Human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase. General properties and its interactions with nucleoside triphosphate analogs.

Using affinity purified human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase the reaction assay conditions were determined. The optimum incorporation of dTMP into the (rA)n(dT)10 template with HIV reverse transcriptase required 6 mM MgCl2 and 80 mM KCl. The template specificity of HIV reverse transcriptase is quite different from those of the human gamma-polymerase-associated reverse transcriptase or avian virus reverse transcriptase. The preferential inhibition of HIV reverse transcriptase as compared to human gamma-reverse transcriptase was observed with several nucleoside analog triphosphates. The Ki values for thymidine triphosphate analogs with HIV reverse transcriptase ranged from 5 to 13 nM with decreasing effectiveness for 3'-fluoro greater than 3'-amino greater than 2',3'-dideoxy greater than 3'-azido groups. This study provides information on the structure activity relationships of the triphosphate analogs inhibitory effects on HIV reverse transcriptase versus human gamma-polymerase-associated reverse transcriptase, and the possible mechanisms of action of 3' azido thymidine and the 2',3'-dideoxynucleosides, and also identifies other nucleoside analogs for possible development as inhibitors of HIV.