Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Residues 259-284 of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase exhibit sequence homology with other nucleic acid polymerases and have been termed the "helix clamp" (Hermann, T., Meier, T., Gotte, M., and Heumann, H. (1994) Nucleic Acids Res. 22, 4625-4633), since crystallographic evidence indicates these residues are part of two alpha-helices (alpha H and alpha I) that interact with DNA. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis has previously demonstrated that several residues in alpha H make important interactions with nucleic acid and influence frameshift fidelity. To define the role of alpha I (residues 278-286) during catalytic cycling, we performed systematic site-directed mutagenesis from position 277 through position 287 by changing each residue, one by one, to alanine. Each mutant protein was expressed and, except for L283A and T286A, was soluble. The soluble mutant enzymes were purified and characterized. In contrast to alanine mutants of alpha H, alanine substitution in alpha I did not have a significant effect on template.primer (T.P) binding as revealed by a lack of an effect on Km, T.P, Ki for 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine 5'-triphosphate, koff, T.P and processivity. Consistent with these observations, the fidelity of the mutant enzymes was not influenced. However, alanine mutagenesis of alpha I lowered the apparent activity of every mutant relative to wild-type enzyme. Titration of two mutants exhibiting the lowest activity with T.P (L282A and R284A) demonstrated that these mutant enzymes could bind T.P stoichiometrically and tightly. In contrast, active site concentrations determined from "burst" experiments suggest that the lower activity is due to a smaller populations of enzyme bound productively to T.P. The putative electrostatic interactions between the basic side chains of the helix clamp and the DNA backbone are either very weak or kinetically silent. In contrast, interactions between several residues of alpha H and the DNA minor groove, 3-5 nucleotides from the 3'-primer terminus, are suggested to be critical for DNA binding and fidelity.
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PMID:Role of the "helix clamp" in HIV-1 reverse transcriptase catalytic cycling as revealed by alanine-scanning mutagenesis. 864 17

Alanine scanning mutagenesis was undertaken to evaluate the structural significance of Met230-His235 of the 66 kDa subunit of p66/p51 human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase (HIV-1 RT). Together with Glu224-Trp229, these residues provide the framework of the p66 "primer grip", whose proposed role is maintaining the primer terminus in an orientation appropriate for nucleophilic attack on an incoming dNTP. Of these residues, altering Leu234 results in a p66 subunit incapable of associating into heterodimer. The remaining selectively mutated enzymes were successfully reconstituted and purified to homogeneity for evaluation of RT-associated activities. We show here that alterations to any residue within the p66-Trp229-Met230-Gly231-Tyr232-quartet alter functions associated with both the DNA polymerase and ribonuclease H (RNase H) domains. Detailed analysis of mutant p66Y232A/p51 with an intact or a model "precleaved" RNA-DNA hybrid suggests an altered RNase H phenotype could result from relocation of template-primer in the nucleic acid binding cleft. As a consequence, template nucleotide-8 is positioned in the immediate vicinity of the RNase H catalytic center rather than nucleotide-17.
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PMID:Alterations to the primer grip of p66 HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and their consequences for template-primer utilization. 867 16

Alanine-scanning mutants of the primer grip region of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase were tested for their ability to extend RNA and DNA versions of the polypurine tract primer, and an oligonucleotide representing the 18-nucleotide sequence at the 3' end of tRNALys3. A majority of the mutant enzymes were either completely or severely deficient in RNA priming activity, but, with only one exception, were able to efficiently extend DNA versions of the same primers. The mutant enzymes were able to bind to RNA primers, indicating that the defect in RNA priming was not simply a loss of binding activity. Mutations at positions 229, 233, and 235 dramatically reduced the amount of specific RNase H cleavage at the 3' terminus of the polypurine tract, which is required for primer removal. An alanine substitution at position 232 led to loss of cleavage specificity, although total activity was close to the wild-type level. Taken together, these results demonstrate for the first time that there are residues in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase which are specifically involved in protein-nucleic acid interactions with RNA primers.
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PMID:Alanine-scanning mutations in the "primer grip" of p66 HIV-1 reverse transcriptase result in selective loss of RNA priming activity. 914 45

HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) is a key enzyme involved in the replication of the virus and is a potential target for therapeutic intervention following infection. Several drugs that inhibit the enzyme from acting have been discovered. These include nucleoside-analogue inhibitors such as AZT (zidovudine), ddI and ddC, and non-nucleoside inhibitors such as nevirapine and delavirdine. All of them, however have been found to be of limited clinical utility because the RT becomes rapidly resistant to them on account of point mutations in the enzyme. One way to partly overcome this limitation is to design an inhibitor that has interactions mainly with the backbone and the conserved residues of RT. Using a rational drug-design approach based on the high resolution X-ray crystal structure of the RT-nevirapine complex (1), and the specific design principles of peptides containing dehydro-Alanine (deltaAla) generated by our theoretical calculations, we present here the design of a peptide inhibitor of RT. Energy minimization and molecular modeling of the interaction of the designed pentapeptide with the nevirapine-binding site indicate that the inhibitor has 60% of its interactions with the conserved regions of RT as compared to 30% in the case of nevirapine, thus making it much less sensitive to mutations in the enzyme.
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PMID:A peptide inhibitor of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase using alpha,beta-dehydro residues: a structure-based computer model. 983 73

Biochemical and molecular modeling studies of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase (RT) have revealed that a structural element, the minor groove binding track (MGBT), is important for both replication frameshift fidelity and processivity. The MGBT interactions occur in the DNA minor groove from the second through sixth base pair from the primer 3'-terminus where the DNA undergoes a structural transition from A-like to B-form DNA. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis had previously demonstrated that Gly(262) and Trp(266) of the MGBT contributes important DNA interactions. To probe the molecular interactions occurring in this critical region, eight mutants of RT were studied in which alternate residues were substituted for Trp(266). These enzymes were characterized in primer extension assays in which the template DNA was adducted at a single adenine by either R- or S-enantiomers of styrene oxide. These lesions failed to block DNA polymerization by wild-type RT, yet the Trp(266) mutants and an alanine mutant of Gly(262) terminated synthesis on styrene oxide-adducted templates. Significantly, the sites of termination occurred primarily 1 and 3 bases following adduct bypass, when the lesion was positioned in the major groove of the template-primer stem. These results indicate that residue 266 serves as a "protein sensor" of altered minor groove interactions and identifies which base pair interactions are altered by these lesions. In addition, the major groove lesion must alter important structural transitions in the template-primer stem, such as minor groove widening, that allow RT access to the minor groove.
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PMID:Vertical-scanning mutagenesis of a critical tryptophan in the "minor groove binding track" of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. Major groove DNA adducts identify specific protein interactions in the minor groove. 1074 90

A class of disulfide constrained peptides containing a core motif FPWG was identified from a screen of phage displayed library using the HCV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (NS5B) as a bait. Surface plasmon resonance studies showed that three highly purified synthetic constrained peptides bound to immobilized NS5B with estimated K(d) values ranging from 30 to 60 microM. In addition, these peptides inhibited the NS5B activity in vitro with IC(50) ranging from 6 to 48 microM, whereas in contrast they had no inhibitory effect on the enzymatic activities of calf thymus polymerase alpha, human polymerase beta, RSV polymerase, and HIV reverse transcriptase in vitro. Two peptides demonstrated conformation-dependent inhibition since their synthetic linear versions were not inhibitory in the NS5B assay. A constrained peptide with the minimum core motif FPWG retained selective inhibition of NS5B activity with an IC(50) of 50 microM. Alanine scan analyses of a representative constrained peptide, FPWGNTW, indicated that residues F1 and W7 were critical for the inhibitory effect of this peptide, although residues P2 and N5 had some measurable inhibitory effect as well. Further analyses of the mechanism of inhibition indicated that these peptides inhibited the formation of preelongation complexes required for the elongation reaction. However, once the preelongation complex was formed, its activity was refractory to peptide inhibition. Furthermore, the constrained peptide FPWGNTW inhibited de novo initiated RNA synthesis by NS5B from a poly(rC) template. These data indicate that the peptides confer selective inhibition of NS5B activity by binding to the enzyme and perturbing an early step preceding the processive elongation step of RNA synthesis.
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PMID:Identification of constrained peptides that bind to and preferentially inhibit the activity of the hepatitis C viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. 1295 Oct 30

The HIV-1 p51/p66 reverse transcriptase (RT) heterodimer interface comprises, in part, intermolecular interaction of the loop region between beta-strands 7 and 8 (beta7-beta8 loop) in the p51 fingers subdomain with the p66 palm subdomain. In this study, for the first time in the context of infectious HIV-1 particles, we analyzed the contribution of amino acid residues (S134, I135, N136, N137, T139 and P140) in the beta7-beta8 loop for RT heterodimerization, enzymatic activity, and virus infectivity. Mutating asparagine 136 to alanine (N136A) reduced viral infectivity and enzyme activity dramatically. The N136A mutation appeared to destabilize the RT heterodimer and render both the p66 and p51 subunits susceptible to aberrant cleavage by the viral protease. Subunit-specific mutagenesis demonstrated that the presence of the N136A mutation in the p51 subunit alone was sufficient to cause degradation of RT within the virus particle. Alanine mutation at other residues of the beta7-beta8 loop did not affect either RT stability or virus infectivity significantly. None of the beta7-beta8 loop alanine mutations affected the sensitivity of virus to inhibition by NNRTIs. In the context of infectious virions, our results indicate a critical role of the p51 N136 residue within the beta7-beta8 loop for RT heterodimer stability and function. These findings suggest the interface comprising N136 in p51 and interacting residues in p66 as a possible target for rational drug design.
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PMID:Analysis of amino acids in the beta7-beta8 loop of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase for their role in virus replication. 1714 5

Previous work showed that conservation of proline at residue 306 (rtP306) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reverse transcriptase (RT) is crucial for virus replication and encapsidation of pregenomic RNA (pgRNA). In this study, the functions of residues flanking rtP306 in HBV RT (rtG304, rtY305, rtA307, rtL308 and rtL311) are presented. Alanine or phenylalanine was used to substitute these residues by constructing site-directed mutants which were used to transfect Huh-7 cells. Replication competencies and encapsidation efficiencies were compared between the mutants and the parental viral strain. Substitutions at these residues resulted in marked decrease of replication competency, which was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization of HBV DNA isolated from intracytoplasmic core particles, and trans-complementation between a non-replicative defective mutant and corresponding RT mutants. Impaired pgRNA encapsidation efficiency of these mutants was shown as the major mechanism for decreased replication efficiency. Since residues from rt304 to rt311 are highly conserved among genotypes A-H HBV strains, results suggest that rt304 to rt311 in HBV RT may serve as a putative anti-HBV new target domain.
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PMID:A putative new domain target for anti-hepatitis B virus: residues flanking hepatitis B virus reverse transcriptase residue 306 (rtP306). 1745 4

Hepadnaviruses replicate via reverse transcription of an RNA template, the pregenomic RNA (pgRNA). Although hepadnaviral polymerase (Pol) and retroviral reverse transcriptase are distantly related, some of their features are distinct. In particular, Pol contains two additional N-terminal subdomains, the terminal protein and spacer subdomains. Since much of the spacer subdomain can be deleted without detrimental effects to hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication, this subdomain was previously thought to serve only as a spacer that links the terminal protein and reverse transcriptase subdomains. Unexpectedly, we found that the C terminus of the spacer subdomain is indispensable for the encapsidation of pgRNA. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis revealed that four conserved cysteine residues, three at the C terminus of the spacer subdomain and one at the N terminus of the reverse transcriptase subdomain, are critical for encapsidation. The inability of the mutant Pol proteins to incorporate into nucleocapsid particles, together with other evidence, argued that the four conserved cysteine residues are critical for RNA binding. One implication is that these four cysteine residues might form a putative zinc finger motif. Based on these findings, we speculate that the RNA binding activity of HBV Pol may be mediated by this newly identified putative zinc finger motif.
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PMID:Four conserved cysteine residues of the hepatitis B virus polymerase are critical for RNA pregenome encapsidation. 1951 76

The Ty1 retrotransposon of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is comprised of structural and enzymatic proteins that are functionally similar to those of retroviruses. Despite overall sequence divergence, certain motifs are highly conserved. We have examined the Ty1 integrase (IN) zinc binding domain by mutating the definitive histidine and cysteine residues and thirteen residues in the intervening (X(32)) sequence between IN-H22 and IN-C55. Mutation of the zinc-coordinating histidine or cysteine residues reduced transposition by more than 4,000-fold and led to IN and reverse transcriptase (RT) instability as well as inefficient proteolytic processing. Alanine substitution of the hydrophobic residues I28, L32, I37 and V45 in the X(32) region reduced transposition 85- to 688-fold. Three of these residues, L32, I37, and V45, are highly conserved among retroviruses, although their effects on integration or viral infectivity have not been characterized. In contrast to the HHCC mutants, all the X(32) mutants exhibited stable IN and RT, and protein processing and cDNA production were unaffected. However, glutathione S-transferase pulldowns and intragenic complementation analysis of selected transposition-defective X(32) mutants revealed decreased IN-IN interactions. Furthermore, virus-like particles with in-L32A and in-V45A mutations did not exhibit substantial levels of concerted integration products in vitro. Our results suggest that the histidine/cysteine residues are important for steps in transposition prior to integration, while the hydrophobic residues function in IN multimerization.
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PMID:Functional analysis of N-terminal residues of ty1 integrase. 1957 Aug 57


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