AUTHOR=Maldonado José O. , Martin Jessica L. , Mueller Joachim D. , Zhang Wei , Mansky Louis M. 

TITLE=New insights into retroviral Gag–Gag and Gag–membrane interactions

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2014

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00302

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2014.00302

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=A critical aspect of viral replication is the assembly of virus particles, which are<br/>subsequently released as progeny virus. While a great deal of attention has been<br/>focused on better understanding this phase of the viral life cycle, many aspects of the<br/>molecular details remain poorly understood. This is certainly true for retroviruses,<br/>including that of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) as well as for human<br/>T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). This review discusses the retroviral Gag protein<br/>and its interactions with itself, the plasma membrane and the role of lipids in targeting<br/>Gag to virus assembly sites Recent progress using sophisticated biophysical<br/>approaches to investigate – in a comparative manner – retroviral Gag-Gag and Gagmembrane<br/>interactions are discussed. Differences among retroviruses in Gag-Gag and<br/>Gag-membrane interactions imply dissimilar molecular aspects of the viral assembly<br/>pathway, including the interactions of Gag with lipids at the membrane.