| Title |
HIV-1 modulates the tRNA pool to improve translation efficiency / |
| Authors |
van Weringh, Anna ; Ragonnet-Cronin, Manon ; Pranckevičienė, Erinija ; Pavon-Eternod, Mariana ; Kleiman, Lawrence ; Xia, Xuhua |
| DOI |
10.1093/molbev/msr005 |
| Full Text |
|
| Is Part of |
Molecular biology and evolution.. Oxford : Oxford University Press. 2011, vol. 28, no. 6, p. 1827-1834.. ISSN 0737-4038. eISSN 1537-1719 |
| Keywords [eng] |
HIV-1 ; tRNA ; codon usage ; translation efficiency ; codon–anticodon adaptation |
| Abstract [eng] |
Despite its poorly adapted codon usage, HIV-1 replicates and is expressed extremely well in human host cells. HIV-1 has recently been shown to package non-lysyl transfer RNAs (tRNAs) in addition to the tRNALys needed for priming reverse transcription and integration of the HIV-1 genome. By comparing the codon usage of HIV-1 genes with that of its human host, we found that tRNAs decoding codons that are highly used by HIV-1 but avoided by its host are overrepresented in HIV-1 virions. In particular, tRNAs decoding A-ending codons, required for the expression of HIV's A-rich genome, are highly enriched. Because the affinity of Gag-Pol for all tRNAs is nonspecific, HIV packaging is most likely passive and reflects the tRNA pool at the time of viral particle formation. Codon usage of HIV-1 early genes is similar to that of highly expressed host genes, but codon usage of HIV-1 late genes was better adapted to the selectively enriched tRNA pool, suggesting that alterations in the tRNA pool are induced late in viral infection. If HIV-1 genes are adapting to an altered tRNA pool, codon adaptation of HIV-1 may be better than previously thought. |
| Published |
Oxford : Oxford University Press |
| Type |
Journal article |
| Language |
English |
| Publication date |
2011 |
| CC license |
|
