In vitro inhibition of HIV-1 proteinase by cerulenin

Retroviruses encode proteinases necessary for the proteolytic processing of the viral gag and gag-pol precursor proteins. These enzymes have been shown to be structurally and functionally related to aspartyl proteinases such as pepsin and renin. Cerulenin is a naturally occurring antibiotic, commonly used as an inhibitor of fatty acid synthesis. Cerulenin has been observed to inhibit production of Rous sarcoma virus and murine leukaemia virus by infected cells, possibly by interfering with proteolytic processing of viral precursor proteins. We show here that cerulenin inhibits the action of the HIV-1 proteinase in vitro, using 3 substrates: a synthetic heptapeptide (SQNYPIV) which corresponds to the sequence at the HIV-1 gag p17/p24 junction, a bacterially expressed gag precursor, and purified 66 kDa reverse transcriptase. Inhibition of cleavage by HIV-1 proteinase required preincubation with cerulenin. Cerulenin also inactivates endothiapepsin, a well-characterised fungal aspartyl proteinase, suggesting that the action of cerulenin is a function of the common active site structure of the retroviral and aspartic proteinases. Molecular modelling suggests that cerulenin possesses several of the necessary structural features of an inhibitor of aspartyl proteinases and retroviral proteinases. Although cerulenin itself is cytotoxic and inappropriate for clinical use, it may provide leads for the rational design of inhibitors of the HIV proteinase which could have application in the chemotherapy of AIDS.