HIV-1 Vpr is recruited into virions during assembly and appears to remain associated with the viral core after the reverse transcription and uncoating steps of entry. This feature has prompted the use of fluorescently labeled Vpr to visualize viral particles and to follow trafficking of post-fusion HIV-1 cores in the cytoplasm. Here, we tracked single pseudovirus entry and fusion and observed that fluorescently tagged Vpr gradually dissociates from post-fusion viral cores over the course of several minutes and accumulates in the nucleus. Kinetics measurements showed that fluorescent Vpr released from the cores very rapidly entered the cell nucleus. More than 10,000 Vpr molecules can be delivered into the cell nucleus within 45 min of infection by HIV-1 particles pseudotyped with the avian sarcoma and leukosis virus envelope glycoprotein. The fraction of Vpr from cell-bound viruses that accumulated in the nucleus was proportional to the extent of virus-cell fusion and was fully blocked by viral fusion inhibitors. Entry of virus-derived Vpr into the nucleus occurred independently of envelope glycoproteins or target cells. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy revealed two forms of nuclear Vpr—monomers and very large complexes, likely involving host factors. The kinetics of viral Vpr entering the nucleus after fusion was not affected by point mutations in the capsid protein that alter the stability of the viral core. The independence of Vpr shedding of capsid stability and its relatively rapid dissociation from post-fusion cores suggest that this process may precede capsid uncoating, which appears to occur on a slower time scale. Our results thus demonstrate that a bulk of fluorescently labeled Vpr incorporated into HIV-1 particles is released shortly after fusion. Future studies will address the question whether the quick and efficient nuclear delivery of Vpr derived from incoming viruses can regulate subsequent steps of HIV-1 infection.

Background: Disassembly of the viral capsid following penetration into the cytoplasm, or uncoating, is a poorly understood stage of retrovirus infection. Based on previous studies of HIV-1 CA mutants exhibiting altered capsid stability, we concluded that formation of a capsid of optimal intrinsic stability is crucial for HIV-1 infection. Results: To further examine the connection between HIV-1 capsid stability and infectivity, we isolated second-site suppressors of HIV-1 mutants exhibiting unstable (P38A) or hyperstable (E45A) capsids. We identified the respective suppressor mutations, T216I and R132T, which restored virus replication in a human T cell line and markedly enhanced the fitness of the original mutants as revealed in single-cycle infection assays. Analysis of the corresponding purified N-terminal domain CA proteins by NMR spectroscopy demonstrated that the E45A and R132T mutations induced structural changes that are localized to the regions of the mutations, while the P38A mutation resulted in changes extending to neighboring regions in space. Unexpectedly, neither suppressor mutation corrected the intrinsic viral capsid stability defect associated with the respective original mutation. Nonetheless, the R132T mutation rescued the selective infectivity impairment exhibited by the E45A mutant in aphidicolin-arrested cells, and the double mutant regained sensitivity to the small molecule inhibitor PF74. The T216I mutation rescued the impaired ability of the P38A mutant virus to abrogate restriction by TRIMCyp and TRIM5α. Conclusions: The second-site suppressor mutations in CA that we have identified rescue virus infection without correcting the intrinsic capsid stability defects associated with the P38A and E45A mutations. The suppressors also restored wild type virus function in several cell-based assays. We propose that while proper HIV-1 uncoating in target cells is dependent on the intrinsic stability of the viral capsid, the effects of stability-altering mutations can be mitigated by additional mutations that affect interactions with host factors in target cells or the consequences of these interactions. The ability of mutations at other CA surfaces to compensate for effects at the NTD-NTD interface further indicates that uncoating in target cells is controlled by multiple intersubunit interfaces in the viral capsid.