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HIV-1 Accessory Proteins: VpR

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Human Retroviruses

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1087))

Abstract

HIV-1 viral protein R (VpR) is a multifunctional protein that plays specific roles at multiple stages of the HIV-1 viral life cycle and affects anti-HIV functions of the immune cells. VpR is required for efficient viral replication in nondividing cells such as macrophages, and it promotes, to some extent, viral replication in the proliferating target CD4+ T cells. A number of specific activities that may contribute to these effects of VpR have been proposed. In this chapter, we describe two best characterized activities of VpR, nuclear import of the HIV-1 preintegration complex (PIC) and induction of cell cycle G2 arrest, focusing on the methods used for their demonstration.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the District of Columbia Developmental Center for AIDS Research (DC D-CFAR), NIH-funded program (1P30AI087714 – 01, MB), and NIH-NINDS-R21-NS063880 (RZ). The authors would like to thank Ge Li for technical assistance of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Richard Y. Zhao

  2. School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Michael I. Bukrinsky

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  1. Richard Y. Zhao
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  2. Michael I. Bukrinsky
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Div. Immunology, Transplantation, and Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy

    Elisa Vicenzi

  2. Div. Immunology, Transplantation, and Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy

    Guido Poli

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Zhao, R.Y., Bukrinsky, M.I. (2014). HIV-1 Accessory Proteins: VpR. In: Vicenzi, E., Poli, G. (eds) Human Retroviruses. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1087. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-670-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-670-2_11

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-669-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-670-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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