Molecular dynamic simulation studies of the South African HIV-1 Integrase subtype C protein to understand the structural impact of naturally occurring polymorphisms

• Main Author: Isaacs, Darren Mathew
• Other Authors: Cloete, Ruben Earl Ashley
• Language: en
• Published: University of Western Cape 2021
• Subjects: HIV-1; South Africa; Integrase subtype C; Protein; Antiretroviral drugs
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11394/8365

>Magister Scientiae - MSc === The viral Integrase (IN) protein is an essential enzyme of all known retroviruses, including HIV-1. It is responsible for the insertion of viral DNA into the human genome. It is known that HIV-1 is highly diverse with a high mutation rate as evidenced by the presence of a large number of subtypes and even strains that have become resistant to antiretroviral drugs. It remains inconclusive what effect this diversity in the form of naturally occurring polymorphisms/variants exert on IN in terms of its function, structure and susceptibility to IN inhibitory antiretroviral drugs. South Africa is home to the largest HIV-1 infected population, with (group M) subtype C being the most prevalent subtype. An investigation into IN is therefore pertinent, even more so with the introduction of the IN strand-transfer inhibitor (INSTI) Dolutegravir (DTG).