Microbiology
Enhanced enzyme kinetics of reverse transcriptase variants cloned from animals infected with SIVmac239 lacking viral protein X
HIV Type 1 (HIV-1) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) display differential replication kinetics in macrophages. This is because high expression levels of the active host deoxynucleotide triphosphohydrolase sterile α motif domain and histidine-aspartate domain–containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) deplete intracellular dNTPs, which restrict HIV-1 reverse transcription, and result in a restrictive infection in this myeloid cell type. Some SIVs overcome SAMHD1 restriction using viral protein X (Vpx), a viral accessory protein that induces proteasomal degradation of SAMHD1, increasing cellular dNTP concentrations and enabling efficient proviral DNA synthesis.The C-terminal domain of feline and bovine SAMHD1 proteins has a crucial role in lentiviral restriction
SAM and HD domain-containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) is a host factor that restricts reverse transcription of lentiviruses such as HIV in myeloid cells and resting T cells through its dNTP triphosphohydrolase (dNTPase) activity. Lentiviruses counteract this restriction by expressing the accessory protein Vpx or Vpr, which targets SAMHD1 for proteasomal degradation. SAMHD1 is conserved among mammals, and the feline and bovine SAMHD1 proteins (fSAM and bSAM) restrict lentiviruses by reducing cellular dNTP concentrations.Viral protein X reduces the incorporation of mutagenic noncanonical rNTPs during lentivirus reverse transcription in macrophages
Unlike activated CD4+ T cells, nondividing macrophages have an extremely small dNTP pool, which restricts HIV-1 reverse transcription. However, rNTPs are equally abundant in both of these cell types and reach much higher concentrations than dNTPs. The greater difference in concentration between dNTPs and rNTPs in macrophages results in frequent misincorporation of noncanonical rNTPs during HIV-1 reverse transcription. Here, we tested whether the highly abundant SAM domain– and HD domain–containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) deoxynucleoside triphosphorylase in macrophages is responsible for frequent rNTP incorporation during HIV-1 reverse transcription.Interplay of ancestral non-primate lentiviruses with the virus-restricting SAMHD1 proteins of their hosts
Lentiviruses infect both dividing CD4+ T cells and nondividing myeloid cells, and the infected myeloid cells serve as long-living viral reservoirs. Host sterile alpha motif– and histidine-aspartate domain–containing protein 1 (SAMHD1) kinetically restricts reverse transcription of primate lentiviruses, including human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), in nondividing myeloid cells. SAMHD1 enforces this restriction through its dNTP triphosphohydrolase (dNTPase) activity that depletes cellular dNTPs.
