Establishment and application of a high-throughput screening assay for premature activation of HIV-1 precursors

Strict regulation of HIV-1 PR function is critical for efficient production of mature viral particles.  During viral protein expression and viral assembly, HIV-1 PR located within Gag-Pol precursor must be inactive to prevent premature cytoplasmic processing of the viral Gag and Gag-Pol precursors.  Premature activation  of HIV-1 precursors leads to major defects in viral assembly and production of viral particles.  A cell-level  premature activation of HIV-1 precursors assay using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) was established.  Three thousand compounds were screened to evaluate this assay.  The results showed that the  assay is sensitive, specific and stable (Z' factor is 0.905).