Conformational analysis of a new peptide derived from feline immunodeficiency virus gp36 in SDS micelles: An NMR-MD based investigation

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) shares structural similarities with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV): the surface glycoprotein gp36 corresponds to the HIV gp41, which drives virus-host cell interactions and is targeted by the peptide entry inhibitor enfuvirtide. Following a similar drug design strategy for the development of an anti-FIV therapy, the present study investigates ^627-646gp36 NHR, a peptide sequence derived from a region of gp36 that was previously found to interfere with the antiviral activity of the peptide C8, which instead derives from the gp36 MPER. CD, NMR, and MD simulations were employed to probe the conformational characteristics of ^627-646gp36 NHR in the membrane-mimicking environment of SDS micelles. Our data show that ^627-646gp36 NHR is characterized by three dynamic helix structures. MD simulations involving ^627-646gp36 NHR, C8, and a larger protein, including the CHR and MPER regions, suggest that the interaction of C8 with the MPER region, the origin of the antiviral activity of C8, is disfavored in the presence of ^627-646gp36 NHR in the simulation. This evidence can be useful for interpreting the molecular mechanism that leads to interference with the activity of C8, providing information on the folding/unfolding mechanism of the viral glycoprotein to design new strategies to inhibit viral entry.