Journal
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Volume 336, Issue 5, Pages 1117-1128Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2003.11.057
Keywords
HIV-1 integrase; nuclear import; importin alpha; synthetic peptides
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In spite of recent efforts to elucidate the nuclear import pathway of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase protein (IN), its exact route as well as the domains that mediate its import are still unknown. Here, we show that a synthetic peptide bearing the amino acid residues 161-173 of the HIV-1 IN is able to mediate active import of covalently attached bovine serum albumin molecules into nuclei of permeabilized cells and therefore was designated as nuclear localization signal-IN (NLS(IN)). A peptide bearing residues 161-173 in the reversed order showed low karyophilic properties. Active nuclear import was demonstrated by using fluorescence microscopy and a quantitative ELISA-based assay system. Nuclear import was blocked by addition of the NLS(IN) peptide, as well as by a peptide bearing the NLS of the simian virus 40 T-antigen (NLS-SV40). The NLS(IN) peptide partially inhibited nuclear import mediated by the full-length recombinant HIV-1 IN protein, indicating that the sequence of the NLS(IN) is involved in mediating nuclear import of the IN protein. The NLS(IN) as well as the full-length IN protein interacted specifically with importin a., binding of which was blocked by the NLS(IN) peptide itself as well as by the NLS-SV40. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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