AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, November 10, 2003
Staff Medical Writers

"The nucleocapsid (NC) protein NCp7 of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 is a small basic protein with two zinc finger motifs," scientists in France explained. "NCp7 has key roles in virus replication and structure, which rely on its interactions with nucleic acids. Although most interactions involve RNAs, binding to the viral DNA is thought to be of importance to achieve protection of the DNA against cellular nucleases and its integration into the host genome."

In a recent study, G. Krishnamoorthy and colleagues at the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg "investigated the interaction of NCp7 with plasmid DNA as a model system" in which "the fluorescence probe YOYO-1 was used as the reporter."

"Binding of NCp7 to DNA caused DNA condensation, as inferred from the dramatic decrease in YOYO-1 fluorescence," they wrote in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. "Efficient condensation of DNA required the full length NCp7 with the zinc fingers. The fingerless peptide was less efficient in condensing DNA."

"Binding of both these NC peptides led to freezing of the segmental dynamics of DNA as revealed by anisotropy decay kinetics of YOYO-1," published data revealed. "The truncated peptide NC(12-55) which retains the zinc fingers did not lead to DNA condensation, despite its ability to bind and partially freeze the segmental motion of DNA."

"We propose that the histone-like property of NCp7 leading to DNA condensation contributes to viral DNA stability, in vivo," the researchers concluded.

Krishnamoorthy and coauthors published their study in Nucleic Acids Research (DNA condensation by the nucleocapsid protein of HIV-1: a mechanism ensuring DNA protection. Nucleic Acids Res. 2003 Sep 15;31(18):5425-32.

For additional information, contact G. Krishnamoorthy, Universite Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg, Laboratoire de Pharmacologie et Physicochimie des Interactions Cellulaires et Moleculaires, CNRS, UMR 7034, Faculte de Pharmacie, 74 Route du Rhin, F-67401 Illkirch Graffenstaden, France.

Publisher contact information for the journal Nucleic Acids Research is: Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon St., Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of AIDS & HIV, DNA Research, Proteomics and Virology.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Krishnamoorthy G, Roques B, Darlix JL, et al., "DNA condensation by the nucleocapsid protein of HIV-1: a mechanism ensuring DNA protection.", Nucleic Acids Res. 2003 Sep 15;31(18):5425-32.

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