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. 1993 Jun;67(6):3615–3619. doi: 10.1128/jvi.67.6.3615-3619.1993

Mutational analysis of the leucine zipper-like motif of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope transmembrane glycoprotein.

S S Chen 1, C N Lee 1, W R Lee 1, K McIntosh 1, T H Lee 1
PMCID: PMC237711  PMID: 8497069

Abstract

The N-terminal region of the envelope (env) transmembrane protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has a leucine zipper-like motif. This highly conserved zipper motif, which consists of a heptad repeat of leucine or isoleucine residues, has been suggested to play a role in HIV-1 env glycoprotein oligomerization. This hypothesis was tested by replacing the highly conserved leucine or isoleucine residues in the zipper motif with a strong alpha-helix breaker, proline. We report here that such substitutions did not abolish the ability of env protein to form oligomers, indicating that this highly conserved zipper motif does not have a crucial role in env protein oligomerization. However, the mutant viruses all showed impaired infectivity, suggesting that this conserved zipper motif can have an important role in the virus life cycle.

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