( g the structure and function of chromat...)Novel Enzyme Shows Potential As An Anti-HIV Target

Acetylation and deacetylation enzymes can also target other proteins. Of the three classes of deacetylases known to modify human histones, the sirtuins (SIRT1?) appear to preferentially target a number of nonhistone proteins. Ott and colleagues first tested the ability of all seven SIRT proteins to deacetylate Tat by placing them in a test tube with Tat proteins. Though three SIRT enzymes caused Tat acetylation, only one, SIRT1, is a nuclear enzyme, like Tat, suggesting that SIRT1 might work similarly in living cells.

Ott and colleagues went on to show that transcription via Tat occurs in the presence of SIRT1, but not when SIRT1’s catalytic center is removed. Experiments using cells taken from transgenic mice lacking SIRT1 demonstrated that introducing human SIRT1 enzymes increased Tat’s transcriptional effects in a dose-dependent manner, while treating cells with the small molecule HR73, a derivative of a molecule that inhibits the yeast version of the SIRT1 protein, caused a 5-fold reduction in HIV transcription.

The authors propose a cycle of transcriptional transactivation in which SIRT1 deacetylates Tat at the HIV promoter. Deacetylated Tat associates with CyclinT1 and TAR, and leads to transcription. Tat acetylation dissociates Tat from CyclinT1 and TAR, and transfers Tat to the elongating polymerase complex. Since acetylated Tat can’t recruit CyclinT1 and CDK-9, the authors explain, a new round of transcription requires that new, unacetylated Tats are produced or existing Tats are deacetylated. Thus, efficient viral replication depends on adequate Tat supplies. And since HIV gene expression relies on SIRT1’s enzymatic activity, inhibiting SIRT1 could prove to be a promising anti-HIV therapy.
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Source:PLoS Biology