Fig. 4A: HIV Protease, Step-1
HIV must use a HIV encoded enzyme
called protease in order to cleave a large Gag-Pol polyprotein (p120), a Gag
polyprotein (p55), and an Env polyprotein (gp160) into functional proteins essential
to the structure of HIV and to its RNA packaging. The active site of the HIV
protease binds to the polyproteins and cleaves them into functional proteins
(see Step-2).
- The Gag polyproteins (p55) will
eventually be cleaved by HIV proteases to become HIV matrix proteins (MA;
p17), capsid proteins (CA; p24), and nucleocapsid proteins (NC, p7).
- The Gag-Pol polyproteins (p160)
will eventually be cleaved to become HIV matrix proteins (MA; p17), capsid
proteins (CA; p24), proteinase molecules (protease or PR; p10), reverse transcriptase
molecules (RT; p66/p51), and integrase molecules (IN; p32).
- The
Env polyproteins (gp160) will eventually be cleaved to become HIV envelope
glycoproteins gp120 and gp41.
Illustration of HIV Protease, Step-1. .jpg by Gary E. Kaiser, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology,
The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville Campus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://cwoer.ccbcmd.edu/science/microbiology/index_gos.html..
Last updated: August, 2019
Please send comments and inquiries to Dr.
Gary Kaiser