All retroviral nucleocapsid (NC) proteins contain one or two copies of an invariant 3Cys‐1His array (CCHC = C‐X2‐C‐X4‐H‐X4‐C; C = Cys, H = His, X = variable amino acid) that are essential for RNA genome packaging and infectivity and have been proposed to function as zinc‐binding domains. Although the arrays are capable of binding zinc in vitro, the physiological relevance of zinc coordination has not been firmly established. We have obtained zinc‐edge extended X‐ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra for intact retroviruses in order to determine if virus‐bound zinc, which is present in quantities nearly stoichiometric with the CCHC arrays (Bess, J.W., Jr., Powell, P.J., Issaq, H.J., Schumack, L.J., Grimes, M.K., Henderson, L.E., & Arthur, L.O., 1992, J. Virol. 66, 840–847), exists in a unique coordination environment. The viral EXAFS spectra obtained are remarkably similar to the spectrum of a model CCHC zinc finger peptide with known 3Cys‐1His zinc coordination structure. This finding, combined with other biochemical results, indicates that the majority of the viral zinc is coordinated to the NC CCHC arrays in mature retroviruses. Based on these findings, we have extended our NMR studies of the HIV‐1 NC protein and have determined its three‐dimensional solution‐state structure. The CCHC arrays of HIV‐1 NC exist as independently folded, noninteracting domains on a flexible polypeptide chain, with conservatively substituted aromatic residues forming hydrophobic patches on the zinc finger surfaces. These residues are essential for RNA genome recognition, and fluorescence measurements indicate that at least one residue (Trp37) participates directly in binding to nucleic acids in vitro. The NC is only the third HIV‐1 protein to be structurally characterized, and the combined EXAFS, structural, and nucleic acid‐binding results provide a basis for the rational design of new NC‐targeted antiviral agents and vaccines for the control of AIDS.

A new method is described for determining molecular structures from NMR data. The approach utilizes 2D NOESY back-calculations to generate simulated spectra for structures obtained from distance geometry (DG) computations. Comparison of experimental and back-calculated spectra, including analysis of cross-peak buildup and auto-peak decay with increasing mixing time, provides a quantitative measure of the consistence between the experimental data and generated structures and allows for use of tighter interproton distance constraints. For the first time, the "goodness" of the generated structures is evaluated on the basis of their consistence with the actual experimental data rather than on the basis of consistence with other generated structures. This method is applied to the structure determination of an 18-residue peptide with an amino acid sequence comprising the first zinc fingerlike domain from the gag protein p55 of HIV. This is the first structure determination to atomic resolution for a retroviral zinc fingerlike complex. The peptide [Zn(p55F1)] exhibits a novel folding pattern that includes type I and type II NH-S tight turns and is stabilized both by coordination of the three Cys and one His residues to zinc and by extensive internal hydrogen bonding. The backbone folding is significantly different from that of a "classical" DNA-binding zinc finger. Residues C(1)-F(2)-N(3)-C(4)-G(5)-K(6) fold in a manner virtually identical with the folding observed by X-ray crystallography for related residues in the iron domain of rubredoxin; superposition of all main-chain and Cys side-chain atoms of residues C(1)-K(6) of Zn(p55F1) onto residues C(6)-Y(11) and C(39)-V(44) of rubredoxin gives RMSDs of 0.46 and 0.35 A, respectively. The side chains of conservatively substituted Phe and Ile residues implicated in genomic RNA recognition form a hydrophobic patch on the peptide surface.

Retroviral nucleocapsid and gag-precursor proteins from all known strains of retroviruses contain one or two copies of an invariant sequence, Cys-X2-Cys-X4-His-X4-Cys, that is populated with zinc in mature particles. Modification of cysteine or histidine residues results in defective packaging of genomic viral RNA and formation of non-infectious particles, making these structures potentially attractive targets for antiviral therapy. We recently reported that aromatic C-nitroso ligands of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase preferentially destabilize one of the two (Cys-X2-Cys-X28-His-X2-Cys) zinc-fingers with concomitant loss of enzymatic activity, coincidental with selective cytocidal action of the C-nitroso substituted ligands on cancer cells. Based on the occurrence of (3Cys, 1His) zinc-binding sites in both retroviral nucleocapsid and gag proteins and in poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, we reasoned that the C-nitroso compounds may also have antiretroviral effects. We show here that two such compounds, 3-nitrosobenzamide and 6-nitroso-1,2-benzopyrone, inhibit infection of human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1 in human lymphocytes and also eject zinc from isoalted HIV-1 nucleocapsid zinc fingers and from intact HIV-1 virions. Thus the design of zinc-ejecting agents that target retroviral zinc fingers represents a new approach to the chemotherapy of AIDS.

The nucleic acid interactive properties of a synthetic peptide with sequence of the N-terminal CCHC zinc finger (CCHC = Cys-X,-Cys-X4-His-X,-Cys; X = variable amino acid) of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) nucleocapsid protein, Zn(HIV1-Fl), have been studied by 'H NMR spectroscopy. Titration of Zn(HIV1-Fl) with oligodeoxyribonucleic acids containing different nucleotide sequences reveals, for the first time, sequencedependent binding that requires the presence of at least one guanosine residue for tight complex formation. The dynamics of complex formation are sensitive to the nature of the residues adjacent to guanosine, with residues on the 3' side of guanosine having the largest influence. An oligodeoxyribonucleotide with sequence corresponding to a portion of the HIV-1 psi-packaging signal, d(ACGCC), forms a relatively tight complex with Zn(HIV1-F1) (Kd = 5 x M). Two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect (NOESY) data indicate that the bound nucleic acid exists predominantly in a single-stranded, A-helical conformation, and the presence of more than a dozen intermolecular NOE cross peaks enabled three-dimensional modeling of the complex. The nucleic acid binds within a hydrophobic cleft on the peptide surface. This hydrophobic cleft is defined by the side chains of residues Val', Phe4, He1,, and AlaI3. Backbone amide protons of Phe4 and AlaI3 and the backbone carbonyl oxygen of Lys' that lie within this cleft appear to form hydrogen bonds with the guanosine 0 6 and NlH atoms, respectively. In addition, the positively charged side chain of Arg14 is ideally positioned for electrostatic interactions with the phosphodiester backbone of the nucleic acid. The structural findings provide a rationalization for the general conservation of these hydrophobic and basic residues in CCHC zinc fingers, and are consistent with site-directed mutagenesis results that implicate these residues as direct participants in viral genome recognition.Keywords: human immunodeficiency virus; NMR; nucleocapsid protein; viral genome recognition; zinc finger All retroviruses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), encode a gag precursor polyprotein that functions in the recognition of viral RNA and in the assembly of virus particles (Bolognesi et al., 1978;Dickson et al., 1985). Subsequent to assembly and budding, the gag poly (Berg, 1986) that the arrays function by coordinating zinc (Green & Berg, 1989Roberts et al., 1989;South et al., 1989South et al., , 1990a South et al., ,b, 1991Summers et al., 1990Summers et al., , 1992Fitzgerald & Coleman, 1991;Omichinski et al., 1991). In particular, recent zinc-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements on intact retroviruses reveal that tightly associated viral zinc, which is present in quantities sufficient to populate the arrays , is coordinated t o the CCHC zinc fingers of the NC proteins in mature virions Summers et al., 1992). The three-dimensional structures of the HIVl-NC protein and its constituent zinc finger domains have been determined to...

Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic and computational methods were employed for the structure determination of an 18-residue peptide with the amino acid sequence of the C-terminal retroviral-type (r.t.) zinc finger domain from the nucleocapsid protein (NCP) of HIV-1 [Zn(HIV1-F2)]. Unlike results obtained for the first retroviral-type zinc finger peptide, Zn(HIV1-F1), [Summers et al. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 329], broad signals indicative of conformational lability were observed in the 1H NMR spectrum of Zn-(HIV1-F2) at 25 degrees C. The NMR signals narrowed upon cooling to -2 degrees C, enabling complete 1H NMR signal assignment via standard two-dimensional (2D) NMR methods. Distance restraints obtained from qualitative analysis of 2D nuclear Overhauser effect (NOESY) data were used to generate 30 distance geometry (DG) structures with penalties (penalty = sum of the squared differences between interatomic distances defined in the restraints file and in the DG structures) in the range 0.02-0.03 A2. All structures were qualitatively consistent with the experimental NOESY spectrum based on comparisons with 2D NOESY back-calculated spectra. Superposition of the backbone atoms (C, C alpha, N) for residues C(1)-C(14) gave pairwise RMSD values in the range 0.16-0.75 A. The folding of Zn(HIV1-F2) is very similar to that observed for Zn(HIV1-F1). Small differences observed between the two finger domains are localized to residues between His(9) and Cys(14), with residues M(11)-C(14) forming a 3(10) helical corner.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)