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Zani A, Messali S, Bugatti A, Uggeri M, Rondina A, Sclavi L, Caccuri F, Caruso A. Molecular mechanisms behind the generation of pro-oncogenic HIV-1 matrix protein p17 variants. J Gen Virol 2024; 105. [PMID: 38687324 DOI: 10.1099/jgv.0.001982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 matrix protein p17 variants (vp17s), characterized by amino acid insertions at the COOH-terminal region of the viral protein, have been recently identified and studied for their biological activity. Different from their wild-type counterpart (refp17), vp17s display a potent B cell growth and clonogenic activity. Recent data have highlighted the higher prevalence of vp17s in people living with HIV-1 (PLWH) with lymphoma compared with those without lymphoma, suggesting that vp17s may play a key role in lymphomagenesis. Molecular mechanisms involved in vp17 development are still unknown. Here we assessed the efficiency of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase (RT) in processing this genomic region and highlighted the existence of hot spots of mutation in Gag, at the end of the matrix protein and close to the matrix-capsid junction. This is possibly due to the presence of inverted repeats and palindromic sequences together with a high content of Adenine in the 322-342 nucleotide portion, which constrain HIV-1 RT to pause on the template. To define the recombinogenic properties of hot spots of mutation in the matrix gene, we developed plasmid vectors expressing Gag and a minimally modified Gag variant, and measured homologous recombination following cell co-nucleofection by next-generation sequencing. Data obtained allowed us to show that a wide range of recombination events occur in concomitance with the identified hot spots of mutation and that imperfect events may account for vp17s generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Zani
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Serena Messali
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Antonella Bugatti
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Matteo Uggeri
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Alessandro Rondina
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Leonardo Sclavi
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
| | - Francesca Caccuri
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
- Center for Advanced Medical and Pharmaceutical Research (CCAMF), George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology, Târgu Mures, Romania
| | - Arnaldo Caruso
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy
- Center for Advanced Medical and Pharmaceutical Research (CCAMF), George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology, Târgu Mures, Romania
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