Figure 4
From: Trimeric HIV Env provides epitope occlusion mediated by hypervariable loops
Schematic representation of gp140 demonstrates intersubunit associations, relaxation of trimeric diameter upon deletion of V2.
(A) The gp140 trimer was compared with the gp140ΔV2, gp140-CD4m and gp140ΔV2-CD4m maps. The degree of gp120-gp41 interface strength appears to decrease as a function of both V2 deletion and CD4m conjugation, with the gp140ΔV2-CD4m map representing the most “open” state. Inclusion of the V2 loop also results in a smaller trimeric diameter (100 Å), though the diameter remains unchanged in the gp140ΔV2, gp140-CD4m and gp140ΔV2-CD4m maps (110 Å). (B) 2D comparison of gp140ΔV2TV1 with full length constructs gp140TV1, gp140DU156.1, gp140CAP239 and gp140CAP45 reveals that full length constructs all had smaller trimeric diameters (99–103 Å) than gp140ΔV2TV1 (110 Å), indicative of closer intersubunit associations in full-length constructs than in ΔV2 constructs. Scale bar = 75 Å.
