Duplex structural differences and not 2'-hydroxyls explain the more stable binding of HIV-reverse transcriptase to RNA-DNA versus DNA-DNA

Human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase (HIV-RT) binds more stably in binary complexes with RNA-DNA versus DNA-DNA. Current results indicate that only the -2 and -4 RNA nucleotides (-1 hybridized to the 3' recessed DNA base) are required for stable binding to RNA-DNA, and even a single RNA nucleotide conferred significantly greater stability than DNA-DNA. Replacing 2'- hydroxyls on pivotal RNA bases with 2'-O-methyls did not affect stability, indicating that interactions between hydroxyls and RT amino acids do not stabilize binding. RT's K-d (k(off)/k(on)) for DNA-DNA and RNA-DNA were similar, although k(off) differed almost 40-fold, suggesting a faster k(on) for DNA-DNA. Avian myeloblastosis and Moloney murine leukemia virus RTs also bound more stably to RNA-DNA, but the difference was less pronounced than with HIV-RT. We propose that the H- versus B-form structures of RNA-DNA and DNA-DNA, respectively, allow the former to conform more easily to HIV-RT's binding cleft, leading to more stable binding. Biologically, the ability of RT to form a more stable complex on RNA-DNA may aid in degradation of RNA fragments that remain after DNA synthesis.