Selberg S, Žusinaite E, Herodes K, Seli N, Kankuri E, Merits A, Karelson M. HIV Replication Is Increased by RNA Methylation METTL3/METTL14/WTAP Complex Activators.
ACS Omega 2021;
6:15957-15963. [PMID:
34179640 PMCID:
PMC8223420 DOI:
10.1021/acsomega.1c01626]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications in both viral and host cell RNAs play an important role in HIV-1 virus genome transcription and virus replication. We demonstrate here that activators of the METTL3/METTL14/WTAP RNA methyltransferase complex enhance the production of virus particles in cells harboring HIV-1 provirus. In parallel, the amount of m6A residues in the host cell mRNA was increased in the presence of these activator compounds. Importantly, the m6A methylation of the HIV-1 RNA was also enhanced significantly (about 18%). The increase of virus replication by the small-molecule activators of the METTL3/METTL14/WTAP complex excludes them as potential anti-HIV-1 drug candidates. However, the compounds may be of large interest as activators for the latent HIV-1 provirus copies deposited in host cells' genome and the subsequent virus eradication by an antiviral compound.
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