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Interactions Of The Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Nucleocapsid Protein With Non-Hiv-Derived Nucleic Acids : Implications For The Viral Replication Cycle, Abhijit Padmakar Jadhav

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

During attempts to develop aptamers that bind to the nucleocapsid protein of HIV-1 (i.e. NCp7) with high affinity, a heretofore unreported property of the protein--the ability to mediate degradation of nucleic acids, was discovered. Using λ DNA as a model nucleic acid system, it was shown that NCp7-mediated degradation of nucleic acids is non-specific, depends on incubation time, the concentration of NCp7, and the presence of divalent and monovalent cations. It was further demonstrated that degradation can be abrogated if NCp7 is pre-incubated with NCp7-inhibitors. Lyophilization of NCp7 can induce irreversible changes in its secondary structure that result in loss …