Fig. 10.

The linker region in FcaA3Z2Z3 is important for HIV-2/SIVmac/smm Vif induced degradation. a Schematic representation of FcaA3Z2Z3 mutants (ΔLinker, Δ222, Δ210). Z2 and Z3 domains are shown as yellow or blue rectangle, respectively. The linker from amino acid 192–241 is shown as white rectangle. b The Vif sensitivity of FcaA3Z2Z3 mutants was analyzed by co-transfecting expression plasmids of the A3 mutants together with lentiviral Vifs (from HIV-1, FIV, SIVmac, HIV-2 or SIVsmm) into 293T cells. The expression of FcaA3s and Vifs were confirmed by immunoblots and anti-HA and anti-V5 antibodies, respectively. Cell lysates were also analyzed for equal amounts of total proteins using anti-tubulin antibody. c Test of antiviral activity of linker mutants against FIVΔvif-luciferase and d against SIVmacΔvif-luciferase. Infectivity of virions generated with wild-type and mutated A3 was measured on 293T cells transduced by RT activity normalized particles. CPS counts per second. Asterisks represent statistically significant differences: ***p < 0.001; **0.001 < p < 0.01; *0.01 < p < 0.05; ^ns p > 0.05 (Dunnett t test)