A physical model for the selective assembly of HIV-1.*

We report on finding an intramolecular bound state of the structural Gag capsid protein of HIV-1 using a combination of all-atom Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and statistical mechanical modeling. The presence of this bound state prevents premature capsid assembly on non-viral host RNA. It would unify numerous observations that have been made on HIV-1. We show that the presence of a GFP sequence inserted into the Gag gene interferes with the formation of the bound-state, suggesting that such constructs can not be considered as representative of the wild-type Gag. The central role of the bound-state for the kinetics suggests a variety of possible routes for interfering with HIV-1 assembly.