HIV Flashcards
What family of viruses does HIV belong to?
retroviridae
What is the capsid symmetry of HIV?
icosahedral
Does HIV have an envelope?
yes
What is the genome of HIV?
+ sense ssRNA
Where does the genome of HIV replicate?
in the nucleus
Where is virus assembly of HIV?
in the cytoplasm
What are the 3 major genes of the HIV genome?
gag, pol and env
What is encoded by the gag gene?
the matrix, capsid and nucleocapsid
What is encoded by the env gene?
the surface glycoprotein (SU or gp120) which binds to the CD4 receptor and the transmembrane protein (TM or gp41) which enables the virus to attach to target cells
What is encoded by the pol gene?
reverse transcriptase, protease and integrase
How does HIV enter cells?
the surface glycoprotein binds to the CD4 receptor which induces structural changes in the protein - this leads to exposure of coreceptor binding sites which bind to CCR5 or CXCR4 which leads to structural rearrangement and membrane fusion
What is the difference between CCR5 and CXCR4 binding HIV?
CCR5 binding happens early in the infection and has less pathogenicity
Why is there a high level of mutation in HIV?
because the reverse transcriptase is highly error prone
What is the role of integrase?
catalyses the random integration of HIV DNA into cell DNA which is required for the production of new virus
What is the LTR and what is its role?
the LTR is a long terminal repeat on both ends of the viral DNA which binds to integrase so the DNA can be integrated into the host DNA - it is important because the 5’ LTR acts as a promoter and is activated by NFkappaB when T cells are activated - therefore T cell activation results in transcription of viral proteins
What is the function of the tat protein?
binds to TAR (transactivating response element) which is essential for efficient transcription and also has a role in phosphrylating RNA polymerase II to make it an efficient enzyme
What is the function of the rev protein?
allows fragments of HIV mRNA that contain a HIV Rev response element (RRE) to be exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm
Are tat and rev essential for HIV replication?
yes
Are vif, vpr, vpu and nef essential for HIV replication?
no - but they are essential for pathogenesis
What is the role of vif?
blocks APOBEC (an enzyme which mutates viral DNA)
What is the role of vpr?
nuclear import of DNA