Amnon Hizi

..We postulate that sequences and/or three-dimensional protein structures common to RTs interact with INs and inhibit their activities. We show evidence for this hypothesis and discuss the possible sites of IN involved in this interaction...

..In all, it is likely that the observed unique mechanism of self-priming in Tf1 represents an early advantageous form of initiating reverse transcription in LTR retroelements without involving cellular tRNAs...

..These results reveal that both the activity and specificity of enzymes can be modulated by their chromodomains...

..The comparisons between the diverse properties of the various RTs show the common traits that characterize the RTs from all retroviral subfamilies. In addition, the unique features of the specific RTs groups are also discussed...

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..These results can facilitate the development of novel and specific peptide-based HIV-1 RT inhibitors that might help in the fight against AIDS...

..Accordingly, 5f can serve as lead for developing novel inhibitors against RT that may be used to suppress HIV-1 growth...

..Therefore, the availability of large amounts of the recombinant RT can be useful for a wide screening of novel drugs against infectious PERV...

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..These modes of direct protein interactions, along with the apparent rate constants calculated and the correlations of the interaction kinetics with the capacity of the RTs to inhibit IN activities, are all discussed...

..This suggests that the modifications of C280 lead to an impaired affinity of HIV-1 RT towards the RNA-DNA substrate...

..These include, among other topics, their structures, enzymatic activities, interactions with both viral and host proteins, RT inhibition and resistance to antiretroviral drugs...

..This information can substantially facilitate the development of novel drugs against HIV INs and thus contribute to the fight against AIDS...

..In all, Tf1 RT has a marked infidelity in synthesizing DNA at template ends, a phenomenon that can explain, as discussed herein, some of the features of Tf1 replication in the host cells...

..These results highlight possible new functions of Tf1 integrase in the retrotransposon's reverse transcription process...

..These differences shed light on the dissimilarities in catalytic activities of RTs, and suggest that clamp activity may be a potential new target for anti-retroviral drugs...

..The unusually high NTA activity of Tf1 RT can explain why, after completing cDNA synthesis, the in vivo generated Tf1 cDNA has relatively long extra sequences beyond the highly conserved CA at its 3'-ends...

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..These inhibitors may serve as promising anti-HIV lead compounds...

..Since the only three-dimensional structures of RTs published so far are those of HIV-1 and MLV, it is likely that MMTV RT folds quite similarly to these RTs...

..The longer BIV RT version is somewhat less active than the shorter version, suggesting that the extra 74 residues (with homology to dUTPases) might obstruct efficient catalysis...

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..These RT properties can shed light on potentially-new roles of RTs in the reverse-transcription process and define new targets for anti-retroviral drugs...

..Ile178 was found to be the major contributor to IN inhibition, probably by interacting with IN residue Gly149. As Gly149 is a key IN residue, this inhibition probably results from a steric hindrance of the IN active site...

..This may reflect architectural differences in the primer grip regions in the p66 (HIV-1) and p68 (HIV-2) palm subdomains of the two enzymes. The implications of our findings for antiviral therapy are discussed...

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..Furthermore, these results provide evidence for the possible involvement of endogenous retrovirus in human breast carcinoma...

..These results indicate that some of the effects of F-6 are mediated by the CDR3 of the heavy chain. The antibodies identified here will be further tested as intrabodies for their capacity to protect human cells from HIV-1 infection...

..The pattern of mispair elongation by BLV RT suggests that the in vitro error proneness of BLV RT is closer to that of HIV-1 RT. These fidelity properties are discussed in the context of the various retroviral RTs studied so far...

..Abs and pseudoviruses with such specificity are likely to be highly valuable as building blocks for specific targeting and killing of HIV-1-infected cells...

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..These peptides are promising anti-HIV lead compounds that modulate oligomerization of IN via a previously uncharacterized mechanism, which bears advantages over the conventional interface dimerization inhibitors...