Overexpression and incorporation of GagPol precursor does not impede packaging of HIV-1 tRNA Lys3 but promotes intracellular budding of virus-like particles

Abstract

We have recently demonstrated that alteration of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag/GagPol ratio in virus-producing cells reduces the infectivity of progeny viruses and hinders the formation of stable virion RNA dimers without impairing virion packaging of the viral genomic RNA. In addition, we have previously shown that the expression of GagPol mediates the selective packaging of tRNA[sup Lys3] . In this study we report that overexpression of uncleaved GagPol in the virus-producing cell did not alter the packaging levels of tRNA[sup Lys3] . Similarly, altering the virion-associated Gag/GagPol ratio did not affect the virion packaging of the HIV-1 envelope protein nor cyclop..