THE PROCESSIVITY OF DNA-SYNTHESIS, EXHIBITED BY DRUG-RESISTANT VARIANTS OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTASE

The reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) u ndergoes rapid mutagenesis due to selective pressure by RT inhibitors which renders the mutated RT variants resistant to these Inhibitors. R esistance-to nucleoside analogs during drug therapy results from point mutations that lead to specific variations in the RT sequences. It wa s recently shown that several well-defined drug-resistant variants of HIV-1 RT (i.e. Leu74Val, Glu89Gly, Tyr183Phe, Met184Lue, Met184Val and Met184Ile) show enhanced accuracy of DNA synthesis relative to wild-t ype HIV-1 RT (as evident from a reduction in the capacity to introduce mispairs and to elongate them). Since the last two Met184 variants we re shown also to possess decreased processivity of DNA synthesis, it w as recently suggested that there might be an inverse correlation betwe en the apparent in vitro fidelity and processivity of DNA synthesis in drug-resistant HIV-1 RT mutants. In the present study we have conduct ed a comparative analysis of the processivity of DNA synthesis on both DNA and RNA templates of the Leu74Val, Glu89Gly, Tyr183Phe and Met184 Leu drug-resistant mutants of HIV-1 RT in comparison with wild-type RT Apart from the Met184 mutant, which shows reduced relative processivi ty (similar to the other mutants of residue 184 already studied), the other three variants have relative processivity at least as high as th at of wild-type RT. This suggests that the inverse correlation between reduced processivity and increased fidelity is restricted only to mut ants with modifications of Met184, The results presented may bear on p otential mechanistic and structural differences in the involvement of the various mutated residues studied in processivity, fidelity and sen sitivity to nucleoside analogs.