Localization of DNA Binding Activity of HIV-1 Integrase to the C-Terminal Half of the Protein

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase (IN) is the viral protein required for integration of the HIV-1 genome into host cell DNA. A series of clones expressing portions of IN as λcII fusion proteins has been constructed in an Escherichia coli expression system; a Southwestern procedure was used to examine binding of the expressed proteins to DNA oligonucleotides. Proteins expressed by clone pHIP106, encoding the entire IN protein but no other pol sequence, and pKNA101, which expresses an IN fusion protein containing 23 amino acids of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase at its amino terminus, exhibited similar levels of oligonucleotide binding. Little DNA sequence specificity was associated with binding activity and there was a preference for Mn2+ over Mg2+ and Ca2+. Interestingly, the protein expressed by an N-terminal clone containing nucleotides coding for IN amino acids 1–141 (including a conserved His-Cys box) was unable to bind oligonucleotide, whereas the protein expressed by a C-terminal clo...