Structure of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase with the inhibitor beta-Thujaplicinol bound at the RNase H active site.
Himmel, D.M., Maegley, K.A., Pauly, T.A., Bauman, J.D., Das, K., Dharia, C., Clark, A.D., Ryan, K., Hickey, M.J., Love, R.A., Hughes, S.H., Bergqvist, S., Arnold, E.(2009) Structure 17: 1625-1635
- PubMed: 20004166
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2009.09.016
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
3IG1, 3K2P - PubMed Abstract:
Novel inhibitors are needed to counteract the rapid emergence of drug-resistant HIV variants. HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) has both DNA polymerase and RNase H (RNH) enzymatic activities, but approved drugs that inhibit RT target the polymerase. Inhibitors that act against new targets, such as RNH, should be effective against all of the current drug-resistant variants. Here, we present 2.80 A and 2.04 A resolution crystal structures of an RNH inhibitor, beta-thujaplicinol, bound at the RNH active site of both HIV-1 RT and an isolated RNH domain. beta-thujaplicinol chelates two divalent metal ions at the RNH active site. We provide biochemical evidence that beta-thujaplicinol is a slow-binding RNH inhibitor with noncompetitive kinetics and suggest that it forms a tropylium ion that interacts favorably with RT and the RNA:DNA substrate.
Organizational Affiliation:
Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8021, USA.