In: Biology
HIV - Juman Immunodeficiency Virus is a reverse transcribing RNA virus. It contains 2 copies of RNA inside the virus particle.
gp60 which is cleaved into gp120 and gp40 mediate attachment and membrane fusion.
HIV protease is a Asp protease enzyme consisting of 99 amino acids and forms a homodimer. The active site has a 2-fold axis of symmetry and a conserved Asp-Thr-Gly sequence.
It catayzes the hydrolysis of peptide bonds. The Asp residues are involved in a general acid-base catalytic mechanism. Only one of the Asp is in the unprotonated state while the other is in the protonated state.
Gag-pol polyprotein auto-cleavage is required to generate the HIV protease and then the protease takes over.
M - Matrix protein
Cap - Capsid protein
S1 - Spacer peptide 1
Nc - Nucleocapsid
S2 - Spacer peptide 2
TFP - TransFrame peptide
Pr - HIV protease
RT - Reverse Transcriptase
Int - Integrase