dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA folding inhibitor of the HIV-1 Protease
| Authors | R. A. Broglia, D. Provasi, F. Vasile, G. Ottolina, R. Longhi, G. Tiana |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0509019 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0509019 |
Abstract
Being the HIV-1 Protease (HIV-1-PR) an essential enzyme in the viral life cycle, its inhibition can control AIDS. The folding of single domain proteins, like each of the monomers forming the HIV-1-PR homodimer, is controlled by local elementary structures (LES, folding units stabilized by strongly interacting, highly conserved, as a rule hydrophobic, amino acids). These LES have evolved over myriad of generations to recognize and strongly attract each other, so as to make the protein fold fast and be stable in its native conformation. Consequently, peptides displaying a sequence identical to those segments of the monomers associated with LES are expected to act as competitive inhibitors and thus destabilize the native structure of the enzyme. These inhibitors are unlikely to lead to escape mutants as they bind to the protease monomers through highly conserved amino acids which play an essential role in the folding process. The properties of one of the most promising inhibitors of the folding of the HIV-1-PR monomers found among these peptides is demonstrated with the help of spectrophotometric assays and CD spectroscopy.
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"abstract": "Being the HIV-1 Protease (HIV-1-PR) an essential enzyme in the viral life\ncycle, its inhibition can control AIDS. The folding of single domain proteins,\nlike each of the monomers forming the HIV-1-PR homodimer, is controlled by\nlocal elementary structures (LES, folding units stabilized by strongly\ninteracting, highly conserved, as a rule hydrophobic, amino acids). These LES\nhave evolved over myriad of generations to recognize and strongly attract each\nother, so as to make the protein fold fast and be stable in its native\nconformation. Consequently, peptides displaying a sequence identical to those\nsegments of the monomers associated with LES are expected to act as competitive\ninhibitors and thus destabilize the native structure of the enzyme. These\ninhibitors are unlikely to lead to escape mutants as they bind to the protease\nmonomers through highly conserved amino acids which play an essential role in\nthe folding process. The properties of one of the most promising inhibitors of\nthe folding of the HIV-1-PR monomers found among these peptides is demonstrated\nwith the help of spectrophotometric assays and CD spectroscopy.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0509019",
"authors": [
"R. A. Broglia",
"D. Provasi",
"F. Vasile",
"G. Ottolina",
"R. Longhi",
"G. Tiana"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.BM"
],
"title": "A folding inhibitor of the HIV-1 Protease",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0509019"
},
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