HIV-1 integrase (IN) is an important target for designing new antiviral therapies. Screening of potential inhibitors using recombinant IN-based assays has revealed a number of promising leads including nucleotide analogs such as pyridoxal 5-phosphate (PLP).The continuing emergence of new HIV-1 1 variants resistant to current therapeutic treatments, which include small molecule inhibitors targeting HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and protease, makes the search for new anti-HIV-1 drugs imperative. In this regard, HIV-1 integrase (IN), which has no known human counterparts, is an attractive target. Furthermore, the fact that IN uses a common active site for 3Ј-processing and DNA strand transfer may constrain the range of mutations that can contribute to evolution of viable drug-resistant viruses.HIV-1 IN catalyzes integration of the viral DNA, made by reverse transcription, into the host chromosome in a two-step reaction (reviewed in Ref. 1). In the first step, called 3Ј-processing, two nucleotides are removed at each 3Ј-end of the viral DNA. In the next step, called DNA strand transfer, concerted transesterification reactions integrate the viral DNA ends into the host genome.HIV-1 IN is composed of three distinct structural and functional domains: the N-terminal domain (residues 1-50) that contains the HHCC zinc-binding motif, the core domain (residues 51-212) that contains the catalytic site, and the C-terminal domain (residues 213-270) that is thought to provide a platform for DNA binding. Crystallographic or NMR structural data are available for each of the individual domains (2-6). In addition, the structures of the combined core and C-terminal domains (7) and core and N-terminal domains (8) have been recently determined. However, efforts to obtain a structure of the full-length protein have been impeded by poor protein solubility.Purified IN-based assays have been employed for screening of potential inhibitors. These studies have revealed several classes of compounds with anti-HIV-1 IN activity, including diketo acids, naphthyridines, pyranodipyrimidines, nucleotide analogs, hydroxylated aromatic compounds, DNA-interacting agents, peptides, and antibodies (9 -22). Much effort has been devoted to dissecting the mechanism of inhibition and identifying the inhibitor binding sites. Crystallographic studies revealed two distinct binding sites in IN including the catalytic site for a diketo group-containing inhibitor (1-(5-chloroindol-3-yl)-3-hydroxy-3-(2H-tetrazol-5-yl)-propenone) and a site located near the IN dimer interface for 3,4-dihydroxyphenyltriphenylarsonium bromide (23,24). However, these studies employed the isolated core domain of IN rather then the fulllength protein.Mass spectrometry is a powerful structural biology tool that allows the analysis of protein-inhibitor complexes under biologically relevant conditions and provides structural information complementary to NMR and crystallography. For example, we recently reported identification of a small molecule inhibitor binding site to full-length IN using...