{"doi":"10.17615/tsh0-3j89","title":"A Sensitive Assay Using a Native Protein Substrate for Screening HIV-1 Maturation Inhibitors Targeting the Protease Cleavage Site between the Matrix and Capsid","abstract":"The matrix/capsid processing site in the HIV-1 Gag precursor is likely the most sensitive target to inhibit HIV-1 replication. We have previously shown that modest incomplete processing at the site leads to a complete loss of virion infectivity. In the current study, a sensitive assay based on fluorescence polarization is described that can monitor cleavage at the MA/CA site in the context of the folded protein substrate. The substrate, an MA/CA fusion protein, was labeled with the fluorescein-based FlAsH (Fluorescein Arsenical Hairpin) reagent which binds to a tetracysteine motif (CCGPCC) that was introduced within the N-terminal domain of CA. By limiting the size of CA and increasing the size of MA (with an N-terminal GST fusion), significant differences in polarization values were measurable as a function of HIV-1 protease cleavage. The sensitivity of the assay was tested in the presence of increasing amounts of an HIV-1 PR inhibitor, which resulted in a gradual decrease in the FP values demonstrating that the assay is sensitive discerning changes in protease processing. The high-throughput screening assay validation in 384-well plates showed that the assay is reproducible and robust with an average Z'–value of 0.79 and average coefficient of variation values less than 3%. The robustness and reproducibility of the assay was further validated using the LOPAC1280 compound library, demonstrating that the assay provides a sensitive high-throughput screening platform that can be used with large compound libraries for identifying novel maturation inhibitors targeting the MA/CA site of the HIV-1 Gag polyprotein.","journal":"UNC Libraries","year":2021,"id":230603,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.957,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":539771,"name":"William P. Janzen","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":249895,"name":"Celia A. Schiffer","orcid":"0000-0003-2270-6613","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":603110,"name":"Sook Kyung Lee","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":247475,"name":"Ronald Swanstrom","orcid":"0000-0001-7777-0773","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":539788,"name":"Nancy Cheng","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":602353,"name":"Marc Potempa","orcid":"0000-0003-3853-3948","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":541671,"name":"Emily A. Hull-Ryde","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:55:09.211909Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}