Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham 03824, New Hampshire, USA.
Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2021 Nov 10;23(43):24773-24779. doi: 10.1039/d1cp03822b.
The conserved and structured elements in viral RNA genomes interact with proteins to regulate various events in the viral life cycle and have become key targets for developing novel therapeutic approaches. We probe physical interactions between lab-evolved proteins and a viral RNA element from the HIV-1 genome. Specifically, we study the role of an arginine-rich loop in recognition of designed proteins by the viral RNA element. We report free energy calculations to quantitatively estimate the protein/RNA binding energetics, focusing on the mutations of arginine residues involved in recognition of the major groove of RNA by proteins.
病毒 RNA 基因组中的保守和结构元件与蛋白质相互作用，调节病毒生命周期中的各种事件，已成为开发新型治疗方法的关键目标。我们研究了实验室进化的蛋白质与 HIV-1 基因组中病毒 RNA 元件之间的物理相互作用。具体来说，我们研究了富含精氨酸的环在病毒 RNA 元件识别设计蛋白中的作用。我们报告了自由能计算结果，以定量估计蛋白质/RNA 结合的能学，重点研究了与蛋白质识别 RNA 大沟有关的精氨酸残基的突变。
