The IFN-α-inducible restriction factor MxB blocks HIV-1 infection after reverse transcription but prior to integration. Genetic evidence suggested that capsid is the viral determinant for restriction by MxB. This work explores the ability of MxB to bind to the HIV-1 core, and the role of capsid-binding in restriction. We showed that MxB binds to the HIV-1 core and that this interaction leads to inhibition of the uncoating process of HIV-1. These results identify MxB as an endogenously expressed protein with the ability to inhibit HIV-1 uncoating. In addition, we found that a benzimidazole-based compound known to have a binding pocket on the surface of the HIV-1 capsid prevents the binding of MxB to capsid. The use of this small-molecule identified the MxB binding region on the surface of the HIV-1 core. Domain mapping experiments revealed the following requirements for restriction: 1) MxB binding to the HIV-1 capsid, which requires the 20 N-terminal amino acids, and 2) oligomerization of MxB, which is mediated by the C-terminal domain provides the avidity for the interaction of MxB with the HIV-1 core. Overall our work establishes that MxB binds to the HIV-1 core and inhibits the uncoating process of HIV-1. Moreover, we demonstrated that HIV-1 restriction by MxB requires capsid binding and oligomerization.

Background: SAMHD1 is a nuclear protein that blocks lentiviral infection before reverse transcription in macrophages and dendritic cells. The viral accessory protein Vpx overcomes the SAMHD1-mediated lentiviral block by inducing its proteasomal degradation.Results: Here, we identified the nuclear localization signal (NLS) of SAMHD1, and studied its contribution to restriction of HIV-1 and SIVmac. By studying the cellular distribution of different SAMHD1 variants, we mapped the nuclear localization of SAMHD1 to residues¹¹KRPR¹⁴. Mutagenesis of these residues changed the cellular distribution of SAMHD1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. SAMHD1 mutants that lost nuclear localization restricted HIV-1 and SIV as potently as the wild type protein. Interestingly, SAMHD1 mutants that localized to the cytoplasm were not degraded by nuclear Vpx alleles. Therefore, nuclear Vpx alleles require nuclear localization of SAMHD1 in order to induce its degradation. In agreement, SIVmac viruses encoding Vpx did not overcome the restriction imposed by the cytoplasmic variants of SAMHD1.Conclusions: We mapped the NLS of SAMHD1 to residues¹¹KRPR¹⁴and studied the contribution of SAMHD1 nuclear localization to restriction of HIV-1 and SIV. These experiments demonstrate that cytoplasmic variants of SAMHD1 potently block lentiviral infection and are resistant to Vpx-mediated degradation. The nuclear Vpx alleles studied here are only capable of degrading a nuclearly localized SAMHD1 suggesting that Vpx-mediated degradation of SAMHD1 is initiated in the nucleus.

Macrophages play important roles in host immune defense against virus infection. During infection by herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), macrophages acquire enhanced antiviral potential. Restriction of HSV-1 replication and progeny production is important to prevent viral spread, but the cellular mechanisms that inhibit the DNA virus in macrophages are unknown. SAMHD1 was recently identified as a retrovirus restriction factor highly expressed in macrophages. The SAMHD1 protein is expressed in both undifferentiated monocytes and differentiated macrophages, but retroviral restriction is limited to differentiated cells by modulation of SAMHD1 phosphorylation. It is proposed to block reverse transcription of retroviral RNA into DNA by depleting cellular deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs). Viruses with DNA genomes do not employ reverse transcription during infection, but replication of their viral genomes is also dependent on intracellular dNTP concentrations. Here, we demonstrate that SAMHD1 restricts replication of the HSV-1 DNA genome in differentiated macrophage cell lines. Depleting SAMHD1 in THP-1 cells enhanced HSV-1 replication, while ectopic overexpression of SAMHD1 in U937 cells repressed HSV-1 replication. SAMHD1 did not impact viral gene expression from incoming HSV-1 viral genomes. HSV-1 restriction involved the dNTP triphosphohydrolase activity of SAMHD1 and was partially overcome by addition of exogenous deoxynucleosides. Unlike retroviruses, restriction of HSV-1 was not affected by SAMHD1 phosphorylation status. Our results suggest that SAMHD1 functions broadly to inhibit replication of DNA viruses in nondividing macrophages.