TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of small insertions on the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase
AU - Hizi, Amnon
AU - Barber, Ann
AU - Hughes, Stephen H.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to H. Marusiodis for preparing this manuscript. This research was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, DHHS. under Contract NOl-CO-74101 with Bionetics Research, Inc. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
PY - 1989/5
Y1 - 1989/5
N2 - We have described a strain of Escherichia coli that expresses high levels of enzymatically active, soluble, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (A. Hizi, C. McGill, and S. H. Hughes, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85, 1218-1222, 1988). The clone can be used as a source of the enzyme and to generate and characterize mutations in the reverse transcriptase. We have made a series of small in-frame insertions in the region that encodes the reverse transcriptase. When the mutant plasmids are reintroduced into E. coli, they induce the synthesis of mutant forms of the enzyme. With one interesting exception, the reduction in RNA-dependent DNA polymerizing activity seen in the mutants correlates well with the degree of sequence conservation among the various reverse transcriptases. Insertions into regions that are evolutionarily conserved have a more profound effect on RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity than do insertions into regions that are less conserved. The exception to this simple correlation is that a small insertion into the region encoding RNase H gives rise to a protein with essentially no RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity. We suggest that this mutation may affect the ability of the reverse transcriptase to fold properly, which might explain our previous observation that small carboxyl terminal deletions profoundly affect RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity.
AB - We have described a strain of Escherichia coli that expresses high levels of enzymatically active, soluble, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (A. Hizi, C. McGill, and S. H. Hughes, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85, 1218-1222, 1988). The clone can be used as a source of the enzyme and to generate and characterize mutations in the reverse transcriptase. We have made a series of small in-frame insertions in the region that encodes the reverse transcriptase. When the mutant plasmids are reintroduced into E. coli, they induce the synthesis of mutant forms of the enzyme. With one interesting exception, the reduction in RNA-dependent DNA polymerizing activity seen in the mutants correlates well with the degree of sequence conservation among the various reverse transcriptases. Insertions into regions that are evolutionarily conserved have a more profound effect on RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity than do insertions into regions that are less conserved. The exception to this simple correlation is that a small insertion into the region encoding RNase H gives rise to a protein with essentially no RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity. We suggest that this mutation may affect the ability of the reverse transcriptase to fold properly, which might explain our previous observation that small carboxyl terminal deletions profoundly affect RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0024525117&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0042-6822(89)90389-9
DO - 10.1016/0042-6822(89)90389-9
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AN - SCOPUS:0024525117
SN - 0042-6822
VL - 170
SP - 326
EP - 329
JO - Virology
JF - Virology
IS - 1
ER -
