New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Why HIV's cloak has a long tail

Date:
June 2, 2015
Source:
Emory Health Sciences
Summary:
A small section of the envelope protein, located on the 'tail' of the HIV virus is necessary for the protein to be sorted into viral particles. Figuring out how to manipulate the envelope protein could help researchers design more effective vaccines, experts say.
Share:
FULL STORY

Virologists at Emory University School of Medicine, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta have uncovered a critical detail explaining how HIV assembles its infectious yet stealthy clothing.

For HIV to spread from cell to cell, the viral envelope protein needs to become incorporated into viral particles as they emerge from an infected cell. Researchers led by Paul Spearman, MD, have found that a small section of the envelope protein, located on its "tail," is necessary for the protein to be sorted into viral particles.

The results are scheduled for publication in PNAS.

The finding could explain why the HIV envelope protein has an unusually long tail, an element that distinguishes it from similar viruses. The tail is required for HIV to infect and replicate in the cells it prefers: macrophages and T cells. The long tail is also thought to help HIV avoid the immune system, and figuring out how to manipulate it could help researchers design more effective vaccines.

Spearman is Chief Research Officer for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Nahmias-Schinazi Professor and Vice Chair of Research in Emory University School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics. Co-author Eric Hunter, PhD is co-director of Emory's Center for AIDS Research and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.

Working with Spearman, postdoctoral fellow Mingli Qi, PhD, and colleagues previously found that a protein from host cells called Rab11-FIP1C is important for the envelope protein to become part of viral particles in the cells HIV prefers.

"The new paper shows that the protein we found is the key factor in determining envelope incorporation in T cells and macrophages," Spearman says. "Now we know the part of the envelope protein required, which is probably the part that binds to Rab11-FIP1C, and have more evidence that this pathway is really important for the virus."

HIV particles are marked by a relatively sparse level of Env protein, which is thought to help HIV avoid provoking the immune system. It may be possible to either interfere with or enhance HIV envelope incorporation in cells, Spearman says. Enhancing the process could make the vaccines his lab is designing, based on non-infectious virus-like particles, more potent. Conversely, interfering with envelope incorporation could be an antiviral drug target.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Emory Health Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Mingli Qi, Hin Chu, Xuemin Chen, Junghwa Choi, Xiaoyun Wen, Jason Hammonds, Lingmei Ding, Eric Hunter, Paul Spearman. A tyrosine-based motif in the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein tail mediates cell-type– and Rab11-FIP1C–dependent incorporation into virions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015; 201504174 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1504174112

Cite This Page:

Emory Health Sciences. "Why HIV's cloak has a long tail." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 June 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150602130551.htm>.
Emory Health Sciences. (2015, June 2). Why HIV's cloak has a long tail. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 10, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150602130551.htm
Emory Health Sciences. "Why HIV's cloak has a long tail." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150602130551.htm (accessed October 10, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES