Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1995 Jan;69(1):456–468. doi: 10.1128/jvi.69.1.456-468.1995

Characterization of recombinant murine leukemia virus integrase.

I Dotan 1, B P Scottoline 1, T S Heuer 1, P O Brown 1
PMCID: PMC188594  PMID: 7983742

Abstract

Retroviral integration involves two DNA substrates that play different roles. The viral DNA substrate is recognized by virtue of specific nucleotide sequences near the end of a double-stranded DNA molecule. The target DNA substrate is recognized at internal sites with little sequence preference; nucleosomal DNA appears to be preferred for this role. Despite this apparent asymmetry in the sequence, structure, and roles of the DNA substrates in the integration reaction, the existence of distinct binding sites for viral and target DNA substrates has been controversial. In this report, we describe the expression in Escherichia coli and purification of Moloney murine leukemia virus integrase as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase, characterization of its activity by using several model DNA substrates, and the initial kinetic characterization of its interactions with a model viral DNA substrate. We provide evidence for functionally and kinetically distinct binding sites for viral and target DNA substrates and describe a cross-linking assay for DNA binding at a site whose specificity is consistent with the target DNA binding site.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (736.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bradford M. M. A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem. 1976 May 7;72:248–254. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(76)90527-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brown P. O., Bowerman B., Varmus H. E., Bishop J. M. Correct integration of retroviral DNA in vitro. Cell. 1987 May 8;49(3):347–356. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90287-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brown P. O., Bowerman B., Varmus H. E., Bishop J. M. Retroviral integration: structure of the initial covalent product and its precursor, and a role for the viral IN protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Apr;86(8):2525–2529. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.8.2525. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brown P. O. Integration of retroviral DNA. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 1990;157:19–48. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-75218-6_2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bushman F. D., Craigie R. Activities of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) integration protein in vitro: specific cleavage and integration of HIV DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Feb 15;88(4):1339–1343. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.4.1339. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bushman F. D., Craigie R. Sequence requirements for integration of Moloney murine leukemia virus DNA in vitro. J Virol. 1990 Nov;64(11):5645–5648. doi: 10.1128/jvi.64.11.5645-5648.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bushman F. D., Engelman A., Palmer I., Wingfield P., Craigie R. Domains of the integrase protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 responsible for polynucleotidyl transfer and zinc binding. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Apr 15;90(8):3428–3432. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.8.3428. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Bushman F. D., Fujiwara T., Craigie R. Retroviral DNA integration directed by HIV integration protein in vitro. Science. 1990 Sep 28;249(4976):1555–1558. doi: 10.1126/science.2171144. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chow S. A., Brown P. O. Substrate features important for recognition and catalysis by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase identified by using novel DNA substrates. J Virol. 1994 Jun;68(6):3896–3907. doi: 10.1128/jvi.68.6.3896-3907.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Chow S. A., Vincent K. A., Ellison V., Brown P. O. Reversal of integration and DNA splicing mediated by integrase of human immunodeficiency virus. Science. 1992 Feb 7;255(5045):723–726. doi: 10.1126/science.1738845. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Colicelli J., Goff S. P. Mutants and pseudorevertants of Moloney murine leukemia virus with alterations at the integration site. Cell. 1985 Sep;42(2):573–580. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90114-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Colicelli J., Goff S. P. Sequence and spacing requirements of a retrovirus integration site. J Mol Biol. 1988 Jan 5;199(1):47–59. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90378-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Craigie R., Fujiwara T., Bushman F. The IN protein of Moloney murine leukemia virus processes the viral DNA ends and accomplishes their integration in vitro. Cell. 1990 Aug 24;62(4):829–837. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90126-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Donehower L. A., Varmus H. E. A mutant murine leukemia virus with a single missense codon in pol is defective in a function affecting integration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Oct;81(20):6461–6465. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.20.6461. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Donzella G. A., Jonsson C. B., Roth M. J. Influence of substrate structure on disintegration activity of Moloney murine leukemia virus integrase. J Virol. 1993 Dec;67(12):7077–7087. doi: 10.1128/jvi.67.12.7077-7087.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Ellison V., Abrams H., Roe T., Lifson J., Brown P. Human immunodeficiency virus integration in a cell-free system. J Virol. 1990 Jun;64(6):2711–2715. doi: 10.1128/jvi.64.6.2711-2715.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ellison V., Brown P. O. A stable complex between integrase and viral DNA ends mediates human immunodeficiency virus integration in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Jul 19;91(15):7316–7320. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.15.7316. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Engelman A., Craigie R. Identification of conserved amino acid residues critical for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase function in vitro. J Virol. 1992 Nov;66(11):6361–6369. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.11.6361-6369.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Engelman A., Mizuuchi K., Craigie R. HIV-1 DNA integration: mechanism of viral DNA cleavage and DNA strand transfer. Cell. 1991 Dec 20;67(6):1211–1221. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90297-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Farnet C. M., Haseltine W. A. Integration of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 DNA in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Jun;87(11):4164–4168. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.11.4164. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Fitzgerald M. L., Vora A. C., Zeh W. G., Grandgenett D. P. Concerted integration of viral DNA termini by purified avian myeloblastosis virus integrase. J Virol. 1992 Nov;66(11):6257–6263. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.11.6257-6263.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Fujiwara T., Craigie R. Integration of mini-retroviral DNA: a cell-free reaction for biochemical analysis of retroviral integration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 May;86(9):3065–3069. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.9.3065. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Fujiwara T., Mizuuchi K. Retroviral DNA integration: structure of an integration intermediate. Cell. 1988 Aug 12;54(4):497–504. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90071-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Goff S. P. Genetics of retroviral integration. Annu Rev Genet. 1992;26:527–544. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.26.120192.002523. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Grandgenett D. P., Mumm S. R. Unraveling retrovirus integration. Cell. 1990 Jan 12;60(1):3–4. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90707-l. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Hanahan D. Studies on transformation of Escherichia coli with plasmids. J Mol Biol. 1983 Jun 5;166(4):557–580. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80284-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Hippenmeyer P. J., Grandgenett D. P. Mutants of the Rous sarcoma virus reverse transcriptase gene are nondefective in early replication events. J Biol Chem. 1985 Jul 15;260(14):8250–8256. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Jones K. S., Coleman J., Merkel G. W., Laue T. M., Skalka A. M. Retroviral integrase functions as a multimer and can turn over catalytically. J Biol Chem. 1992 Aug 15;267(23):16037–16040. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Jonsson C. B., Donzella G. A., Roth M. J. Characterization of the forward and reverse integration reactions of the Moloney murine leukemia virus integrase protein purified from Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem. 1993 Jan 15;268(2):1462–1469. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Katz R. A., Merkel G., Kulkosky J., Leis J., Skalka A. M. The avian retroviral IN protein is both necessary and sufficient for integrative recombination in vitro. Cell. 1990 Oct 5;63(1):87–95. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90290-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Katzman M., Katz R. A., Skalka A. M., Leis J. The avian retroviral integration protein cleaves the terminal sequences of linear viral DNA at the in vivo sites of integration. J Virol. 1989 Dec;63(12):5319–5327. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.12.5319-5327.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. LaFemina R. L., Callahan P. L., Cordingley M. G. Substrate specificity of recombinant human immunodeficiency virus integrase protein. J Virol. 1991 Oct;65(10):5624–5630. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.10.5624-5630.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Leavitt A. D., Rose R. B., Varmus H. E. Both substrate and target oligonucleotide sequences affect in vitro integration mediated by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase protein produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Virol. 1992 Apr;66(4):2359–2368. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.4.2359-2368.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Pahl A., Flügel R. M. Endonucleolytic cleavages and DNA-joining activities of the integration protein of human foamy virus. J Virol. 1993 Sep;67(9):5426–5434. doi: 10.1128/jvi.67.9.5426-5434.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Panganiban A. T., Temin H. M. The retrovirus pol gene encodes a product required for DNA integration: identification of a retrovirus int locus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Dec;81(24):7885–7889. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.24.7885. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Panganiban A. T., Temin H. M. The terminal nucleotides of retrovirus DNA are required for integration but not virus production. Nature. 1983 Nov 10;306(5939):155–160. doi: 10.1038/306155a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Roth M. J., Schwartzberg P. L., Goff S. P. Structure of the termini of DNA intermediates in the integration of retroviral DNA: dependence on IN function and terminal DNA sequence. Cell. 1989 Jul 14;58(1):47–54. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90401-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Schwartzberg P., Colicelli J., Goff S. P. Construction and analysis of deletion mutations in the pol gene of Moloney murine leukemia virus: a new viral function required for productive infection. Cell. 1984 Jul;37(3):1043–1052. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90439-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Sherman P. A., Dickson M. L., Fyfe J. A. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integration protein: DNA sequence requirements for cleaving and joining reactions. J Virol. 1992 Jun;66(6):3593–3601. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.6.3593-3601.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Sherman P. A., Fyfe J. A. Human immunodeficiency virus integration protein expressed in Escherichia coli possesses selective DNA cleaving activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Jul;87(13):5119–5123. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.13.5119. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Shih C. C., Stoye J. P., Coffin J. M. Highly preferred targets for retrovirus integration. Cell. 1988 May 20;53(4):531–537. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90569-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Shoemaker C., Hoffman J., Goff S. P., Baltimore D. Intramolecular integration within Moloney murine leukemia virus DNA. J Virol. 1981 Oct;40(1):164–172. doi: 10.1128/jvi.40.1.164-172.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Smith D. B., Johnson K. S. Single-step purification of polypeptides expressed in Escherichia coli as fusions with glutathione S-transferase. Gene. 1988 Jul 15;67(1):31–40. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(88)90005-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Vincent K. A., Ellison V., Chow S. A., Brown P. O. Characterization of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase expressed in Escherichia coli and analysis of variants with amino-terminal mutations. J Virol. 1993 Jan;67(1):425–437. doi: 10.1128/jvi.67.1.425-437.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Vink C., Yeheskiely E., van der Marel G. A., van Boom J. H., Plasterk R. H. Site-specific hydrolysis and alcoholysis of human immunodeficiency virus DNA termini mediated by the viral integrase protein. Nucleic Acids Res. 1991 Dec 25;19(24):6691–6698. doi: 10.1093/nar/19.24.6691. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Vink C., van der Linden K. H., Plasterk R. H. Activities of the feline immunodeficiency virus integrase protein produced in Escherichia coli. J Virol. 1994 Mar;68(3):1468–1474. doi: 10.1128/jvi.68.3.1468-1474.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Vora A. C., Fitzgerald M. L., Grandgenett D. P. Removal of 3'-OH-terminal nucleotides from blunt-ended long terminal repeat termini by the avian retrovirus integration protein. J Virol. 1990 Nov;64(11):5656–5659. doi: 10.1128/jvi.64.11.5656-5659.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Whitcomb J. M., Hughes S. H. Retroviral reverse transcription and integration: progress and problems. Annu Rev Cell Biol. 1992;8:275–306. doi: 10.1146/annurev.cb.08.110192.001423. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. van Gent D. C., Elgersma Y., Bolk M. W., Vink C., Plasterk R. H. DNA binding properties of the integrase proteins of human immunodeficiency viruses types 1 and 2. Nucleic Acids Res. 1991 Jul 25;19(14):3821–3827. doi: 10.1093/nar/19.14.3821. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. van Gent D. C., Oude Groeneger A. A., Plasterk R. H. Identification of amino acids in HIV-2 integrase involved in site-specific hydrolysis and alcoholysis of viral DNA termini. Nucleic Acids Res. 1993 Jul 25;21(15):3373–3377. doi: 10.1093/nar/21.15.3373. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES