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. 2011 Mar 14;6(3):e17831. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017831

Figure 1. HIV-1 p17 oligomerization in solution depends on ionic strength.

Figure 1

(A) Analysis of p17 by gel-filtration under different NaCl concentration. P17 is present in monomeric form from 0.5 to 1 M of NaCl with retention volume of the p17 monomer equal to 8.25 ml (upper panel). Lowering the ionic strength of the solution by dialysis against PBS (0.13 M), we observed a gradual process of p17 oligomers formation, with a volume of retention in gel-filtration of 5.36 ml (lower panel). The panels are representative of four independent experiments with similar results. (B) Western blot analysis of p17 under different NaCl concentration (0.5, 0.2 and 0.1 M). In western blot analysis both monomeric and trimeric p17 are recognized by mAb MBS-3. The detection of an approximately 40.000 Dalton band (trimeric p17) increases with the decreasing of NaCl concentration (lane A: p17 in NaCl 0.5 M; lane B: p17 in NaCl 0.2 M; lane C: p17 in NaCl 0.1 M), while p17 is mostly in a monomeric form in a solution containing 0.5 M NaCl. The blot is representative of four different experiments with similar results. (C) Solid-phase ELISA to evaluate p17 oligomers formation under different saline concentration. The p17 polymers formation evaluated as binding of GST-p17 to p17, detected by mAb anti-GST, decreased by increasing NaCl concentration in the solution. Bars represent the mean ± SD of triplicate samples. These results are representative of four independent experiments with similar results.