MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATION OF SITE-DIRECTED MUTAGENESIS OF HIV-1 TAT TRANS-ACTIVATOR

The Cys-rich domain, core region and basic domain are highly conserved and very important to thetrans-activation activity of HIV-1 Tattrans-activator. The three-dimensional structures of 6 mutants of HIV-1 Tat protein were constructed with the methods of molecular dynamics simulation. The variations of the structures of the mutants have been analyzed and the factors that led to abolishment oftrans-activation activity have been discussed.