Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (HIV-1) integrase is an underutilized drug target for the treatment of HIV infection. One limiting factor is the lack of costructural data for use in the rational design or modification of integrase inhibitors. Tn5 transposase is a structurally well characterized, related protein that may serve as a useful surrogate. However, little data exist on inhibitor cross-reactivity. Here we screened 16,000 compounds using Tn5 transposase as the target and identified 20 compounds that appear to specifically inhibit complex assembly. Six were found to also inhibit HIV-1 integrase. These compounds likely interact with a highly conserved region presumably within the catalytic core. Most promising, several cinnamoyl derivatives were found to inhibit HIV transduction in cells. The identification of integrase inhibitors from a screen using Tn5 transposase as the target illustrates the utility of Tn5 as a surrogate for HIV-1 integration even though the relationship between the two systems is limited to the active site architecture and catalytic mechanism.Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase (IN) is a high-valued candidate in the search for new targets to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. IN is responsible for integrating the viral genome into the host, a required step in the viral life cycle (reviewed in references 2, 10, 11, and 19). IN, however, is underutilized for treatment, as only one drug targeting this protein, S-1360, is currently under clinical trials (5), while a second has recently been shown to be effective for rhesus macaques (25). Such candidates would be invaluable to complement existing reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors used in highly active antiretroviral therapy, the multidrug regime that attenuates HIV.Many compounds have been identified that inhibit IN in vitro. However, few have been identified that are both specific for IN and effective in cell culture (34). The lack of cocrystal structural information currently available to map critical INinhibitor contacts is one limiting factor in the identification of good drug candidates. This information would aid in the rational design or modification of known IN inhibitors to develop more effective therapeutic agents. To date, only partial IN structures have been solved (6,7,9,18,21,22,27,28,40,42) and only two inhibitor classes, diketo and naphthalene derivatives, have been cocrystallized with members of the IN family (21, 27).Due to these constraints, the Tn5 transposase (Tnp) may serve as an excellent surrogate model for IN. Tn5 Tnp is the most extensively structurally characterized member of the Tnp/IN superfamily of proteins (reviewed in references 4 and 13), and although these proteins have low amino acid sequence identity, they share a high degree of structural similarity (4,7,15,18,36,40). The catalytic core of this superfamily exhibits an alpha-beta-alpha fold, where two sets of two alpha-helices flank a region of antiparallel beta sheet. Located within this region are...