The Molecules of HIV
vif
www.mcld.co.uk/hiv
The "vif" gene codes for "virion infectivity factor", a protein that increases the infectivity of the HIV particle.
The protein is found inside HIV-infected cells, and it works by interfering with one of the immune system's defences - a cellular protein called APOBEC3G. Basically what happens is that vif sticks to APOBEC3G and encourages the cell to degrade it, preventing it doing its job of sneaking into newly-formed virus particles and making them non-productive (see the APOBEC3G page for more information).
This has been verified in experiments. If you can create a HIV virus with the Vif protein missing (we would call this a "delta-Vif" strain of HIV), then it can still infect a cell - but the new virus particles produced from that cell contain APOBEC3G and therefore aren't very effective at infecting other cells.
Facts:
- vif protein size: 23 kD
Journal articles about Vif:
- Navarro F, Landau NR (2004) Recent insights into HIV-1 Vif. Current Opinion in Immunology 16 (4): 477-482
- Rose KM, Marin M, Kozak SL, et al. (2004) The viral infectivity factor (Vif) of HIV-1 unveiled. Trends in Molecular Medicine 10 (6): 291-297
- Argyris EG, Pomerantz RJ (2004) HIV-1 Vif versus APOBEC3G: newly appreciated warriors in the ancient battle between virus and host. Trends in Microbiology 12 (4): 145-148
Written by
Dan Stowell
(©2002-2006)
