Moloney leukemia virus 10 (MOV10) inhibits the degradation of APOBEC3G through interference with the Vif-mediated ubiquitin–proteasome pathway

• Main Authors: Cancan Chen, Xiaocao Ma, Qifei Hu, Xinghua Li, Feng Huang, Junsong Zhang, Ting Pan, Jinyu Xia, Chao Liu, Hui Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2017-12-01
• Series: Retrovirology
• Subjects: MOV10; A3G; Vif; HIV-1; Ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS)
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12977-017-0382-1

Abstract Background MOV10 protein has ATP-dependent 5′–3′ RNA helicase activity and belongs to the UPF1p superfamily. It can inhibit human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication at multiple stages and interact with apolipoprotein-B-mRNA-editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide-like 3G (APOBEC3G or A3G), a member of the cytidine deaminase family that exerts potent inhibitory effects against HIV-1 infection. However, HIV-1-encoded virion infectivity factor (Vif) protein specifically mediates the degradation of A3G via the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS). Results We demonstrate that MOV10 counteracts Vif-mediated degradation of A3G by inhibiting the assembly of the Vif-CBF-β-Cullin 5-ElonginB-ElonginC complex. Through interference with UPS, MOV10 enhances the level of A3G in HIV-1-infected cells and virions, and synergistically inhibits the replication and infectivity of HIV-1. In addition, the DEAG-box of MOV10 is required for inhibition of Vif-mediated A3G degradation as the DEAG-box mutant significantly loses this ability. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a novel mechanism involved in the anti-HIV-1 function of MOV10. Given that both MOV10 and A3G belong to the interferon antiviral system, their synergistic inhibition of HIV-1 suggests that these proteins may play complicated roles in antiviral functions.