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Published on: May 4, 2015
Hairpin DNA probe-based fluorescence assay for detecting palindrome cleavage activity of HIV-1 integrase
Da-wei Zhang1, Hong-qiu He2, Shun-xing Guo1
1Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
HIV-1 integrase is a key enzyme for retroviral replication. The integrase can perform a palindrome cleavage reaction. In this work, a hairpin DNA probe with a palindromic DNA sequence mimicking the HIV-1 LTR-LTR junction of the 2-LTR circles in its long stem was designed for fluorescence detection of specific restriction-like cleavage activity of HIV-1 integrase. Results showed that the designed probe could be recognized and cleaved by HIV-1 integrase. The palindrome cleavage reaction can be monitored according to the increase in fluorescent signal. The assay can be applied to real-time detection of palindrome cleavage of HIV-1 integrase with advantages of simplicity, high sensitivity, and specificity.

