In vitro dimerization of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) spliced RNAs

Abstract

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) packages its genomic RNA as a dimer of homologous RNA molecules that has to be selected among a multitude of cellular and viral RNAs. Interestingly, spliced viral mRNAs are packaged into viral particles with a relatively low efficiency despite the fact that they contain most of the extended packaging signal found in the 5′ untranslated region of the genomic RNA, including the dimerization initiation site (DIS). As a consequence, HIV-1 spliced viral RNAs can theoretically homodimerize and heterodimerize with the genomic RNA, and thus they should directly compete with genomic RNA for packaging. To shed light on this issue, we investigated for the..