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. 1995 Jan 17;92(2):364–368. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.2.364

Targeting of a nuclease to murine leukemia virus capsids inhibits viral multiplication.

G Natsoulis 1, P Seshaiah 1, M J Federspiel 1, A Rein 1, S H Hughes 1, J D Boeke 1
PMCID: PMC42740  PMID: 7831291

Abstract

Capsid-targeted viral inactivation is an antiviral strategy in which toxic fusion proteins are targeted to virions, where they inhibit viral multiplication by destroying viral components. These fusion proteins consist of a virion structural protein moiety and an enzymatic moiety such as a nuclease. Such fusion proteins can severely inhibit transposition of yeast retrotransposon Ty1, an element whose transposition mechanistically resembles retroviral multiplication. We demonstrate that expression of a murine retrovirus capsid-staphylococcal nuclease fusion protein inhibits multiplication of the corresponding murine leukemia virus by 30- to 100-fold. Staphylococcal nuclease is apparently inactive intracellularly and hence nontoxic to the host cell, but it is active extracellularly because of its requirement for high concentrations of Ca2+ ions. Virions assembled in and shed from cells expressing the fusion protein contain very small amounts of intact viral RNA, as would be predicted for nuclease-mediated inhibition of viral multiplication.

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Selected References

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

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