A Drosophila model of HIV-Tat-related pathogenicity.
2001
To analyze the mechanism of Tat-mediated HIV pathogenicity, we produced a Drosophila melanogaster strain transgenic for HIV-tat gene and
induced the expression of the protein during Drosophila development.
By in vitro and in vivo experiments, we demonstrated that Tat specifically
binds to tubulin via the MAP-binding domain of tubulin, and that this
interaction delays the polymerization of tubulin and induces a premature stop
to microtubule-dependent cytoplasmic streaming. The delay in the
polymerization of microtubules, the tracks for the transport of the axes
determinants, alters the positioning of the dorso-ventral axis as shown by the
mislocalization of Gurken and Kinesin in oocyte of Drosophila after
Tat induction. These results validate the use of Drosophila as a tool
to study the molecular mechanism of viral gene products and suggest that
Tat-tubulin interaction is responsible for neurodegenerative diseases
associated with AIDS.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
44
References
29
Citations
NaN
KQI