A possible homology between immunodeficiency virus p24 core protein and picornaviral VP2 coat protein: prediction of HIV p24 antigenic sites.

With the use of a sensitive sequence comparison algorithm, a homology has been suggested between the primary structures of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) p24 core protein and foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMD) VP2 coat protein. Since the FMD sequence is homologous to picornaviral VP2 sequences with known three-dimensional architecture and since the SIV p24 sequence can be convincingly aligned with that from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), it was possible to predict an eight-stranded beta-barrel fold for the HIV core protein. From analogy with the known environments of the picornaviral coats, p24 sequence spans could be predicted as likely candidates for antibody attachment. These suggestions may be important for development of an AIDS vaccine.