env-CT), in addition to gp160/gp41, we have identified several novel small Env proteins (%26lt;25 kD) in HIV-1 transfected and infected cells. Mass spectrometric and mutational analyses show that two mechanisms contribute to their generation. Thus the protein, designated Tr-Env-CT (for truncated Env-CT), consists of the C-terminal 139 amino acids (aa) of Env (aa 718-856) with the N-terminal Q718 modified to pyroglutamic acid. It is likely derived from full-length Env protein by proteolytic processing. A further heterogeneous set of slightly larger proteins, termed Env-CT* species, are rather derived from spliced mRNAs containing only those Env C-terminal residues (aa 719-856) which overlap with the second tat and rev coding exons. They are N-terminally extended in the same reading frame. It is conceivable that essential Env-CT functions may be fulfilled by these novel species rather than by the full-length glycoprotein itself.

• 出版日期2013-6-20