Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (286K) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (18)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Windbichler, N.
Right arrow Articles by Schroeder, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Windbichler, N.
Right arrow Articles by Schroeder, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nucleic Acids Research, 2003, Vol. 31, No. 22 6419-6427
© 2003 Oxford University Press

Article

Kissing complex-mediated dimerisation of HIV-1 RNA: coupling extended duplex formation to ribozyme cleavage

Nikolai Windbichler, Michael Werner and Renée Schroeder*

Max F. Perutz Laboratories, University Departments of the Vienna Biocenter, Department of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Vienna, Dr. Bohrgasse 9/4, A-1030 Vienna, Austria

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +43 1 4277 54690; Fax: +43 1 4277 9546; Email: renee{at}gem.univie.ac.at
The authors wish it to be known that, in their opinion, the first two authors should be regarded as joint First Authors

Initiation of retroviral genomic RNA dimerisation is mediated by the mutual interaction of the dimerisation initiation site (DIS) stem–loops near to the 5' end of the RNA. This process is thought to involve formation of a transient ‘kissing’ complex over the self-complementary loop bases, which then refolds into a more stable extended interaction. We have developed a novel experimental system that allows us to clearly detect the extended duplex in vitro. Ribozyme sequences were incorporated into or adjacent to the type 1 human immunodeficiency virus DIS stem, leading to the formation of a functional ribozyme only in the extended duplex conformer. Here we show that extended duplex formation results in ribozyme cleavage, thus demonstrating the double-stranded nature of the extended complex and confirming that refolding occurs via melting of the DIS stems. Loop complementarity is essential for extended duplex formation but no sequence requirements for the loops were observed. Efficiency of extended duplex formation is dependent on the strength of the loop–loop interaction, temperature, the magnesium concentration and is strongly accelerated by the viral nucleocapsid protein NCp7. Our ribozyme-coupled approach should be applicable to the analyses of other refolding processes involving RNA loop–loop interactions.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Virol.Home page
M. D. Moore, W. Fu, O. Nikolaitchik, J. Chen, R. G. Ptak, and W.-S. Hu
Dimer Initiation Signal of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1: Its Role in Partner Selection during RNA Copackaging and Its Effects on Recombination
J. Virol., April 15, 2007; 81(8): 4002 - 4011.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
X. Sun, Q. Zhang, and H. M. Al-Hashimi
Resolving fast and slow motions in the internal loop containing stem-loop 1 of HIV-1 that are modulated by Mg2+ binding: role in the kissing-duplex structural transition
Nucleic Acids Res., March 12, 2007; 35(5): 1698 - 1713.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
O. Mayer, L. Rajkowitsch, C. Lorenz, R. Konrat, and R. Schroeder
RNA chaperone activity and RNA-binding properties of the E. coli protein StpA
Nucleic Acids Res., February 28, 2007; 35(4): 1257 - 1269.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
F. Kieken, F. Paquet, F. Brule, J. Paoletti, and G. Lancelot
A new NMR solution structure of the SL1 HIV-1Lai loop-loop dimer
Nucleic Acids Res., January 12, 2006; 34(1): 343 - 352.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 RNAHome page
N. PIGANEAU, U. E. SCHAUER, and R. SCHROEDER
A yeast RNA-hybrid system for the detection of RNA-RNA interactions in vivo
RNA, January 1, 2006; 12(1): 177 - 184.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Biol. Chem.Home page
S. Bernacchi, E. Ennifar, K. Toth, P. Walter, J. Langowski, and P. Dumas
Mechanism of Hairpin-Duplex Conversion for the HIV-1 Dimerization Initiation Site
J. Biol. Chem., December 2, 2005; 280(48): 40112 - 40121.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
R. Grossberger, O. Mayer, C. Waldsich, K. Semrad, S. Urschitz, and R. Schroeder
Influence of RNA structural stability on the RNA chaperone activity of the Escherichia coli protein StpA
Nucleic Acids Res., April 22, 2005; 33(7): 2280 - 2289.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
A. Weixlbaumer, A. Werner, C. Flamm, E. Westhof, and R. Schroeder
Determination of thermodynamic parameters for HIV DIS type loop-loop kissing complexes
Nucleic Acids Res., September 30, 2004; 32(17): 5126 - 5133.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.