The envelope glycoprotein of HIV-1 may have incorporated the CD4 binding site from HLA-DQ beta 1 |
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| Authors: | R I Brinkworth |
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| Institution: | Graduate School of Science and Technology, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. |
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| Abstract: | An hypothesis is presented which states that the increased binding for CD4 by the envelope glycoprotein (gp120) from HIV-1 compared with that from HIV-2 is due to the env gene from HIV-1 having at some stage incorporated exon 2 of the gene coding for the beta subunit of a class II MHC protein, possibly HLA-DQ, which contains part of the CD4 binding site. Evidence is presented from amino acid sequence analysis and consideration of putative binding residues from gp120 and HLA-DQ. |
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