Figure 5.

Myristoylation-dependent regulation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral proteins: the principal targets of HIV are mostly cells that express CD4 and CCR5 or CXCR4 surface receptors vis-à-vis CD4 T lymphocytes, macrophages, monocytes, and dendritic cells. Upon entering its target cells, HIV integrates inside its host genome and thus hijacking the host gene expression machinery. Subsequently, there is production of both host and viral proteins that drive the progression of HIV to AIDS. For example, the viral protein, Nef, is cotranslationally modified by the host’s NMT, which ensures its interaction with and downregulation of the host cell surface receptors (CD4 and MHC1). On the other hand, NMT mediates the assembly and multimerization of Gag at the plasma membrane during budding and viral release events.