2. Academic Validation
  3. The HIV-1 maturation inhibitor, EP39, interferes with the dynamic helix-coil equilibrium of the CA-SP1 junction of Gag

The HIV-1 maturation inhibitor, EP39, interferes with the dynamic helix-coil equilibrium of the CA-SP1 junction of Gag

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2020 Oct 15;204:112634. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112634.
Xiaowei Chen 1,  Pascale Coric 1,  Valery Larue 1,  Serge Turcaud 2,  Xiao Wang 1,  Sylvie Nonin-Lecomte 1,  Serge Bouaziz 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 CiTCoM, CNRS, UMR 8038, Université de Paris, 4 Avenue de L'Observatoire, Paris, 75270, France.
  • 2 LCBPT, CNRS, UMR 8601, Université de Paris, Paris, 45 Rue des Saints Pères, 75270, France.
  • 3 CiTCoM, CNRS, UMR 8038, Université de Paris, 4 Avenue de L'Observatoire, Paris, 75270, France. Electronic address: serge.bouaziz@parisdescartes.fr.
PMID: 32717487 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112634
Abstract

During the maturation of HIV-1 particle, the Gag polyprotein is cleaved into several proteins by the HIV-1 protease. These proteins rearrange to form infectious virus particles. In this study, the solution structure and dynamics of a monomeric mutated domain encompassing the C-terminal of capsid, the spacer peptide SP1 and the nucleocapsid from Gag was characterized by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in the presence of maturation inhibitor EP39, a more hydro-soluble derivative of BVM. We show that the binding of EP39 decreases the dynamics of CA-SP1 junction, especially the QVT motif in SP1, and perturbs the natural coil-helix equilibrium on both sides of the SP1 domain by stabilizing the transient alpha helical structure. Our results provide new insight into the structure and dynamics of the SP1 domain and how HIV-1 maturation inhibitors interfere with this domain. They offer additional clues for the development of new second generation inhibitors targeting HIV-1 maturation.

Keywords

CA-SP1 junction; Dynamics; EP39; HIV-1; Maturation inhibitor; NMR.

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