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

Xiaowei Chen, Pascale Coric, Valery Larue, Serge Turcaud, Xiao Wang, Sylvie Nonin-Lecomte, Serge Bouaziz

European journal of medicinal chemistry 2020 Oct 15

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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. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Citation

Xiaowei Chen, Pascale Coric, Valery Larue, Serge Turcaud, Xiao Wang, Sylvie Nonin-Lecomte, Serge Bouaziz. The HIV-1 maturation inhibitor, EP39, interferes with the dynamic helix-coil equilibrium of the CA-SP1 junction of Gag. European journal of medicinal chemistry. 2020 Oct 15;204:112634