Fig. 1.
Essential elements involved in retroviral 5′-leader dimerization. a Representation of retroviral 5′-leader showing AUG (green) in hairpin and U5:AUG conformations. Arrows indicate locations of 3′ truncations. Nucleotide sequences and predicted U5:AUG base pairing, DIS with palindromic region (red), and AUG hairpins of b HIV-1NL4-3, c SIVcpzUS, d SIVcpzTAN1, and e HIV-2ROD. The U5:AUG formation, DIS, and AUG hairpins for HIV-1NL4-3 5′-leader dimerization have been proposed previously [33]. f–i Native gel electrophoresis data obtained for each retroviral full-length leader (5′-LWT) after time-dependent incubation in PI buffer and detected using TB (top panel) and TBM (lower panel) running buffers. Positions of the monomer and dimer bands are denoted by M and D, respectively. 5′-LWT constructs reached equilibrium within 30-min to 1-h incubation time