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PTAP motif duplication in the p6 Gag protein confers a replication advantage on HIV-1 subtype C.

ABSTRACT: HIV-1 subtype C (HIV-1C) may duplicate longer amino acid stretches in the p6 Gag protein, leading to the creation of an additional Pro-Thr/Ser-Ala-Pro (PTAP) motif necessary for viral packaging. However, the biological significance of a duplication of the PTAP motif for HIV-1 replication and pathogenesis has not been experimentally validated. In a longitudinal study of two different clinical cohorts of select HIV-1 seropositive, drug-naive individuals from India, we found that 8 of 50 of these individuals harbored a mixed infection of viral strains discordant for the PTAP duplication. Conventional and next-generation sequencing of six primary viral quasispecies at multiple time points disclosed that in a mixed infection, the viral strains containing the PTAP duplication dominated the infection. The dominance of the double-PTAP viral strains over a genetically similar single-PTAP viral clone was confirmed in viral proliferation and pairwise competition assays. Of note, in the proximity ligation assay, double-PTAP Gag proteins exhibited a significantly enhanced interaction with the host protein tumor susceptibility gene 101 (Tsg101). Moreover, Tsg101 overexpression resulted in a biphasic effect on HIV-1C proliferation, an enhanced effect at low concentration and an inhibitory effect only at higher concentrations, unlike a uniformly inhibitory effect on subtype B strains. In summary, our results indicate that the duplication of the PTAP motif in the p6 Gag protein enhances the replication fitness of HIV-1C by engaging the Tsg101 host protein with a higher affinity. Our results have implications for HIV-1 pathogenesis, especially of HIV-1C.

SUBMITTER: Sharma S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6066301 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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PTAP motif duplication in the p6 Gag protein confers a replication advantage on HIV-1 subtype C.

Sharma Shilpee S Arunachalam Prabhu S PS Menon Malini M Ragupathy Viswanath V Satya Ravi Vijaya RV Jebaraj Joshua J Aralaguppe Shambhu Ganeshappa SG Rao Chaitra C Pal Sreshtha S Saravanan Shanmugam S Murugavel Kailapuri G KG Balakrishnan Pachamuthu P Solomon Suniti S Hewlett Indira I Ranga Udaykumar U

The Journal of biological chemistry 20180517 30

HIV-1 subtype C (HIV-1C) may duplicate longer amino acid stretches in the p6 Gag protein, leading to the creation of an additional Pro-Thr/Ser-Ala-Pro (PTAP) motif necessary for viral packaging. However, the biological significance of a duplication of the PTAP motif for HIV-1 replication and pathogenesis has not been experimentally validated. In a longitudinal study of two different clinical cohorts of select HIV-1 seropositive, drug-naive individuals from India, we found that 8 of 50 of these i ...[more]

PMID: 29773649

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Project description:HIV-1 subtype C demonstrates several biological properties distinct from other viral subtypes. One such variation is the duplication of PTAP motif in p6 Gag. PTAP motif is a key player in viral budding. Here, we studied the prevalence of PTAP motif duplication in subtype C viral strains in a longitudinal study.In a prospective follow-up study, 65 HIV-1 seropositive drug-naive subjects were monitored in two different clinical cohorts of India for 2 years with repeated sampling at 6-month intervals. The viral RNA was extracted from plasma, the gag segment was amplified and sequenced. From a subset of viral isolates the sequences of pol, env and LTR were sequenced. Using HIV-1 gag amino acid sequences available from public databases and additional sequences derived from the Indian and South-African cohorts, we examined the nature of PTAP motif duplication in subtype C.In 16% (8 of 50) of the primary viral strains of India, we identified a sequence duplication of the PTAP motif in Gag p6. The length of the sequence duplication varied from 6 to 14 amino acids in the viral isolates but remained fixed within a subject over a period of 24-36 month follow-up. In the duplicated motif, the core PTAP motif was invariable, but the flanking residues were highly variable. In an acute phase clinical cohort of South Africa, in a subset of 75 subjects, we found the presence of the PTAP duplication at a frequency of 29.3%. An analysis of the gag sequences from the extant databases showed that unlike other subtypes of HIV-1, subtype C has a natural propensity to generate the PTAP motif duplication at a significantly higher frequency and of greater length. Additionally, the global prevalence of PTAP duplication in subtype C appears to be increasing progressively over the past 30 years.We showed that in subtype C, the duplication of the PTAP motif in p6 Gag involves sequence stretches of greater length, and at a much higher frequency as compared to other HIV-1 subtypes. Given that subtype C naturally lacks the Alix binding motif, the acquisition of an additional PTAP motif may confer replication advantage on this HIV-1 subtype. Further investigation is warranted to examine the significance of PTAP motif duplication on the replicative fitness of HIV-1.

Project description:Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtype C (HIV-1C) has a natural deletion of a YPxL motif in its Gag-p6 late domain. This domain mediates the binding of Gag to host cell protein ALIX and subsequently facilitates viral budding. In a subset of HIV-1C-infected individuals, the tetrapeptide insertion PYxE has been identified at the deleted YPxL motif site. Here, we report the consequences of PYxE insertion on the interaction with ALIX and the relevance regarding replication fitness and drug sensitivity. In our three HIV-1C cohorts, PYKE and PYQE were most prevalent among PYxE variants. Through in silico predictions and in vitro experiments, we showed that HIV-1C Gag has an increased binding to ALIX when the PYxE motif is present. To go more into the clinical relevance of the PYxE insertion, we obtained patient-derived gag-pol sequences from HIV-1CPYxEi viruses and inserted them in a reference HIV-1 sequence. Viral growth was increased, and the sensitivity to the protease inhibitor (PI) lopinavir (LPV) and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) was decreased for some of the HIV-1C PYxE variants compared to that of wild-type variants. Our data suggest that PYxE insertion in Gag restores the ability of Gag to bind ALIX and correlates with enhanced viral fitness in the absence or presence of LPV and TAF. The high prevalence and increased replication fitness of the HIV-1C virus with PYxE insertion indicates the clinical importance of these viral variants.IMPORTANCE Genomic differences within HIV-1 subtypes is associated with various degrees of viral spread, disease progression, and clinical outcome. Viral budding is essential in the HIV-1 life cycle and mainly mediated through the interaction of Gag with host proteins. Two motifs within Gag-p6 mediate binding of host cell proteins and facilitate budding. HIV-1C has a natural deletion of one of these two motifs, resulting in an inability to bind to host cell protein ALIX. Previously, we have identified a tetrapeptide (PYxE) insertion at this deleted motif site in a subset of HIV-1C patients. Here, we report the incidence of PYxE insertions in three different HIV-1C cohorts, and the insertion restores the binding of Gag to ALIX. It also increases viral growth even in the presence of the antiretroviral drugs lopinavir and tenofovir alafenamide. Hence, PYxE insertion in HIV-1C might be biologically relevant for viruses and clinically significant among patients.

Dataset Information

PTAP motif duplication in the p6 Gag protein confers a replication advantage on HIV-1 subtype C.

Publications

PTAP motif duplication in the p6 Gag protein confers a replication advantage on HIV-1 subtype C.

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