HIV-1 integrase is a key enzyme for retroviral replication. The integrase can perform a palindrome cleavage reaction. In this work, a hairpin DNA probe with a palindromic DNA sequence mimicking the HIV-1 LTR-LTR junction of the 2-LTR circles in its long stem was designed for fluorescence detection of specific restriction-like cleavage activity of HIV-1 integrase. Results showed that the designed probe could be recognized and cleaved by HIV-1 integrase. The palindrome cleavage reaction can be monitored according to the increase in fluorescent signal. The assay can be applied to real-time detection of palindrome cleavage of HIV-1 integrase with advantages of simplicity, high sensitivity, and specificity.
Keywords: Fluorescent probe; HIV-1; Integrase; Palindrome cleavage.
Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.