Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Rapid Screening of HIV Reverse Transcriptase and Integrase Inhibitors
Published on: April 10, 2014
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase: enhancement of activity by interaction with cellular
H Takahashi1, M Matsuda, A Kojima
1Department of Pathology, National Institute of Health, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
A number of studies have suggested that topoisomerase I (topo I) activity may be important in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication. Specifically it has been reported that purified virus particles have topo I activity and that inhibitors of this enzyme can inhibit virus replication in vitro. We have investigated a possible association of HIV-1 gag proteins with topo I activity. We found that whereas the gag-encoded proteins by themselves do not have activity, the nucleocapsid protein p15 can interact with and enhance the activity of cellular topo I. Furthermore it could be demonstrated that topo I markedly enhanced HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity in vitro and that this could be inhibited by the topo I-specific inhibitor camptothecin. The findings suggest that cellular topo I plays an important role in the reverse transcription of HIV-1 RNA and that the recruitment of this enzyme may be an important step in virus replication.
More Related Videos
08:33Nucleocapsid Annealing-Mediated Electrophoresis (NAME) Assay Allows the Rapid Identification of HIV-1 Nucleocapsid Inhibitors
Published on: January 19, 2015
10:29Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship, Activity Prediction, and Molecular Dynamics of Non-nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
Published on: May 9, 2025
Related Concept Videos
DNA Topoisomerases
Types and Mechanism of action
Topoisomerases are divided into two main types. Type I...
Size and Structure of Viral Genomes
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Inhibitors of Bacterial DNA Synthesis
Antiviral Nucleoside Inhibitors
Inhibitors of Virion Maturation and Assembly