Clinical Significance
Old World monkeys cannot be infected with HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS in humans; they can be infected, however, with SIV, a related virus. TRIM5α was isolated as a rhesus macaque protein responsible for blocking infection by HIV-1.
The human version of TRIM5α does not target HIV-1, but can inhibit strains of the murine leukemia virus (MLV) as well as equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV).
Prior to the discovery of TRIM5α as an antiviral protein, the inhibition phenotype had been described and coined Ref1 (in human cells) and Lv1 (in monkey cells). This terminology is now largely abandoned.
A related protein, named TRIMCyp (or TRIM5-CypA), was isolated in owl monkeys, a species of New World monkeys, and shown to potently inhibit infection by HIV-1. A similar protein has arisen independently in Old World monkeys and has been identified in several species of macaque.
Read more about this topic: TRIM5alpha
Famous quotes containing the word significance:
“Politics is not an end, but a means. It is not a product, but a process. It is the art of government. Like other values it has its counterfeits. So much emphasis has been placed upon the false that the significance of the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere service.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)