Abstract
Retroviruses can cause diseases such as AIDS, leukemia, and tumors, but are also used as vectors for human gene therapy. All retroviruses, except foamy viruses, package two copies of unspliced genomic RNA into their progeny viruses. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of retroviral genome packaging will aid the design of new anti-retroviral drugs targeting the packaging process and improve the efficacy of retroviral vectors. Retroviral genomes have to be specifically recognized by the cognate nucleocapsid domain of the Gag polyprotein from among an excess of cellular and spliced viral mRNA. Extensive virological and structural studies have revealed how retroviral genomic RNA is selectively packaged into the viral particles. The genomic area responsible for the packaging is generally located in the 5′ untranslated region (5′ UTR), and contains dimerization site(s). Recent studies have shown that retroviral genome packaging is modulated by structural changes of RNA at the 5′ UTR accompanied by the dimerization. In this review, we focus on three representative retroviruses, Moloney murine leukemia virus, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and 2, and describe the molecular mechanism of retroviral genome packaging.
Introduction
Retroviruses belong to a diverse family of RNA viruses causing various diseases, such as leukemia, tumors, demyelinization disease, and AIDS. One unique feature of retroviruses is their integration of reverse transcribed genome into the host chromosome as a provirus. Some retroviruses have been engineered to function as vectors for the delivery of corrective human genes, and vectors derived from the Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) have been used for the treatment of severe combined immunodeficiency (Nelson et al., 2003). An understanding of the molecular mechanism of retroviral replication is needed for the development of anti-retroviral therapies as well as retroviral vectors.
All retroviruses, except foamy viruses, package two copies of full-length genomic RNA into progeny viruses, the genomic RNA having to be specifically selected from among a large amount of spliced viral and cellular RNA (Figure 1; Berkowitz et al., ). Virological and genetic studies have shown that the specific packaging of retroviral genomic RNA is mediated via interaction with the nucleocapsid (NC) domain of the Gag polyprotein (Rein, 1994; Berkowitz et al., ; Jewell and Mansky, ; Greatorex, ; Paillart et al., 2004b; Russell et al., 2004). Retroviral NC domains are generally highly basic and contain one or two zinc knuckle motifs composed of C–C–H–C arrays (Henderson et al., ; Summers et al., 1990; Kodera et al., ; D’Souza and Summers, ; Matsui et al., ). The zinc knuckles form a metal-coordinating “reverse turn” stabilized by NH–S hydrogen bonds. Most retroviral zinc knuckles contain a hydrophobic cleft on the surface of the mini globular domain, recognizing specific structures of RNA or DNA. The basic N- and C-terminal tails of NC domains are conformationally labile (Summers et al., 1992).
Figure 1
Retroviral genomes are known to be non-covalently dimerized in progeny virions (Rizvi and Panganiban, 1993). The region responsible for retroviral genome packaging is generally located between the splice donor (SD) site and the gag start codon in the 5′ leader region (Watanabe and Temin, 1982; Mann and Baltimore, ; Lever et al., ; Mansky et al., ; Kaye and Lever, ; Browning et al., ; Mustafa et al., 2004). Interestingly, the packaging signal generally overlaps with the site of dimerization (Paillart et al., 1996, 2004a; Greatorex, ; Hibbert et al., ), implying that the packaging event is coupled with genome dimerization (Russell et al., 2004). Inhibition of genome dimerization by deletion or insertion mutations at dimer initiation sites (DIS) causes a drastic reduction in genome packaging (Berkhout, ; Paillart et al., 1996; Laughrea et al., ; McBride and Panganiban, ). Moreover, studies with mutant viruses containing two 5′ untranslated region (UTR) packaged monomeric genome, indicate that genome packaging is achieved by the interaction of two 5′ UTRs (Sakuragi et al., 2001, 2002). Experiments with MoMLV have indicated that the conformational change induced by genome dimerization causes the exposure of NC-binding sites (D’Souza and Summers, ). A recent study also indicated that human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) employs a similar strategy for genome packaging (Lu et al., ). In addition, several structures have been determined among complexes of NC and RNA fragments functioning in genome packaging, which provide the molecular mechanism for retroviral genome recognition of NC at the atomic level. In this review, we describe the molecular mechanisms of retroviral genome packaging.
Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus
Moloney murine leukemia virus is a simple prototypical retrovirus, with a single splicing event producing a spliced RNA for synthesizing Env during its life cycle. MoMLV is one of the most extensively studied retroviruses. Nucleotides 215–565 of the 5′ UTR have been identified as a responsible site for genome packaging (Ψ-site; Mann et al., ). The secondary structure of the 5′ UTR was determined by RNase protection assays using cross-linking reagents combined with computational analyses such as phylogenetic and free-energy calculations (Tounekti et al., 1992; Mougel et al., 1993). The monomeric Ψ-site is composed of a series of RNA stem-loops. Differences in RNase protection patterns were observed for the dimeric Ψ-site (Tounekti et al., 1992; Mougel et al., 1993; D’Souza and Summers, ). It was reported that a dimerized RNA fragment containing the entire Ψ-site was bound to a significant number of NCs (Miyazaki et al., 2010a). Meanwhile, a mutant RNA fragment that inhibited dimerization was bound to a few NCs. Thus, dimerization-dependent genome packaging is strongly indicated in MoMLV.
The minimum region sufficient for genome packaging is referred to as the core encapsidation signal (ΨCES), though a virus containing only ΨCES exhibits less efficient packaging than a virus containing the entire Ψ-site (Bender et al., ; Adam and Miller, ; Murphy and Goff, 1989; Mougel and Barklis, 1997; Yu et al., 2000). ΨCES consists of three RNA stem-loops (DIS-2, SL-C, and SL-D, see Figures 2A,B). DIS-2 harbors a palindromic sequence and is able to convert heterologous extended dimers. The structure of NC in a complex with a mutant RNA of ΨCES mimicking the dimer-like conformation was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy (Figures 2C,D; D’Souza and Summers, ). UAUCUG residues sequestered by base-pairing in the monomeric conformation are exposed as a linker by dimerization. NC recognizes the UCUG sequence. NC is a highly basic protein, consisting of a zinc knuckle motif and labile tails in both the N- and C-terminus. Biophysical study indicated that NC specifically recognizes RNA fragments including a Py (C or U) – Py-Py-G sequence (Dey et al., ). The interface of NC–UCUG is complementary in both shape and charge (D’Souza and Summers, ; Dey et al., ). The guanosine base attaches to the deep hydrophobic pocket of the zinc knuckle via hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds. The three upstream nucleotides make contact with hydrophobic residues on the surface of the zinc knuckle.
Figure 2
SL-C and SL-D, which are part of ΨCES, promote genome packaging (Mougel et al., 1996; Mougel and Barklis, 1997; Fisher and Goff,
The tertiary structure of a RNA fragment of a SL–CD mutant locking to form a single conformation containing the GACG terra-loop was determined by NMR spectroscopy and confirmed by Cryo-electron tomography (Miyazaki et al., 2010b). The structure revealed that SL–CD is dimerized by intermolecular cross-kissing (SL-C to SL-D′ and SL-D to SL-C′). These intermolecular cross-kissing interactions were also proposed based on selective 2′-Hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE; Gherghe and Weeks,
Of note, a totally different monomeric structure for a portion of the Ψ-site (nucleotides 205–374) was proposed based on SHAPE (Gherghe and Weeks,
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1
Virological studies have indicated the HIV-1 5′ leader region including the entire 5′ UTR and a portion of the gag coding region to be involved in genome packaging (Lever et al.,
Figure 3

(A) Genomic organization of HIV-1. (B) The latest model for HIV-1 genome packaging. Conformational change of RNA in the 5′ leader region regulates genome dimerization and genome packaging. The stem-loop structure of AUG causes sequestering of DIS via long range interaction with the residues of U5, resulting in the inhibition of HIV-1 genome dimerization (left). In this conformation of the 5′ leader RNA, a small number of NCs are capable of binding the 5′ leader RNA. In contrast, the interaction of AUG with U5 residues promotes genome dimerization via exposure of DIS (center). In this conformation of the 5′ leader RNA, a greater number of NCs are capable of binding the 5′ leader RNA. The different RNA elements in the 5′ leader region are color coded: DIS (red), SD (blue), Ψ (orange), and AUG (green).
RNA fragments of DIS, SD, Ψ, and AUG have been studied extensively since the region from DIS to AUG was initially identified as a Ψ-site (Lever et al.,
The RNA fragment of SD is also bound to NC with high affinity though the binding is slightly weaker than that of Ψ (Amarasinghe et al.,
Dimer initiation site contains a GC-rich palindromic sequence and an inner bulge (G-AGG) in the middle of the stem. This inner bulge is recognized by NC. As described above, guanosine residues not in base-pairs possibly play an important role in the binding to NC (Mihailescu and Marino, 2004). However, the binding affinity of NC–DIS is relatively weak (approximately five times weaker than that of NC–SD/ Ψ; Lawrence et al.,
AUG was believed to form a stem-loop structure, consisting of a GAGA tetra-loop and an unstable short stem containing two wobble G–U base-pairs (Amarasinghe et al.,
It is suggested that the HIV-1 genome’s dimerization and packaging are controlled by dynamic changes of the 5′ leader’s conformation as indicated in MoMLV (D’Souza and Summers,
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2
Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) is one of two human lentiviruses that can cause AIDS. HIV-1 and HIV-2 exhibit approximately 55% nucleotide sequence identity. However, they differ significantly in their 5′ UTR. For example, the 5′ UTR of HIV-2 (HIV-2ROD) consists of 535 nucleotides, whereas that of HIV-1 (HIV-1NL432) consists of 335 nucleotides. The 5′ leader RNA of HIV-2 contains three unique RNA elements referred to as Ψ-1, Ψ-2, and Ψ-3 in addition to a series of RNA stem-loops, TAR, poly(A), PBS, DIS, SD, and AUG, those are commonly observed in the 5′ leader of HIV-1 (Figure 4; Berkhout,
Figure 4

(A) Genomic organization of HIV-2. (B) Representative secondary structures predicted for the 5′ UTR of HIV-2. Variations among recent predictions for AUG (green) are shown. The residues of AUG have been suggested to form a stem-loop structure and show long range interaction with the residues of U5. It has been suggested that HIV-2 genome’s dimerization is employed the same mechanism as HIV-1. However, it remains to be clear whether NC preferentially binds the 5′ leader RNA containing the U5–AUG interaction.
It has been suggested that Ψ-3 can be bound to NC (Tsukahara et al., 1996; Damgaard et al., 1998). A study using RNase protection assays suggested that the NC–Ψ-3 ribonucleoprotein exhibited strong protection at the loop of Ψ-3. This was supported by NMR experiments. The guanosine residue of the UUAGAC loop is inserted into the hydrophobic cleft of the C-terminal zinc knuckle (Matsui et al.,
The RNA fragment of DIS is bound to NC with high affinity (Kd = 100 nM), equivalent to the affinity of HIV-1 Ψ RNA and the cognate NC (Purzycka et al., 2011). HIV-2 NC recognizes the inner bulge of DIS, and does not bind to the loop. HIV-1 DIS is weakly bound to the cognate NC (Lawrence et al.,
Despite significant differences in the recognition of NC by the 5′ leader RNA, HIV-1, and HIV-2 may employ similar mechanisms for genome packaging. Dirac et al. (
Perspectives
It has been indicated that the MoMLV NC domain of Gag binds predominantly to dimeric genomes (D’Souza and Summers,
Statements
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (ID no. 21390141).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
retrovirus, genome, RNA, NC, structure, dimerization, packaging
Citation
Miyazaki Y, Miyake A, Nomaguchi M and Adachi A (2011) Structural Dynamics of Retroviral Genome and the Packaging. Front. Microbio. 2:264. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2011.00264
Received
28 November 2011
Accepted
11 December 2011
Published
29 December 2011
Volume
2 - 2011
Edited by
Mikako Fujita, Kumamoto University, Japan
Reviewed by
Mikako Fujita, Kumamoto University, Japan; Jun-ichi Sakuragi, Osaka University, Japan
Copyright
© 2011 Miyazaki, Miyake, Nomaguchi and Adachi.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited.
*Correspondence: Yasuyuki Miyazaki, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan. e-mail: ymiyazaki@basic.med.tokushima-u.ac.jp
This article was submitted to Frontiers in Virology, a specialty of Frontiers in Microbiology.
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