Moloney murine leukemia virus integrase and reverse transcriptase interact with PML proteins

Abstract

Pull-down assay and co-immunoprecipitation of cell extracts in which the integrase or reverse transcriptase of Moloney murine leukemia virus was transiently expressed showed that both enzymes interacted with PML proteins. In infected cells, interaction between the integrase and PML was also observed. Transient expression of PIASy and SUMO proteins facilitated SUMOylation of the integrase but had no apparent effects on the interaction with PML. A FLAG-tagged integrase co-localized with PML protein possibly in the PML body. Knockdown of PML by small interfering RNA resulted in reduced viral cDNA levels and integration efficiency. This suggested that PML proteins activated reverse transcription.

The Involvement of Ubiquitination and SUMOylation in Retroviruses Infection and Latency

“…The retroviral IN protein mediates the integration of provirus into the host genome [151,152]. The IN proteins of both HIV-1 and the MoMuLV can be SUMOylated [153,154]. It has been found that IN can be SUMOylated on three Lys residues (K46, K136 and K244) [154].…”