Incorporation of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoproteins into assembling particles is crucial for virion infectivity. Genetic and biochemical data indicate that the matrix (MA) domain of Gag and the cytoplasmic tail of the transmembrane glycoprotein gp41 play an important role in coordinating Env incorporation; however, the molecular mechanism and possible role of host factors in this process remain to be defined. Recent studies suggested that Env incorporation is mediated by interactions between matrix and tail-interacting protein of 47 kDa (TIP47; also known as perilipin-3 and mannose-6-phosphate receptor-binding protein 1), a member of the perilipin, adipophilin, TIP47 (PAT) family of proteins implicated in protein sorting and lipid droplet biogenesis. We have confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy titration experiments and surface plasmon resonance that MA binds TIP47. We also reevaluated the role of TIP47 in HIV-1 Env incorporation in HeLa cells and in the Jurkat T-cell line. In HeLa cells, TIP47 overexpression or RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated depletion had no significant effect on HIV-1 Env incorporation, virus release, or particle infectivity. Similarly, depletion of TIP47 in Jurkat cells did not impair HIV-1 Env incorporation, virus release, infectivity, or replication. Our results thus do not support a role for TIP47 in HIV-1 Env incorporation or virion infectivity.
Incorporation of the Env glycoprotein complex into assembling HIV-1 particles is critical for viral infectivity and replication. Env is synthesized as an ϳ160-kDa precursor polyprotein (gp160) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and is processed into the mature surface glycoprotein gp120 and transmembrane glycoprotein gp41 during transport to virus assembly sites on the plasma membrane (1). Although many aspects of the HIV-1 assembly pathway have been deciphered over the past 2 decades (2, 3), the mechanism of Env recruitment and incorporation remains poorly understood. Several non-mutually exclusive models for Env incorporation have been suggested (1, 4): (i) an active model, in which Env is recruited through a direct interaction with the viral structural polyprotein Gag; (ii) a passive model, in which Env present at assembly sites is randomly incorporated; (iii) a Gag-Env cotargeting model, in which both Gag and Env localize to a common membrane microdomain to increase the local concentration of viral proteins at assembly sites; and (iv) an indirect Gag-Env interaction model, in which Env incorporation requires the formation of a ternary complex composed of Env, Gag, and a host cellular factor. The active model is supported by studies showing that mutations in the matrix protein (MA) or the gp41 cytoplasmic tail (CT) reduce levels of incorporation and that second-site compensatory mutations in MA can rescue other MA substitutions or a small gp41 CT deletion that blocks Env incorporation (5-11). The passive model for Env incorporation derives support from pseudotyping experiments, wherein foreig...