Binding of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transactivator (Tat) protein to Tat-responsive RNA (TAR) is essential for viral replication and is considered a promising starting point for the design of anti-HIV drugs. NMR spectroscopy indicated that the aminoglycosides neomycin B and ribostamycin bind to TAR and that neomycin is able to inhibit Tat binding to TAR. The solution structure of the neomycin-bound TAR has been determined by NMR spectroscopy. Chemical shift mapping and intermolecular nuclear Overhauser effects define the binding region of the aminoglycosides on TAR and give strong evidence for minor groove binding. Based on 15 nuclear Overhauser effect-derived intermolecular distance restraints, a model structure of the TAR-neomycin complex was calculated. Neomycin is bound in a binding pocket formed by the minor groove of the lower stem and the uridine-rich bulge of TAR, which adopts a conformation different from those known. The neamine core of the aminoglycoside (rings I and II) is covered with the bulge, explaining the inhibition of Tat by an allosteric mechanism. Neomycin reduces the volume of the major groove in which Tat is bound and thus impedes essential protein-RNA contacts.Antibiotics are chemicals that are active against microorganisms, exerting their function in different ways at various cellular locations. Aminoglycoside antibiotics, for example, target the 30 S subunit of ribosomal RNA and cause mistranslation. Molecules of the neomycin family of aminoglycosides ( Fig. 1a) bind directly to the A site of 16 S ribosomal RNA (1) and efficiently disturb protein biosynthesis of prokaryotes. Structural studies on the interaction of aminoglycosides with RNAs provided insights into the mechanisms of miscoding (2-4). The antibiotic distorts the structure of the RNA and thus leads to errors in protein biosynthesis. Variations in eukaryotic ribosomal RNA prevent high affinity binding of aminoglycosides to the ribosomes of higher organisms, making them less prone to antibiotic influence and thus rendering the antibiotics valuable medical drugs. Due to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, caused by only a small number of mutations in the microorganisms, the determinants for antibiotic binding to RNA are of major interest in structural biology. Only a few structures of antibiotic-RNA complexes have been determined experimentally to date, among them the structure of paromomycin in complex with a model oligonucleotide comprising the A site of 16 S rRNA (2) and a low resolution and two high resolution structures of complexes between RNA aptamers and tobramycin or neomycin (5-7).Aminoglycosides have also been found to bind to group I introns (8), to hammerhead RNA (9), and to human hepatitis ␦ virus ribozymes (10). These antibiotics also bind to the Rev (regulator of expression of the virion) and Tat (transactivator of transcription) binding regions of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) 1 RNA, Rev response element (11), and Tat-responsive element (TAR) (12). Different modeling ap...