Abstract
The antiretroviral activity of the cellular enzyme APOBEC3G [1] has been attributed to the excessive deamination of cytidine (C) to uridine (U) in minus strand reverse transcripts, a process resulting in guanosine (G) to adenosine (A) hypermutation of plus strand DNAs [2-5]. The HIV-1 Vif protein counteracts APOBEC3G by inducing proteasomal degradation and exclusion from virions through recruitment of a cullin5 ECS E3 ubiquitin ligase complex [6-13]. APOBEC3G belongs to the APOBEC protein family, members of which possess consensus (H/C)-(A/V)-E-(X)24-30-P-C-(X)2-C cytidine deaminase motifs [14]. Earlier analyses of APOBEC-1 have defined specific residues that are important for zinc coordination, proton transfer, and, therefore, catalysis within this motif [15]. Because APOBEC3G contains two such motifs, we used site-directed mutagenesis of conserved residues to assess each region's contribution to anti-HIV-1 activity. Surprisingly, whereas either the N- or C-terminal domain could confer antiviral function in tissue culture-based infectivity assays, only an intact C-terminal motif was essential for DNA mutator activity. These findings reveal the nonequivalency of APOBEC3G's N- and C-terminal domains and imply that APOBEC3G-mediated DNA editing may not always be necessary for antiviral activity. Accordingly, we propose that APOBEC3G can achieve an anti-HIV-1 effect through an undescribed mechanism that is distinct from cytidine deamination.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 166 - 170 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Current Biology |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 26 Jan 2005 |