Figure 1.

Design of Anti-HIV AgoshRNAs

(A) The HIV genome showing the position of all target sites. (B) HIV target sequences that are highly conserved among HIV isolates. (C) Secondary structure of the R/T5 AgoshRNA with a 3′ terminus ribozyme, as predicted by Mfold, with the guide strand boxed shaded in gray. The Ago2 cleavage site is indicated by a black triangle (bp 10–11). The 5′ end nucleotide of AgoshRNA constructs and the base-pairing partner were replaced by A C (black circle). Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) and cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein (CPEB3) ribozymes (shown in blue) were inserted immediately downstream of the CUU 3′ terminus. The variable position 36 in the CPEB3 ribozyme is circled in blue. The ribozyme cleavage site is indicated by a star.