The 5´-leader of the HIV-1 genome regulates multiple functions during viral replication by mechanisms that have yet to be established. We developed an NMR approach that enabled direct detection of structural elements within the intact leader (712 nucleotide dimer) that are critical for genome packaging. Residues spanning the gag start codon (AUG) form a hairpin in the monomeric leader and base pair with residues of the Unique-5´ region (U5) in the dimer. U5:AUG formation promotes dimerization by displacing and exposing a dimer-promoting hairpin, and enhances binding by the nucleocapsid protein (NC), the cognate domain of the viral Gag polyprotein that directs packaging. Our findings support a packaging mechanism in which translation, dimerization, NC binding, and packaging are regulated by a common RNA structural switch.

The 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) of the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) genome regulates multiple RNA-dependent functions during viral replication and has been proposed to adopt multiple secondary structures. Recent phylogenetic studies identified base pair complementarity between residues of the unique 5′ element and those near the gag start codon (gagAUG) that is conserved among evolutionarily distant retroviruses, suggesting a potential long-range RNA-RNA interaction. However, nucleotide accessibility studies led to conflicting conclusions about the presence of such interactions in virions and in infected cells. Here we show that an 11-nucleotide oligo-RNA spanning residues 105-115 of the 5′-UTR (U5) readily binds to oligoribonucleotides containing the gag start codon (AUG), disrupting a pre-existing stem loop and forming a heteroduplex stabilized by 11 Watson Crick base pairs (Kd = 0.47 ± 0.16 μM). Addition of the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein (NC), the transacting viral factor required for genome packaging, disrupts the heteroduplex by binding tightly to U5 (Kd = 122 ± 10 nM). The structure of the NC:U5 complex, determined by NMR, exhibits features similar to those observed in NC complexes with HIV-1 stem loop RNAs, including the insertion of guanosine nucleobases to hydrophobic clefts on the surface of the zinc fingers and a 3′-to-5′ orientation of the RNA relative to protein. Our findings indicate that the previously proposed long-range U5-gagAUG interaction is feasible, and suggest a potential NC-dependent mechanism for modulating the structure of the 5′-UTR.