Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase: arrangement of protein domains in active cDNA complexes.

ABSTRACT: Early steps of retroviral replication involve reverse transcription of the viral RNA genome and integration of the resulting cDNA copy into a chromosome of the host cell. The viral-encoded integrase protein carries out the initial DNA breaking and joining reactions that mediate integration. The organization of the active integrase-DNA complex is unknown, though integrase is known to act as a multimer, and high resolution structures of the isolated integrase domains have been determined. Here we use site-specific cross-linking based on disulfide bond formation to map integrase-DNA contacts in active complexes. We establish that the DNA-binding C-terminal domain of one integrase monomer acts with the central catalytic domain from another monomer at each viral cDNA end. These data allow detai

SUBMITTER: Gao K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC125503 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature