An HIV-1 encoded peptide mimics the DNA binding loop of NF-?B and binds thioredoxin with high affinity

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Ethan W Taylor, Senior Research Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Pro-fs is a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-l)-encoded putative selenoprotein, predicted by a theoretical analysis of the viral genome; it is potentially expressed by a -1 frameshift from the protease coding region. Pro-fs has significant sequence similarity to the DNA binding loop of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB), which is known to bind thioredoxin (Trx). We hypothesize that the putative HIV-1 pro-fs gene product functions by mimicry of NF-kappaB via binding to Trx. The hypothesis was tested in vitro by co-immunoprecipitation and GST-pull down assays, using a purified mutant pro-fs protein, in which the two potential selenocysteine residues were mutated to cysteines, in order to permit expression in bacteria. Both experiments showed that pro-fs binds to human wild type Trx (Trx-wt) with high affinity. Mutation of the two conserved cysteine residues in the Trx active site redox center to serine (Ser) (Trx-CS) weakened but failed to abolish the interaction. In pro-fs-transfected 293T cells, using confocal microscopy and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), we have observed that pro-fs localizes in cell nuclei and forms oligomers. Upon stimulation by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), Trx translocates into cell nuclei. Significant FRET efficiency was detected in the nuclei of PMA-stimulated 293T cells co-expressing fluorescence-tagged pro-fs and Trx-wt or Trx-CS. These results indicate that in living cells the double cysteine mutant of pro-fs binds to both Trx and Trx-CS with high affinity, suggesting that Trx-pro-fs binding is a structurally-specific interaction, involving more of the Trx molecule than just its active site cysteine residues. These results establish the capacity for functional mimicry of the Trx binding ability of the NF-kappaB/Rel family of transcription factors by the putative HIV-1 pro-fs protein.

Additional Information

Publication
Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis Volume 579, Issues 1–2, 11 November 2005, Pages 133-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2005.02.019
Language: English
Date: 2005
Keywords
HIV-1 protease, Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-?B), Thioredoxin, Selenoprotein, Frameshift

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